The Outsiders of the Virtual City: Infrapolitics in Todd Phillips' Joker and Bong Joon-ho's Parasites

Authors

  • Àngel Quintana Universidad de Girona, España

Abstract

Two of the most awarded films in 2019, Todd Philipps' Joker and Bong Joon-ho's Parasites, are about the city. Both start from a certain vision of the city as an exterior landscape to come to show the existence of an agglomeration that affects the inner life of the citizens. It shows a city where mental imbalances destabilize human relations, but also as a space of tension. Critics referred to them as two films that speak of revolt and citizen unrest, even using the concept of class struggle to define the way they show the imbalances between the powerful and the disinherited of society. This article analyses the urban tensions depicted in both films by starting from the concept of infrapolitics, understood as something that arises from the failure of all interrogation, of all ethical demands on politics. It is something that stems from the human need for self-revelation, without purpose or calculation. The subversion that both films explore does not aim to transform society but to generate a noise that serves to highlight how the new metropolises are also a space for marginalisation and mental alteration.

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Author Biography

  • Àngel Quintana, Universidad de Girona, España
    Àngel Quintana es Catedrático de Historia y Teoria del cine en la Universidad de Girona. Ha sido profesor invitado en la Université de Laussanne, la Université Paris III, la Universidad de los Andes de Bogotá, FLACSO de Buenos Aires y la National School of cinema de Teheran. Ha publicado diferentes monografías sobre Roberto Rossellini, Jean Renoir o Federico Fellini. Es autor de los ensayos Fábulas de lo visible (Acantilado, 2003), Virtuel? (Cahiers du cinema, 2007), Después del cine (Acantilado, 2011), Lorca et le cinema (Nouvelles Editions Place, 2019) y Dylan et le cinema (Nouvelles Editions Place, 2020) y del dietario Estiu del desconcert (L’avenç, 2020). Ha ejercido como crítico de cine en Elpunt Avui, Caiman Cuadernos de cine y el suplemeno Cultura/S de la Vanguardia. Ha sido Investigador Principal de diferentes proyectos I+D financiados, el último de los cuales es “Mundos virtuales en el cine de los Orígenes”. Es director del Seminario sobre Antecedentes y Orígenes del cine.

References

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Published

2022-01-22

Dimensions

PlumX

Issue

No. 24 (2022): Images and sounds of urban geopolitics

Section

ARTICLES

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How to Cite

The Outsiders of the Virtual City: Infrapolitics in Todd Phillips’ Joker and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasites. (2022). Fotocinema. Revista científica De Cine Y fotografía, 24, 29-43. https://revistas.uma.es/index.php/fotocinema/article/view/14153