Frenetic Journey Toward Muddledness: An Experimental Short Film
As an artist and Film Studies student, I saw the capstone option as an opportunity to consolidate academia with the art of filmmaking into one project. This became Frenetic Journey Toward Muddledness, an experimental short film written, directed, and edited by me. It is a film influenced by early avant-garde cinema, German expressionism, and film noir. Composed of pieces of unrelated footage and featuring an ambiguous, non-linear, and mostly silent narrative, the editing of the film prompted me to ask myself questions about its genre. Its hybridity made it possible to position the film within different categories, but there was one particular category that I found difficult to ascertain. Is my film a queer film? Would it be considered queer cinema just because I happen to be queer? These and many other questions are explored in this paper. I turn to concepts of film form and narrativity to answer such questions, to situate my film under a theoretical microscope, and to put to the test my own understanding of the research I have undertaken. Lastly, I look at renowned works of queer cinema to examine possible parallels between them and my film. Ultimately, this capstone project has become a launching pad to continue making films utilizing the academic insight that I have gained.
Film and Media Studies, film, experimental, queer cinema, avant-garde, filmmaker, film noir
City University of New York - Graduate Center
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York