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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.
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perspective – should remind us that it’s a claustropho
Representing subjective experience
bic, disciplining view.
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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
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by encouraging audiences to identify vicariously with ZKRVH SURWDJRQLVW VXIIHUV IURP ORFNHG LQ V\QGURPH $QG
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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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the frame, creating a sense of solid, coherent corpore terface between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ subjective experiences,
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arms and hands intrude into the shot to handle props jectivity might intersect with systemic power and political
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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
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