Smell as Self-identity: Capitalist Ideology and Olfactory Imagination in Das Parfum’s Multimedia Storytelling

<p>This thesis explores smell as a cultural signifier in <em>Perfume</em>’s multimedia storytelling. By establishing the theoretical ground upon the historical importance of scent, the thesis focuses particularly on its close interrelationships with the politics of identity, an issue elaborated in Patrick Süskind’s novel <em>D</em><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Parfum_%E2%80%93_Die_Geschichte_eines_M%C3%B6rders" title="Das Parfum – Die Geschichte eines Mörders"><em>as Parfum–Die Geschichte Eines Mörders</em></a><em> </em>(<em>Perfume: The Story of a Murderer</em>, 1985) as well as its two screen adaptations--the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume:_The_Story_of_a_Murderer_(film)" title="Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)"><em>Perfume: The Story of a Murderer</em></a> (dir. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tykwer" title="Tom Tykwer">Tom Tykwer</a>, 2006) and the television series <em>Parfum </em>(Netflix, 2018). In virtue of textual analysis and cultural studies on Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s discussion on Enlightenment, Martin Heidegger’s Existentialist philosophy, Foucouldian governmentality, and neoliberal language of self-sufficiency, the thesis analyzes how smell could be effectively visualized through cinematic techniques while ideologically decoding <em>Perfume</em> as a critique of capitalist culture that exerts manipulation, standardization, and fragmentation of individual identity. In conclusion, the three texts of<em> Perfume</em> provide the audience with a unique story universe about olfactory imagination to expose people’s struggles with the sense of self under capitalist development. Meanwhile, the thesis proves that smell as a social and cultural discourse has crucial sense in film and media studies, whilst functioning deeply in people’s everyday life.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Film Studies

Year

2020

Author dc:creator

• Liu, Xinrong

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nam Lee
• Erica Aguero
• Stephanie Takaragawa

• Smell
• Self-identity
• Capitalist Ideology
• Cultural meanings
• Das Parfum
• Film and Media Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/film_studies_theses/11

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:film_studies_theses-1010