Darren Aronofsky’s Films and the Fragility of Hope

xi Preface beginning. Hence, by assigning such importance to surprise, I basically argue that perfection is characterized by surprise, as the attainment of something new, resulting with experiential augmentation. With respect to art, I most strongly experienced such surprises in relation to film. In addition to provoking my philosophical interests, film opened another direction of interest for me: Jungian analytic psychology. This happened while watching Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987). Namely, when Sergeant Joker explains contradictory signs (a peace sign on his button and the phrase "Born to Kill" on his helmet) as representing "the duality of man, the Jungian thing, " I had to explore Jung further. I did not know much about Jung and was intrigued that one of my favorite directors would invoke Jungian psychology. As it turned out, I found Jungian analytic psychology, the process of individuation, his archetypes, and subsequent work by Joseph Campbell on mythology, extremely relevant to interpreting movies. Darren Aronofsky's films intrigued me in different ways. His portrayal of a mathematician in π resonated strongly with an experience I had in the late 1980s when trying to heuristically solve a notoriously hard combinatorial problem (Steinberg's 36-dimensional quadratic assignment problem with rectangular distances, published in 1961). I programmed the algorithm so that, whenever an improved solution is discovered, a line indicating the solution and the iteration number appears on the computer screen. One morning, the computer screen displayed the new and improved solution for this problem, and I can still remember the excitement of getting the number on the screen. This project helped me in getting tenure and a promotion. But, while I somehow could identify with Max from π, I was not nearly as obsessive. Aronofsky's casting of Mickey Rourke in the lead role of an aging wrestler was poignant in various ways: looking at Rourke, so different from the sex symbol from 9 1⁄2 Weeks (Adrian Lyne, 1986) and in a role so close to his real life, invited contemplation about imitations between art and life. It reminded me of my favorite director of the silent era, Erich von Stroheim, and his art-imitatinglife role in Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950). When seeing Aronofsky's Black Swan for the first time and hearing the choreographer Thomas Leroy instructing his ballerina, Nina Sayers, with the statement that perfection relates to surprise, I knew instantly I would have to look more closely into Aronofsky's filmography and write about it. So, I embarked on the challenging task to write about Aronofsky's filmography from 1998, beginning with π, to 2014, with the just-released Noah. Indeed, the xii Preface interpretation and evaluation of his movies were challenging and rewarding experiences, and a number of people deserve acknowledgment. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the faculty and students from the Department of Art, the Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory, and the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. They all added to a lively academic atmosphere and enforced my wish to pursue the study of film art. In producing this work, I am indebted to Andrew V. Uroskie for insightful comments. In addition, I would like to thank John Lutterbie, Zabet Patterson, and Krin Gabbard, for their support and useful comments. Ed Casey provided proper guidance for my philosophical directions or research. I also wish to acknowledge the support of my colleagues at the College of Business at Stony Brook University. María Elena de las Carreras and an anonymous reviewer gave valuable comments resulting in an improved manuscript. I am grateful to Dan Pal for his many constructive comments that helped in producing the final stage of the manuscript, while Ashar Foley was very helpful in the editing. The editorial and design team at Bloomsbury Academic was instrumental in producing this book. In particular, Katie Gallof, my editor at Bloomsbury Academic, was highly supportive, and I greatly appreciate it. Mary Al-Sayed's assistance was very effective in preparation of the book. It was a pleasure to work with the Bloomsbury team. I am truly indebted to Darren Aronofsky for his artistic force and his films that motivated this work. Also, I am thankful for the time he spent on our conversation, in the midst of the postproduction of Noah, certainly a very busy time. His assistant, Dylan Golden, was indispensable for our communication, and I thank him for his efforts. Finally, I wish to thank my husband Darko and our younger generations for their support in all my various endeavors and for their companionship in the adventure of film spectatorship. This book is dedicated to the youngest movie buffs in my family, my grandchildren Nela and Marin. We have already watched some movies together. Even some older movies were fun to view. It was memorable to watch with them Animals Are Beautiful People (Jamie Uys, 1974), a humoristic documentary about South African animals. Their laughter when seeing drunk elephants (which might be staged or not) was so delightful, and their repeated desire to see something again and again . . . and again points to a continuing generation of movie aficionados, enthralled by good stories. Regardless of the change in medium, celluloid or digital, it seems that desire for movies continues. The subject of the proposed work is the filmography of the film director, screenwriter, and producer Darren Aronofsky (b. 1969) in the period 1998-2014. In that period, he directed six feature-length films: π (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), The Wrestler (2008), Black Swan (2010), and Noah (2014). Aronofsky's style evolved, varying with different themes, but one constant seems to emerge: the sensitivity of an artistic eye observing the human condition, its weaknesses and strengths, with compassion and concern. A film is a joint product of various talents-from actors to artists producing screenplays, music, cinematography, editing-but the glue that holds it together is the