The Colour of Film-Philosophy
This article draws upon the work of Sylvia Wynter and W.E.B. Du Bois in order to propose that film-philosophy has historically not paid due attention to race. Drawing upon the former’s concept of “the sociogenic principle”, as well as the latter’s theories of “the colour line” and “double-consciousn...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Edinburgh University Press
2023-06-01
|
| Series: | Film-Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0226 |
| _version_ | 1797821198765129728 |
|---|---|
| author | William Brown |
| author_facet | William Brown |
| author_sort | William Brown |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article draws upon the work of Sylvia Wynter and W.E.B. Du Bois in order to propose that film-philosophy has historically not paid due attention to race. Drawing upon the former’s concept of “the sociogenic principle”, as well as the latter’s theories of “the colour line” and “double-consciousness”, the article argues that modernity has been constructed coterminously with whiteness, as well as a “photographic/cinematographic” logic whereby Blackness is cast into a “negative” realm. That is, while modernity might be white, more specifically it is antiblack. For film-philosophy ethically to evolve, then, it must not just pursue a dewesternising turn to the global, as suggested by various scholars, but it must also reckon with antiblackness and the role that cinema has played in constructing and reaffirming a white (and therefore antiblack) world. By this token, recent engagements with objects and animals similarly do not often consider race as a structuring concept of and for the human, in distinction to which both objects and animals supposedly exist. Indeed, one might even construe the contemporary emphasis on objects and animals among primarily white western scholars as a refusal to consider race with the critical rigour that it merits. This article goes some way towards introducing such critical rigour as developed among scholars in critical race theory, in particular Black Studies, especially Du Bois and Wynter; and it proposes that the application of such work to film will radically alter how we consider the medium. In this way, the article draws out the (white) colour of film-philosophy, and argues for a racially conscious/conscientious film-philosophy that will thus be worthy of the name. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:49:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d9044a375374d8e8d9eed9586ba5805 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1466-4615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:49:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Film-Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d9044a375374d8e8d9eed9586ba58052023-05-24T15:22:57ZengEdinburgh University PressFilm-Philosophy1466-46152023-06-0127219722110.3366/film.2023.0226The Colour of Film-PhilosophyWilliam Brown0University of British ColumbiaThis article draws upon the work of Sylvia Wynter and W.E.B. Du Bois in order to propose that film-philosophy has historically not paid due attention to race. Drawing upon the former’s concept of “the sociogenic principle”, as well as the latter’s theories of “the colour line” and “double-consciousness”, the article argues that modernity has been constructed coterminously with whiteness, as well as a “photographic/cinematographic” logic whereby Blackness is cast into a “negative” realm. That is, while modernity might be white, more specifically it is antiblack. For film-philosophy ethically to evolve, then, it must not just pursue a dewesternising turn to the global, as suggested by various scholars, but it must also reckon with antiblackness and the role that cinema has played in constructing and reaffirming a white (and therefore antiblack) world. By this token, recent engagements with objects and animals similarly do not often consider race as a structuring concept of and for the human, in distinction to which both objects and animals supposedly exist. Indeed, one might even construe the contemporary emphasis on objects and animals among primarily white western scholars as a refusal to consider race with the critical rigour that it merits. This article goes some way towards introducing such critical rigour as developed among scholars in critical race theory, in particular Black Studies, especially Du Bois and Wynter; and it proposes that the application of such work to film will radically alter how we consider the medium. In this way, the article draws out the (white) colour of film-philosophy, and argues for a racially conscious/conscientious film-philosophy that will thus be worthy of the name.https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0226whitenessantiblacknessSylvia WynterW.E.B. Du Boisfilm-philosophyrace |
| spellingShingle | William Brown The Colour of Film-Philosophy Film-Philosophy whiteness antiblackness Sylvia Wynter W.E.B. Du Bois film-philosophy race |
| title | The Colour of Film-Philosophy |
| title_full | The Colour of Film-Philosophy |
| title_fullStr | The Colour of Film-Philosophy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Colour of Film-Philosophy |
| title_short | The Colour of Film-Philosophy |
| title_sort | colour of film philosophy |
| topic | whiteness antiblackness Sylvia Wynter W.E.B. Du Bois film-philosophy race |
| url | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0226 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williambrown thecolouroffilmphilosophy AT williambrown colouroffilmphilosophy |