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Ambiguity and Film Criticism
Reasonable Doubt
by Hoi Lun Law
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Book Presentation:
This book defends an account of ambiguity which illuminates the aesthetic possibilities of film and the nature of film criticism. Ambiguity typically describes the condition of multiple meanings. But we can find multiple meanings in what appears unambiguous to us. So, what makes ambiguity ambiguous? This study argues that a sense of uncertainty is vital to the concept. Ambiguity is what presses us to inquire into our puzzlement over a movie, to persistently ask “why is it as it is?” Notably, this account of the concept is also an account of its criticism. It recognises that a satisfying assessment of what is ambiguous involves both our reason and doubt; that is, reason and doubt can work together in our practice of reading. This book, then, considers ambiguity as a form of reasonable doubt, one that invites us to reflect on our critical efforts, rethinking the operation of film criticism.
About the Author:
Hoi Lun Law has previously taught at the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, UK.
Press Reviews:
"Law’s selections are refreshingly diverse…. Most importantly, his collection is a testament to the importance of active viewing, of entering a critical dialogue with a piece of art rather than taking it all in at face value." (Thomas Puhr, Film International)
"The great film director Alexander Mackendrick once declared: ‘Ambiguity does not mean lack of clarity’. Hoi Lun Law brings a razor-sharp eye, ear and mind to the question of ambiguity in cinema, and how film criticism can best discern and explore it. This is a highly significant and original book – lucid, engaging, well-written and persuasive, while also subtly challenging many of our received ideas about the workings of ambiguity." (Prof. Adrian Martin, author of Mysteries of Cinema)
See the publisher website: Palgrave MacMillan
> From the same author:
Gilles Deleuze and Film Criticism (2024)
Philosophy, Theory, and the Individual Film
Dir. Dominic Lash and Hoi Lun Law
Subject: Theory
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