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1981
Volume 22, Issue 3-4
  • ISSN: 1651-6826
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3801

Abstract

In the context of world cinema studies, realism has recently been reassessed as an aesthetics based on the status granted to objectivity and the ideal of non-anthropomorphic perspective. In an attempt to broaden that critical view, the article explores how that notion is affected by the cinema whose main goal is to offer viewers the personal vision of its creative personnel (actors, directors, cinematographers, etc.) while adhering to a production mode akin to the collaborative representation of non-fiction film. The article argues that the deployment of subjectivity in Chloé Zhao’s (2017) inflects it with constructions of authenticity that provide an alternative to conceptualizations of realism. The film mobilizes the aesthetic and social dimensions of authenticity, channelling them through an audio-visual style that blends subjectivity with the language of objectivity. reveals that when cinema exhibits personal vision this blend is articulated through an authenticity that consists of objectivity tinged with subjective emotion. From a cultural point of view, this cinema is characterized by ideological ambivalence: on the one hand, it creates an idealized spectator, while on the other, it prompts viewers to discover and value the real behind fiction.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) (Award PID2020-114338GB-I00)
  • Gobierno de Aragón (Award H23_20R)
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2026-04-03
2026-04-20

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/content/journals/10.1386/fint_00263_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): auteur; collaborative auto-representation; emotion; film aesthetics; personal cinema; presence; subjectivity

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