Christian Metz - The Imaginary Signifier Flashcards

Flashcards on Christian Metz's 'The Imaginary Signifier' and psychoanalysis of cinema.

Theatre (Metz)

In theatre, props and actors are real objects referring to fictional objects in another time and place.

Cinema (Metz)

In cinema, images on the screen create a fictional object referring to a fictional object (the story), characterized by an imaginary signifier.

Metz's Key Argument

Argues that cinema's defining characteristic is the imaginary that constitutes it as a signifier.

'Every film is a fiction film'

Every film is ….

Presence vs. Absence

Theatre involves presence (actors and props) referring to an absence (actions and scenes), while cinema is double absence

Cinema as Absence

Cinema is an absence (light on a screen) invoking another absence (actions and scenes of the film).

Spectator Identification

The spectator is separate from the film but needed to see it.

Identification with the Camera

The spectator identifies with the camera and its position/framing, determining the vanishing point.

Scopic Regime of Cinema

Cinema is based on the desire to see (scopic drive, scopophilia, voyeurism), looking and listening from a distance, hidden in darkness.

Cinematic Voyeurism

Voyeurism is 'unauthorised' scopophilia where something lets itself be seen without presenting itself to be seen, like the actors

Solitude and Segregation

Cinema's voyeurism is heightened by the solitude and segregation of the audience.

Cinema as a 'Loophole'

Cinema is a break from everyday life, a special escape.

Fetishism (Freud)

Requires the simultaneous existence of contrary beliefs, such as primal belief vs. knowledge.

Fetish as Negative Signifier

the penis is absent in the mother, the fetishist chooses another object represent it

Spectator Beliefs

The spectator simultaneously believes that the action on screen is not real (imaginary) and that it is real ('willing suspension of disbelief').

Cinematic Fetishism

Knowing the images are projections but still choosing to believe in them.