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In OtherLife, Lucas’ use of what we could call ‘carceral subjectivity’ is much milder.
                      He sketches boundaries between feeling liberated and entrapped, and glosses over
                         the roles of capitalism and the state in determining freedom from constraint.



                                                                          2
                                                                 perspective – should remind us that it’s a claustropho
                     Representing subjective experience
                                                                 bic, disciplining view.
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                     LWV VPDOO EXGJHW  LW LQWXLWLYHO\ XQGHUVWRRG WKH F\ERUJ OLNH  ment that circles actors within a space. Instead, what
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                     on screen as characters sent and received them, placing   Christopher Campbell observes, the style is ‘a terrible
                     the audience within a subjective narrative space.  UHPLQGHU WKDW ZHpUH >f@ OLNH VRPHRQH VWUDSSHG WR WKH
                       Film is fundamentally an observational medium and,  back of the protagonist, without our own free will’. This

                     as such, has struggled to represent subjective experi   is cinematic code for incarceration. It’s used in the biopic
                     ence. Classical cinema seeks to bridge this distance  3GD #HUHMF !DKK @MC SGD !TSSDQlX  -XOLDQ 6FKQDEHO
                     by encouraging audiences to identify vicariously with  ZKRVH SURWDJRQLVW VXIIHUV IURP ORFNHG LQ V\QGURPH  $QG
                     characters’ experiences and emotions through the tech   &DS .TS  -RUGDQ 3HHOH        ĺQGV H[LVWHQWLDO KRUURU LQ
                     QLTXHV WKDW VXWXUH DFWLRQ DQG VSHFWDWRUVKLS  WKH FORVH   the forced spectatorship of ‘the sunken place’, where
                     XS  WKH VKRW   UHYHUVH VKRW  WKH YRLFHRYHU  WKH ĻDVKEDFN   black people live out their days helplessly watching their
                     0RUH LPSUHVVLRQLVWLF ĺOPPDNLQJ DWWHPSWV WR SRVLWLRQ  bodies being puppeteered by white people.
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                     space. Montages, blurs, cuts and dissolves evoke states  LQFRUSRUDWHV 329 VW\OH IRRWDJH LQ ZD\V WKDW PDNH WKH
                     of consciousness and perception: pondering, remem   audience uncomfortably complicit in racialised and
                     bering, confusion, agitation, passing out or coming to.  VH[XDOLVHG YLROHQFH  ,Q WKLV VFLHQFH ĺFWLRQ ĺOP  VHW DW
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                     and tight tracking shots mimic what a character sees as   6XSHUFRQGXFWLQJ 4XDQWXP ,QWHUIHUHQFH 'HYLFH t KHDG
                     they move through a space.                  VHWV UHFRUG WKH ZHDUHUpV VHQVDWLRQV DQG HPRWLRQV  DQG WKH
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                     (POV) style incorporates the character’s own body into  RI SROLFH EUXWDOLW\  5DWKHU WKDQ JODPRULVH WKH FLQHPDWLF LQ
                     the frame, creating a sense of solid, coherent corpore   terface between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ subjective experiences,
                     DOLW\  /HJV DQG IHHW YLVLEO\ SURSHO FDPHUD PRYHPHQWV   Bigelow asks the viewer to consider how embodied sub
                     arms and hands intrude into the shot to handle props  jectivity might intersect with systemic power and political
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                                                                      4

                     as if to the protagonist. Our familiarity with home mov   (2012) and #DSQNHS (2017) have been strongly criticised.
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                     has naturalised this approach, but the awkwardness of  ceral subjectivity’ is much milder. He sketches bounda
                     +@CX HM SGD +@JD  5REHUW 0RQWJRPHU\        t IUHTXHQWO\  ULHV EHWZHHQ IHHOLQJ OLEHUDWHG DQG HQWUDSSHG  DQG JORVVHV
                     FLWHG DV WKH ĺUVW ĺOP HQWLUHO\ VKRW IURP LWV SURWDJRQLVWpV   over the roles of capitalism and the state in determining

































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