Affirmed at the Margins: Lacunary Realism in Contemporary Film and Film TheorydissertationsTheus, Tyler AcreatorCopjec, JoanAdvisorJoyrich, LynneAdvisorRosen, PhilipAdvisorBrown University. Department of Modern Culture and Mediasponsor20218, 286 p.born digitalThesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021thesesThis dissertation argues for the political and aesthetic significance of a group of contemporary realist films that employ a non-presentational, lacunary aesthetic. Through close analyses of the aesthetics of offscreen space in slow cinema, I argue that contemporary forms of realist filmmaking are as concerned with setting limits on what can be represented and commodified as they are with recording, representing, and producing reality. Along the way, I offer new readings of Bazinian and Lacanian film theory in order to develop a framework for thinking cinematic realism in the post-analogue era, one that moves beyond a fascination with immediacy and direct presentation.Film theoryRealist Film theoryGlobal Art CinemaBazin, André, 1918-1958Jean-Louis ComolliSlow cinemaLacan, Jacques, 1901-1981offscreen spacePsychoanalytic Film TheoryHou, Xiaoxian, 1947-Oliveira, Manoel de, 1908-2015Tarr, Béla, 1955-Herzog, WernerJia, Zhangke, 1970-EnglishRPB20211004