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the phaedra complex: the way of the gun and bataille's annihilation by Adrian Gargett, Ph.D. (agargett@darleymead.u-net.com) - December 02, 2001 |
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| The Way of the Gun articulates a predicative aesthetic of filmic violence. Sensations are attuned to hyper-realistic levels revealing an essential understanding of spectacle and reaction. The film achieves an extraordinary power by successfully marrying realist action to dream-like stylized effects. Brutal scenes are undercut with lyricism and dead-pan humour, ultimately comprising a flamboyant and dextrously versatile display of film making. McQuarrie in taking his visuals and narratives towards Saturnalian discord is less concerned about a transcendence or redemption but more about failure and survival. It is to its credit that The Way of the Gun can elicit such incendiary sensations in the spectator. Violence and death become more than an image on screen. Joe Sarno: I promise you a day of reckoning that you won't live long enough to never forget. Christopher McQuarries complex, elegiac exploration of the noir-crime genre is overlayed by his overtly graphic use of violence. Uncompromisingly McQuarrie is adept at probing the psychological and spiritual pain of violent men at odds with the "civilised" World. Harsh in his assessment of American sentimental nostalgia of "western truth", he is paradoxically a "romantic" committed to an ideal of self-expression through violent death. Endnotes: [1] Bataille, George. trans. Bruce Boone. On Nietzsche. New York: Paragon House, 1992. [2] Bataille, George. trans. Robert Hurley. The Accused Share, Vol II: The History of Eroticism and Vol III: Sovereignty. New York: Zone Books, 1991. [3] Bataille, George. trans. Robert Hurley. The Accused Share, Vol II: The History of Eroticism and Vol III: Sovereignty. New York: Zone Books, 1991. [4] Bataille, George. trans. Robert Hurley. The Accused Share, Vol I: Consumption. New York: Zone Books, 1988. [5] Bataille, George. trans. Bruce Boone. On Nietzsche. New York: Paragon House, 1992. [6] Bataille, George. Literature and Evil. trans. Alastair Hamilton. London: Calder and Boyers, 1973. [7] Bataille, George. trans. Bruce Boone. On Nietzsche. New York: Paragon House, 1992. [9] Bataille, George. trans. Allan Stoekl. Allan Stoekl (ed.). Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985. [10] Battaille, George. trans. Leslie Anne Boldt. Innter Experience. New York: SUNY Press, 1988. [11] Bataille, George. trans. Robert Hurley. The Accused Share, Vol II: The History of Eroticism and Vol III: Sovereignty. New York: Zone Books, 1991. [12] Battaille, George. trans. Robert Hurley. The Accused Share, Vol II: The History of Eroticism and Vol III: Sovereignty. New York: Zone Books, 1991. |
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