After Authority

After Authority contends that art cinema’s constitutive ambiguity is a product of its having been forged in and around moments of transition from authoritarianism or totalitarianism to democracy. Kalling Heck compares films from Italy, Hungary, South Korea, and the United States in order to explore the political potentials of ambiguity in art cinema.

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After Authority explores the tendency in art cinema to respond to political transition by turning to ambiguity, a system that ideally stems the reemergence of authoritarian logics in art and elsewhere. By comparing films from Italy, Hungary, South Korea, and the United States, this book contends that the aesthetic tradition of ambiguity in art cinema can be traced to post-authoritarian conditions and that it is in the context of a transition away from authoritarianism where art cinema aesthetics become legible. Art cinema, then, can be seen as a mode of cinematic practice that is at its core political, as its constitutive ambiguity finds its roots in the rejection of centralized and hierarchical configurations of authority. Ultimately, After Authority proposes a history of art cinema predicated on the potentials, possibilities, and politics of ambiguity.