Mistrust of photography. Amnesia and misleading portraits in mind-game films
Amnesia and misleading portraits in mind-game films.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/Fotocinema.2022.vi25.14497Keywords:
Post photography, memory, mind-game films, postclassical cinema, Alejandro Amenábar, Christopher NolanAbstract
In this article we analyse the intersection between photography, narrative complexity and memory in post-classical cinema. We focus on the use of photography as a narrative resource in the so-called mind-game films; specifically, those starring amnesiac characters. In the era of post-photography, post-truth and fake news, contemporary cinema invites us to be suspicious of the photographic image. If this usually appears in cinema as an indication of an accurate memory or as irrefutable proof of a fact, mind-game films turn it into a misleading resource, as it contributes to confuse the protagonist and, with him, the spectator. We take as a basis the theoretical framework that addresses the main axes of the text (mind-game films, memory and post-photography) and we apply semiotic textual analysis as a methodology to focus on Abre los ojos (Alejandro Amenábar, 1996), Los otros (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001), El maquinista (Brad Anderson, 2006), Hierro (Gabe Ibáñez, 2009) and Sin identidad (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011) as case studies.
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