'We Curate Our Identity, Carve It, Distil It': A Telecinematic Stylistic Exploration of Viewer Understanding and Engagement With Split Portrayals

Abstract

This thesis presents a telecinematic stylistic exploration of viewers’ experiences of the split Self in cinema. The study stylistically investigates the multimodal medium of cinema and viewers’ responses through a number of theoretical approaches. Text World Theory (Werth 1999, Gavins 2007) and Contextual Frame Theory (Emmott 1997) are the models used to analyse the architecture of the fictional worlds introduced in four chosen texts. Some case studies employ individual methods, such as the use of pronouns (Lyons 1982, Fludernik 1994) in assessing a protagonist’s fragmented identity, or the use of lighting (van Leeuwen and Boeriis 2017) and associated conceptual metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). Four twentieth-century films form the focus of this thesis: Shutter Island (Scorsese 2010), three episodes from season one of Mr. Robot (Esmail 2015), Joker (Phillips 2019), and I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Kaufman 2020). These texts have been chosen for their diverse means of representing the split Self through a variety of themes and motifs. Each artefact has been viewed by one group of spectators. For the final analysis, I have selected one sequence referenced by each group. I analyse the visual and formal textual features in the sequences using transcriptions of the cinematographic techniques, the world-building elements, and the function advancers (McIntyre 2008, Gibbons and Whiteley 2021). This thesis offers several contributions to contemporary stylistics scholarship. Firstly, I demonstrate the capacity of telecinematic artefacts to characterise protagonists through an assortment of visual and aural features. Secondly, this thesis offers a contribution to the study of cinema in stylistics, and a contribution to the study of viewer-data. Thirdly, the present typology suggests that the split Self is a prevalent and evolving representation in cinema which should be further explored. Finally, this thesis proposes a starting point for a more systematic model of the split Self.