Abstract
Composed of ten short film episodes shot in Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, mainland China, and the United States of America, Life-world Series (dir. Joni Gutierrez, 2017, 118 min) operates under the aesthetics entailed in the realist film theory of Siegfried Kracauer—anchored in the cinematic realist tropes of the quotidian, the fortuitous, the indeterminate, the flow of life, and the spiritual life itself—in contemplating the phenomenological notion of the life-world (Lebenswelt). This chapter demonstrates how engaging this set of tropes as a basis for film aesthetics fosters insights on our shared Lebenswelt that transcends geographical boundaries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The original plan for the project was to shoot the entire series only in Hong Kong; thus the name of the first short film. After considering the expanse of the Lebenswelt, the director decided to shoot the collection in several countries; thus, the present name of the series. From that point on, the next nine films were named according to the format Study [Number]: Title.
- 2.
- 3.
Study Two: Young Filipino-Hongkongers (2016) was integrated as the multi-media component of this play that was staged on 3 July 2016 at the Y Theatre in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
- 4.
This belongs to a set of 60 photographs featured in the director’s solo exhibition “Home for Now”, which was exhibited at the Gallery of the Hong Kong Baptist University Main Library from 1 June to 3 July 2016; the Gallery of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong from 4 to 8 September 2016; and the Foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong on 25 June 2017.
- 5.
These refer to the Orlando nightclub shooting on 12 June 2016, the Istanbul airport bomb explosions on 28 June 2016, and the Paris attacks in the same year. Note that one of the elements within the photograph component at this point is a street sign that indicates currency: $, ¥, £, and €. This match between the photograph and the evocative text is designed to allude to the convertibility of human experience; although we use different currencies, and although tragedies happen in different places, their essence is the same.
- 6.
Whitehead’s entire text reads, “When you understand all about the sun and all about the atmosphere and all about the rotation of the earth, you may still miss the radiance of the sunset. There is no substitute for the direct perception of the concrete achievement of a thing in its actuality” (1925, p. 199).
References
Aitken, I. (1998). Introduction. In I. Aitken (Ed.), The documentary film movement, an anthology (pp. 1–68). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Aitken, I. (2001). European film theory and cinema: A critical introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Aitken, I. (2006). Realist film theory and cinema: The nineteenth-century Lukácsian and intuitionist realist traditions. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
Aitken, I. (2007). Physical reality: The role of the empirical in the film theory of Siegfried Kracauer, John Grierson, André Bazin and Georg Lukács. Studies in Documentary Film, 1(2), 105–121.
Aitken, I. (2016). Introduction. In I. Aitken (Ed.), The major realist film theorists: A critical anthology (pp. 1–40). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Armstrong, R. (2007, January 1). Siegfried Kracauer. Metro (Melbourne) (pp. 62–66).
Ayaß, R. (2017). Life-world, sub-worlds, after-worlds: The various ‘realnesses’ of multiple realities. Human Studies, 40(4), 519–542.
Gander, H. (2017). Self-understanding and lifeworld: Basic traits of a phenomenological hermeneutics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Gilloch, G. (2015). Siegfried Kracauer: Our companion in misfortune (key contemporary thinkers). Oxford: Wiley.
Hansen, M. B. (1997). Introduction. In Kracauer, S. (Ed.). Theory of film: The redemption of physical reality (pp. vii–xlv). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Herzog, W. (Writer & Dir.). (2005). Grizzly man [Motion Picture].
Kracauer, S. (1960). Theory of film: The redemption of physical reality. London, New York, & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kracauer, S. (1975). The mass ornament. New German Critique, 5, 67–76.
Richter, G. (1997). Siegfried Kracauer and the folds of friendship. The German Quarterly, 70(3), 233–246.
Russell, M. (2006). Husserl: A guide for the perplexed. London and New York: Continuum.
Sieg, C. (2010). Beyond realism: Siegfried Kracauer and the ornaments of the ordinary. New German Critique, 37(1), 99–118.
Whitehead, A. N. (1925). Science and the modern world. New York: New American Library.
Wils, T. (2016). Phenomenology, theology and “physical reality”: The film theory realism of Siegfried Kracauer. In I. Aitken (Ed.), The major realist film theorists: A critical anthology (pp. 67–80). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Acknowledgement
The research that led to the current book chapter was supported in part by the University of the Philippines through the PhD Incentive Award given to the author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gutierrez, J. (2020). Cinematic Contemplation Online: The Art and Philosophy of Life-world Series (2017). In: Kung, K.WS. (eds) Reconceptualizing the Digital Humanities in Asia. Digital Culture and Humanities, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4642-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4642-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4641-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4642-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)