Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Nogueira, Luís
Data de Publicação: 2020
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: por
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634
Resumo: The text presented here intends, starting from the many scattered, fragmentary and plural writings that Abel Gance bequeathed us, to delineate a poetics of his cinema based on a fundamental element of cinematic creation: light. The aim is to highlight the fundamental role that light plays, not only in Gance's cinema, but in all its artistic worldliness and personal existence, ranging from the most fervent enthusiasm of religious nature to the most incisive excitement of cinematic nature. The text is divided into three fundamental parts. The first proposes a brief profile of the author, framing him in his historical context and in the aesthetic universe in which he made himself, alluding to his many influences and identifying possible descendants. The second, which is the main and most extensive part of the text, deals precisely with the central issue here, light, in its multiple forms and levels, either as matter or as metaphor. The third focuses on the opposite, dark, lunar side that runs through the life of the French filmmaker, whether personal or creatively. Visionary in his filmic work and wordy in his textual legacy, his thoughts, vast in their thematic range, dense in their erudition, plural in their style, encyclopedic in their ambition, make a valuable contribution to a hypothetical theory of the filmmaker(s), to the extent that rarely have a voice and a vision been so enthusiastic and so analytical, so rigorous and so confessional, so poetic and so elliptical, shaped into a multi-sided prism that allows us to dive, dizzying and deeply, in the creative zeitgeist of a pivotal moment in the history of cinema, the 1920s, and of one of its most astonishing filmmakers.
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spelling Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of LightRequiem por um Cinema Utópico: Os evangelhos de luz de Abel GanceAbel GanceUtopian cinemaPoetics of LightFilmmakers' theoryAbel GanceCinema utópicoPoética da luzTeoria dos cineastasThe text presented here intends, starting from the many scattered, fragmentary and plural writings that Abel Gance bequeathed us, to delineate a poetics of his cinema based on a fundamental element of cinematic creation: light. The aim is to highlight the fundamental role that light plays, not only in Gance's cinema, but in all its artistic worldliness and personal existence, ranging from the most fervent enthusiasm of religious nature to the most incisive excitement of cinematic nature. The text is divided into three fundamental parts. The first proposes a brief profile of the author, framing him in his historical context and in the aesthetic universe in which he made himself, alluding to his many influences and identifying possible descendants. The second, which is the main and most extensive part of the text, deals precisely with the central issue here, light, in its multiple forms and levels, either as matter or as metaphor. The third focuses on the opposite, dark, lunar side that runs through the life of the French filmmaker, whether personal or creatively. Visionary in his filmic work and wordy in his textual legacy, his thoughts, vast in their thematic range, dense in their erudition, plural in their style, encyclopedic in their ambition, make a valuable contribution to a hypothetical theory of the filmmaker(s), to the extent that rarely have a voice and a vision been so enthusiastic and so analytical, so rigorous and so confessional, so poetic and so elliptical, shaped into a multi-sided prism that allows us to dive, dizzying and deeply, in the creative zeitgeist of a pivotal moment in the history of cinema, the 1920s, and of one of its most astonishing filmmakers.O texto que aqui apresentamos, partindo dos inúmeros escritos dispersos, fragmentários e plurais que Abel Gance nos legou, pretende delinear uma poética do seu cinema tendo como base um elemento fundamental da criação cinematográfica: a luz. O objetivo é relevar o papel fundamental que a luz ocupa, não apenas no cinema de Gance, mas em toda a sua mundividência artística e na sua existência pessoal, indo do entusiasmo mais fervoroso de cariz religioso ao enlevo mais incisivo de cariz cinematográfico. O texto divide-se em três partes fundamentais. A primeira propõe um breve perfil do autor, enquadrando-o no seu contexto histórico e no universos estético em que se formou, aludindo às suas muitas influências e identificando possíveis descendências. A segunda, que constitui a parte fulcral e mais extensa do texto, aborda precisamente o tema central aqui problematizado, a luz, nas suas múltiplas modalidades e níveis, seja enquanto matéria ou enquanto metáfora. A terceira debruça-se sobre o lado oposto, escuro, lunar, que atravessa a vida do cineasta francês, seja pessoal seja criativamente. Visionário na sua obra fílmica e prolixo no seu legado textual, os seus pensamentos, vastos na sua amplitude temática, densos na sua erudição, plurais no seu estilo, enciclopédicos na sua ambição, constituem um valioso contributo para uma hipotética teoria do(s) cineasta(s), na