Sara Matetich
Screens, Frames and Writings of Reality | from Jacques Derrida to Peter Greenaway
What should the word – with which we make an original pact – tell to act like a question?
What does the word really tell?
Does the language of words and images tell the Real through its representation?
In essence: does an image that is the Last Word and tells something ‘more’ than the word about the sense/meaning of reality exist?
The devotion of much philosophy to the issue of meaning (and understanding) the real/world through its image is well known,image which is an inaccurate translation when by »Weltanschauung« we mean an »image of the world« (Kant, Dilthey), or limited meaning when by »Weltbild« we don’t want to refer to the »representation of the world«, but to the »world conceived as an image« (Heidegger).
The ‘newness’ lies in the lexical conception of the image with which Jacques Derrida overflows the boundaries of academic logic offering a valuable analytical tool to examine the ‘visual reality’ of cinema and its derivatives.
Just from this assumption, we will try to account for the writing which in form of image shows (the screen), contains (the frame) and indicates the (a) meaning of reality.
The representation of the act of writing technically flows into the screen – in its specific sense of event, »Ereignis « – erasing the time lag between the moment the event takes place and the moment of its representation.
The purpose of my speech is to show the representative potentialities of the word (according to Jacques Derrida) and the obstacles the text (not really the »word«!) poses to the making of a good film product (according to Peter Greenaway).
It will also be shown how, both for the philosopher and the director, the screen (as space of projection of the image) contains the wandering of the image and of the word (of the writing) in form of image; and how for both the real significance of telling an image lies in the ‘connection’ that, rather than enclosing, will indicate the (a) sense of reality.
Sara Matetich holds a PhD in Philosophy from University La Sapienza in Rome (2009). Her research topics include Aesthetics and Cinema, Philosophy of Judgment, Theory of Image, Kantian Criticism, Existentialism and Ontology (Heidegger, Arendt). Among her most important publications are the volumes »In no time - Forme di vita, tempo e veritá in Virginia Woolf« (2013) and »Virginia Woolf - Sul cinema« (2012).