Isolation and connection: unbounded sound in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson

Slowik, Michael

doi:10.1080/17400309.2015.1005378

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The music's ability to link different narratives is particularly striking in some scenes. In the beginning, each character is presented in a moment of their everyday life while Mann's song One is the Loneliest Number plays non-diegetically: «The presence of a song about loneliness during these character introductions implies that the characters are paradoxically unified via their isolation» 50 . Although the first part of the movie emphasizes the disconnection between the protagonists, the music already hints at a possible sense of unity.…”

Section: C the Construction Of A Complex Whole Through Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting Magnolia through Badiou’s Axiomatic Judgment: The Visitation of the Idea that Humanity is Love

Gineprini

2023

Itinera

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Alain Badiou’s interpretation of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Magnolia is a paradigmatic example of his peculiar procedure of cinematic analysis called axiomatic judgment. According to the axiomatic judgment, to read a film is to inquire into the effects it has on thought. This essay reconstructs Badiou’s analysis of Magnolia to show how various cinematic elements—acting style, montage, music, and biblical references—are combined to arrange the visitation of a precise idea: that love is the fundamental precondition for humanity’s existence. Without love, the only experience of the world would be monadic. Examining Badiou’s interpretation of Magnolia does not simply aid our understanding of the film; it also clarifies Badiou’s theories of cinema and love.

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Section: C the Construction Of A Complex Whole Through Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%