Dwelling in the Abyss: Society in Werner Herzog and Martin Heidegger

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Názov: Dwelling in the Abyss: Society in Werner Herzog and Martin Heidegger
Autori: Wu, H
Prispievatelia: DSpace at Cambridge pro (8.1)
Zdroj: Film-Philosophy, Vol 29, Iss 1, Pp 144-168 (2025)
Informácie o vydavateľovi: Edinburgh University Press, 2025.
Rok vydania: 2025
Predmety: Motion pictures, Into the Abyss, language, death, B1-5802, 36 Creative Arts and Writing, 3605 Screen and Digital Media, Heidegger, PN1993-1999, Arendt, Philosophy (General), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Popis: This article articulates a dialogue between Werner Herzog’s films and Martin Heidegger’s philosophy to illuminate human dwelling. In the light of Heidegger’s ideas of dwelling, thrownness, they-self, authenticity, abyss and being-towards-death, I look into the abyss of society as represented by Herzog, considering dwelling with humans in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and Into the Abyss (2011) as dwelling through language and dwelling in proximity to death. This article’s primary purpose is to redress society’s overly negative connotation as monstrous and unhomely in Herzog and, against the predominant critical interpretations and Herzog’s self-commentary, discover the homely therein. Specifically, this film-philosophy dialogue will shed important light on both Herzog and Heidegger. Heidegger’s philosophical thought enables a creative and insightful reading of overlooked yet significant aesthetic forms in Herzog’s films: the motif of tears in Kaspar Hauser and the jump cuts and close-ups in Abyss. Meanwhile, Herzog’s films work out Heidegger’s paradoxical and etymological wordplay of the abyss that also grounds. Not only do the films affectively effectuate and interrogate the terror and promise of human dwelling in artistic terms, but Abyss also breaks the Heideggerian category of mortality and gestures towards Hannah Arendt’s idea of natality.
Druh dokumentu: Article
Popis súboru: application/pdf
Jazyk: English
ISSN: 1466-4615
DOI: 10.3366/film.2025.0296
DOI: 10.17863/cam.110434
Prístupová URL adresa: https://doaj.org/article/52b19cb11d3548ad85a7bb79ac7390d5
Rights: EUP TDM
CC BY NC
Prístupové číslo: edsair.doi.dedup.....71800a914b47d4c6e8f723668cca98cb
Databáza: OpenAIRE
Popis
Abstrakt:This article articulates a dialogue between Werner Herzog’s films and Martin Heidegger’s philosophy to illuminate human dwelling. In the light of Heidegger’s ideas of dwelling, thrownness, they-self, authenticity, abyss and being-towards-death, I look into the abyss of society as represented by Herzog, considering dwelling with humans in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and Into the Abyss (2011) as dwelling through language and dwelling in proximity to death. This article’s primary purpose is to redress society’s overly negative connotation as monstrous and unhomely in Herzog and, against the predominant critical interpretations and Herzog’s self-commentary, discover the homely therein. Specifically, this film-philosophy dialogue will shed important light on both Herzog and Heidegger. Heidegger’s philosophical thought enables a creative and insightful reading of overlooked yet significant aesthetic forms in Herzog’s films: the motif of tears in Kaspar Hauser and the jump cuts and close-ups in Abyss. Meanwhile, Herzog’s films work out Heidegger’s paradoxical and etymological wordplay of the abyss that also grounds. Not only do the films affectively effectuate and interrogate the terror and promise of human dwelling in artistic terms, but Abyss also breaks the Heideggerian category of mortality and gestures towards Hannah Arendt’s idea of natality.
ISSN:14664615
DOI:10.3366/film.2025.0296