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The “material function” in cinema: Resolving the paradox of the glitch

  • Michael Betancourt EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 12, 2020

Abstract

Glitches pose expressive challenges for digital motion pictures. These problematics reveal a “material function” that determines their identification and prescribes their semantics on-screen. These issues of materiality are familiar from the ideological critiques of avant-garde film in the 1970s, but have not been explored in relation to the semiotics of digital cinema. Developing an understanding of these problematics shows the complex problematics of using glitches for critical and expressive purposes in motion pictures.


Corresponding author: Michael Betancourt, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA, USA, E-mail:

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Published Online: 2020-10-12
Published in Print: 2020-12-16

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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