Volume 5, Issue 2, 2024
The Current State of Cinema
Chiara Quaranta, Francesco Sticchi
Pages 223-242
https://doi.org/10.5840/jcp20254859
A Digital Reimagining of the Real
Indexical Loss and Creative Potentialities in the Cinema
With the advent of digital technologies, questions concerning the ontology of cinema and issues of realism have returned in a renewed fashion. Everything seems to change with the loss of the indexical bond between the film image and physical reality, sometimes reaching apocalyptic conclusions regarding the end of cinema, if not of reality as such. In this paper, we engage with the indexical loss as a positive force, considering realism and reality in two seemingly opposing ways, both of which however can renew our understanding of cinema as well as our relationship with the world. We consider various moments in the past labelled as death(s) of cinema before exploring the importance of indexical accounts and looking at the crisis of this paradigm by revisiting the notion of realism through Gilles Deleuze. Towards the end of the paper, we investigate the practical results of such a theoretical stance in the works of filmmakers who have tested and experimented with the fabrics and facets of digital audio-vision.