CINE, ÉTICA Y ALTERIDAD. METÁFORAS DEL ENCUENTRO CON EL OTRO

Resumen: El título del artículo me va a permitir un juego combinatorio tomando sus términos por parejas. De tal manera que lo que viene a continuación constará de tres partes. Una primera sobre la relación entre el cine y la ética; una última, en torno al cine y la alteridad. Y, entre ambas, un breve exordio que, siguiendo el pensamiento de Emmanuel Lévinas, reflexiona sobre el vínculo entre la ética y la alteridad. Para ello me valdré del análisis de tres películas: El lector (Stephen Daldry, 2008), Rosetta (Jean-Pierre y Luc Dardenne, 1999) y Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996).Abstract: The article title will allow me a combinatorial game matching its terms in pairs. Thereby, what comes next will consist of three parts. The first one will address the relationship between cinema and ethics, while the last one will approach cinema and the otherness. In between both, there will be a brief exordium that, following the thought of Emmanuel Lévinas, reflects on the link between ethics and the otherness. All of this will be based on the analysis of three films: The Reader (Stephen Daldry, 2008), Rosetta (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999) and Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996).

Interviews with John Sayles

This chapter presents a bibliography of key interviews given by the John Sayles throughout his career, followed by excerpts from these materials. In one interview, Sayles says that people forget that entertainment also has a political message. In another interview, he says that his work does not really fit into a specific genre, and confesses that he is very bad at finding titles for his movies. He singles out Matewan, saying that it is not a great-selling title, but that he never thought of anything better. The remaining excerpts present his thoughts about the Bush administration, the film Silver City, and why he attempts to immerse viewers in a place.

John Sayles

This chapter presents a commentary on John Sayles' film career. Sayles has long been referred to as America's leading independent filmmaker. More recently, he has been called both the grandfather and the godfather of American independent cinema. The press has also described Sayle's as a realist. Realism here means a particular kind of content, and that content is connected to a traditionally leftist position of support for workers. These are both aspects of Sayles' realism, but many of his films are neither gritty nor are focused on a particular class. The remainder of the chapter traces Sayles' path to filmmaking, where he began as writer of short stories and novels. It then turns to an analysis of his films, which include Liana (1983), Baby It's You (1983), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), Lone Star (1996), Silver City (2004), and Honeydripper (2007).

John Sayles

John Sayles is the very paradigm of the contemporary independent filmmaker. By raising much of the funding for his films himself, Sayles functions more independently than most directors, and he has used his freedom to write and produce films with a distinctive personal style and often clearly expressed political positions. From The Return of the Secaucus Seven to Sunshine State, his films have consistently expressed progressive political positions on issues including race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability. This book examines the defining characteristic of Sayles' cinema: its realism. Positing the filmmaker as a critical realist, the book explores Sayles' attention to narrative in critically acclaimed and popular films such as Matewan, Eight Men Out, Passion Fish, and Lone Star. The study also details the conditions under which Sayles' films have been produced, distributed, and exhibited, affecting the way in which these films have been understood and appreciated. In the process, the book presents Sayles as a teacher who tells historically accurate stories that invite audiences to consider the human world they all inhabit.