director, the conductor of the audio/visual symphony. While this book is restricted to consideration of the work of a specific filmmaker and does not take up cinema in general, it is necessary to frame the expository arguments. I wish to offer an analysis of my aesthetic experience with Aronofsky's filmography and reiterate Deleuze's statement that writing about an author implies a liking of that author's work. The starting point for the inquiry is a film itself, viewed as an artwork capable of inducing an aesthetic experience. In order to experience an artwork, we need to approach it directly, to let it speak for itself, which leads to subsequent reflection, criticism, and evaluation. This sounds like Adorno, who argued that because artworks are inherently particular, they should be examined as such. However, because ". . . in its particularization, art is more than simply its particularity, " 1 evaluation of individual artworks, while necessary, is not sufficient, and we need a "second reflection" to situate an artwork in its cultural and historical environment. Without going into Adorno's analysis of the subjective content of art versus its socially significant form, let me argue for the proposed approach in presenting Aronofsky's films to date. Aronofsky's films work in different ways: as interesting narratives dealing with intriguing and extreme aspects of human nature, and as captivating audio/visual representations inducing preconscious bodily response, followed by different levels of philosophical (aesthetical and ethical) reflection. It is not the case of starting The role of body-not only visual, but in its full sensual capacity-provides a starting point for the spectator-film encounter. Contemporary film studies usually start with a theory (e.g., Lacanian psychoanalysis or neo-Marxism) or with a strand characterizing an aspect of 2 Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction Preconscious reception and bodily response Subsequent reflection Aronofsky’s themes and characters Aronofsky’s extension of the melodrama genre Comparison with some relevant films and directors Relevant philosophical positions π: Is Mathematics “The Language of Nature”? Why can the audience “buy” the character of Max Cohen? About visual, textual, and sound elements in π A psychoanalytic look at the character of Max Cohen in π Requiem for a Dream: Addiction and Broken Dreams The need for transgression and the habit of addiction Visualization of addiction in Requiem for a Dream Reality and fiction in stories about addiction The Fountain: Death and the Authenticity of Existence Myths and symbolism in The Fountain Philosophical views of existence, temporality, and death Visual correspondences and symmetry versus asymmetry in The Fountain Aronofsky’s style: Between Spielberg’s narrative and Kubrick’s duality The Wrestler: Melodrama and the Gift of Death Visualization of artificial reality: persona versus ego and the sacrifice Death as a gift? Art imitating life or life imitating art: Rourke and von Stroheim Social connotations in The Wrestler Aronofsky, Fassbinder, and the redefinition of melodrama Black Swan: Limit Experience and Artistic Perfection The characters’ roles in Black Swan Visual elements presenting Nina’s psychic and bodily transformation The search for artistic perfection, limit experiences and the disintegration of reality Thriller, melodrama, and the issue of gender in Black Swan Black Swan and some relevant films Noah: Responsibility, Love, and the Moment of Choice The story of Noah and Campbell’s view of mythology Exteriority versus interiority in Noah: audio/visual elements Noah as combination of various cinematic sensibilities The sacrifice of Noah versus the sacrifice of Abraham On Auteurship, Aronofsky’s Themes and Stylistic Signature On Aronofsky’s themes and narrative style On Aronofsky’s cinematic style Courage to tell our own stories Appendix: Conversation with Aronofsky Bibliography Index Darren Aronofsky's Films and the Fragility of Hope offers the first sustained analysis of the current oeuvre of the film director, screenwriter, and producer Darren Aronofsky. Including Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), The Wrestler (2008), Black Swan (2010), and Noah (2014), Aronofsky's filmography is discussed with respect to his style and the themes of his films, making astute connections with the work of other directors, other movies and works of art, and connecting his films with other disciplines such as math, philosophy, psychology, and art history. Jadranka Skorin-Kapov deploys her background in philosophy and math to analyze an American filmmaker with an individual voice, working on both independent productions and big-budget Hollywood films. Aronofsky is revealed to be a philosopher's director, considering the themes of life and death, addiction and obsession, sacrifice, and the fragility of hope. Skorin-Kapov discusses his ability to visually present challenging intersections between art and philosophy. Concluding with a transcript of a conversation between the author and Aronofsky himself, Darren Aronofsky's Films and the Fragility of Hope is a much-needed study on this American auteur. This title offers a sustained analysis of the current oeuvre of the film director, screenwriter, and producer Darren Aronofsky. Including 'Pi' (1998), 'Requiem for a Dream' (2000), 'The Fountain' (2006), 'The Wrestler' (2008), 'Black Swan' (2010), and 'Noah' (2014), Aronofsky's filmography is discussed with respect to his style and the themes of his films, making astute connections with the work of other directors, other movies and works of art, and connecting his films with other disciplines such as math, philosophy, psychology, and art history. Jadranka Skorin-Kapov deploys her background in philosophy and math to analyse an American filmmaker with an individual voice, working on both independent productions and big-budget Hollywood films The First Sustained Analysis Of The Current Oeuvre Of Film Director Darren Aronofsky, Examining The Many Intersections Between His Filmic Work And His Philosophical Positions-- Jadranka Skorin-kapov. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 173-178) And Index.