Cinematic Decadence

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The concept of Cinematic Fin-de-Siècle Decadence was introduced by Professor Olga Kyrylova
(Kyiv, Ukraine) in 2011. In her works, she defined cinematic decadence as a paradigm in
filmmaking based on the art nouveau visual stylization of filmic reality, fin-de-siècle
symbolism as a theoretical basis implicating the synthesis of arts (Gezamtkunstwerk) along
with the dialectical, cinematic, ‘editing-based’ nature of symbol, and decadence as the basis
of worldview, world-perception and world-creation, including different modes, from
escapism to ‘necrocinephilia’. The latter component (decadence) allows to broaden the limits
of the cinematic decadence beyond the XIX-XX fin-de-siècle period and extend its paradigm
and methodology to a wider range of films and filmmakers. The purpose of the panel is to
examine the limits of the cinematic decadence and its potential for the future artistic and
social design. What is the decolonizing potential of the cinematic decadence? Could
cinematic decadence be a political strategy? How fin-de-siècle visual style and life patterns
are being adopted by modernity? How can the plots of the past create additional sites of
resistance? What is the potential of the life-creation as a fin-de-siècle concept? What are the
criteria for defining filmmakers as ‘decadent’? ‘Thanatology of cinematic decadence’ as an
effective up-to-date concept for designing the global future – how could it be possible?

Sub Unit

• Cinema, Television, Electronic Media

Chair

• Olga Kyrylova, U of Kansas

Papers

• The Decolonizing Potential of the Cinematic Decadence in Geopolitical Contexts of Odesa and Central Asia: From The Last Tango and The Minaret of Death by Vyskovsky to Among the Grey Stones and Change of Fate by Muratova - Olga Kyrylova, U of Kansas

• Racism as Social Pathology: Kira Muratova’s 'Change of Fate' (1987) - David Gomiero Molina, U of Chicago

• Time and Utopia in 'The Goat Song' and 'Megalopolis' - Charles McKenna Smith, UC Berkeley

Discussant

• Catherine Le Gouis, Mt Holyoke College