• (In)appropriation: Productions of Laughter in Contemporary Experimental Found Footage Films

    Author(s):
    Jaimie Baron (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    Documentary Studies, Film-Philosophy, Film Studies
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    experimental video, remix, humor, Found footage, Appropriation
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/1d73-8j07
    Abstract:
    Found footage filmmaking often generates novel juxtapositions and produces new meanings unintended by the footage’s original makers – meanings that are, in other words, “inappropriate.” One response to many such films is laughter. Through an examination of several experimental found footage videos made in the past decade, this chapter explores the notion of “inappropriation,” of the unexpected and potentially subversive possibilities of audiovisual appropriation at this social and historical moment. Drawing on the theories of Henri Bergson, I argue that the laughter associated with inappropriation is often generated through the blurring of certain boundaries and/or from the recognition of a connection between two (or more) things previously unrecognized, disrupting habitual associations and establishing alternative ones. This laughter does not guarantee that inappropriation is always subversive of the dominant ideology, but I suggest that such laughter at and with an inappropriation film may sometimes constitute a complex form of critique.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199949311.003.0013
    Publisher:
    Oxford University Press
    Pub. Date:
    2014-4-16
    Book Title:
    Sampling Media
    Author/Editor:
    Laurel Westrup and David Laderman
    Chapter:
    12
    Page Range:
    168 - 182
    ISBN:
    9780199949311
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf jaimie-baron-inappropriation-productions-of-laughter.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 121

    Back to Deposits