medida precisamente em que raras vezes uma voz e uma visão foram tão entusiásticas e tão analíticas, tão rigorosas e tão confessionais, tão poéticas e tão elípticas, configurando-se num prisma de múltipla faces que nos permite mergulhar, vertiginosa e profundamente, no zeitgeist criativo de um momento fundamental da história do cinema, a década de 1920, e num dos seus realizadores mais espantosos.AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento2020-07-14info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634Aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image; Vol 7 No 2 (2020): Filmmakers’ theory: an approach to the study of cinema; 85-107Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento; v. 7 n. 2 (2020): Teoria dos cineastas: uma abordagem para o estudo do cinema; 85-1072183-1750reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPporhttp://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/634http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/634/395Direitos de Autor (c) 2020 Aniki : Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimentoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessNogueira, Luís2024-01-26T02:03:18Zoai:aim.org.pt/ojs/:article/634Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T01:57:19.716731Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
Requiem por um Cinema Utópico: Os evangelhos de luz de Abel Gance
title Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
spellingShingle Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
Nogueira, Luís
Abel Gance
Utopian cinema
Poetics of Light
Filmmakers' theory
Abel Gance
Cinema utópico
Poética da luz
Teoria dos cineastas
title_short Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
title_full Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
title_fullStr Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
title_full_unstemmed Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
title_sort Requiem for a Utopian Cinema: Abel Gance's Gospels of Light
author Nogueira, Luís
author_facet Nogueira, Luís
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Nogueira, Luís
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Abel Gance
Utopian cinema
Poetics of Light
Filmmakers' theory
Abel Gance
Cinema utópico
Poética da luz
Teoria dos cineastas
topic Abel Gance
Utopian cinema
Poetics of Light
Filmmakers' theory
Abel Gance
Cinema utópico
Poética da luz
Teoria dos cineastas
description The text presented here intends, starting from the many scattered, fragmentary and plural writings that Abel Gance bequeathed us, to delineate a poetics of his cinema based on a fundamental element of cinematic creation: light. The aim is to highlight the fundamental role that light plays, not only in Gance's cinema, but in all its artistic worldliness and personal existence, ranging from the most fervent enthusiasm of religious nature to the most incisive excitement of cinematic nature. The text is divided into three fundamental parts. The first proposes a brief profile of the author, framing him in his historical context and in the aesthetic universe in which he made himself, alluding to his many influences and identifying possible descendants. The second, which is the main and most extensive part of the text, deals precisely with the central issue here, light, in its multiple forms and levels, either as matter or as metaphor. The third focuses on the opposite, dark, lunar side that runs through the life of the French filmmaker, whether personal or creatively. Visionary in his filmic work and wordy in his textual legacy, his thoughts, vast in their thematic range, dense in their erudition, plural in their style, encyclopedic in their ambition, make a valuable contribution to a hypothetical theory of the filmmaker(s), to the extent that rarely have a voice and a vision been so enthusiastic and so analytical, so rigorous and so confessional, so poetic and so elliptical, shaped into a multi-sided prism that allows us to dive, dizzying and deeply, in the creative zeitgeist of a pivotal moment in the history of cinema, the 1920s, and of one of its most astonishing filmmakers.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-07-14
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dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634
https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634
url https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v7n2.634
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv por
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dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/634
http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/634/395
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Direitos de Autor (c) 2020 Aniki : Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Direitos de Autor (c) 2020 Aniki : Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento
publisher.none.fl_str_mv AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image; Vol 7 No 2 (2020): Filmmakers’ theory: an approach to the study of cinema; 85-107
Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento; v. 7 n. 2 (2020): Teoria dos cineastas: uma abordagem para o estudo do cinema; 85-107
2183-1750
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