Vol. 1 No. 2 (2023)
Articles

The Magnified Reflection: Art, Sincerity, and Identity in Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York

PDF
Dorottya Mária Cseresnyés
Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Folia Humanistica et Socialia 1(2) 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69705/FHS.2023.1.2.3

Published 31-12-2023 — Updated on 11-06-2024

Copyright (c) 2023 Cseresnyés Dorottya Mária

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The American cultural thought of the 1990s appeared to withdraw from the previous postmodern paradigm. New Sincerity and post-postmodernism advocated for a change that, in contrast to the external attitude of irony, was rooted in a sense of sincerity and compassion for the drama of the human condition. The American cinema of the late 1990s was also affected by this trend, best represented by the films of Sofia Coppola, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, and Charlie Kaufman. This essay examines the ways Synecdoche, New York—Kaufman’s 2008 auteur film—explores the duties and challenges of the post-postmodern artist through the character of Caden Cotard. Although the film’s conclusion states that the ideal of the magnum opus and complete cognizability is illusory, only that can lead the artist to the sincerity of human connections—the sole reality of the contemporary simulated world.

PDF

References

  1. Baldick, C. (ed.). (2008a). Mise-en-abyme. In The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press, 211–212.
  2. Baldick, C. (ed.). (2008b). Synecdoche. In The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press, 329.
  3. Baudrillard, J. (1989). Beyond the Vanishing Point of Art. In Taylor, P. (ed.), Post-Pop Art. MIT Press, 171–189.
  4. Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. (S. F. Glaser, trans.). University of Michigan Press.
  5. Deming, R. (2011). Living a Part: Synecdoche, New York, Metaphor, and the Problem of Skepticism. In LaRocca, D. (ed.), The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman. The University Press of Kentucky, 193–206.
  6. Doyle, J. (2018). The changing face of post-postmodern fiction: Irony, sincerity, and populism. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 59(3), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2017.1381069
  7. Gáncsos K. (2013). A nemlétezés téveszméje, avagy a posztmodern valóság, amely csak a hiányában van jelen. Charlie Kaufman Synecdoche, New York című filmjének elemzése [The Delusion of Nonexistence, or the Postmodern Reality That Is Only Present in Its Absence. The Analysis of Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York]. Apertúra. https://www.apertura.hu/2013/osz/gancsos-a-nemletezes-teveszmeje-avagy-a-posztmodern-valosag-amely-csak-a-hianyaban-van-jelen/
  8. Genette, G. (1983). Narrative Discourse. An Essay in Method. (Lewin, J. E. trans.). Cornell University Press.
  9. Gratton, P. (2020, