The Intervals of Cinema

Cinema, like language, can be said to exist as a system of differences. In his latest book, acclaimed philosopher Jacques Rancière looks at cinematic art in comparison to its corollary forms in literature and theatre. From literature, he argues, cinema takes its narrative conventions, while at the same time effacing literature’s images and philosophy; and film rejects theatre, while also fulfilling theatre’s dream.

Built on these contradictions, the cinema is the real, material space in which one is moved by the spectacle of shadows. Thus, for Rancière, film is the perpetually disappointed dream of a language of images.

Jacques Ranciere is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris–VIII. His books include Aisthesis; On the Shores of Politics; Proletarian Nights; The Future of the Image; and The Emancipated Spectator.