Labor thought theory: on Frampton and Beller

摘要

In this paper the author considers the return of 'Grand Theory' in light of two recent books, Daniel Frampton's Filmosophy (2006) and Jonathan Beller's The Cinematic Mode of Production (2006). Both books disregard the chastening imperatives of recent film theory and the now decades-long retreat into historicism - a return predicated on calls to modesty and piecemeal research. In its place, Beller and Frampton return, in each their own ways, to consider the possibility of cinema as a form of thinking and labor. Where Frampton idealizes cinema as a thinking machine, Beller views cinema as an extension of capital, looking as a form of labor. Seen together, these books raise serious questions, once again, about cinema and the autonomy of art.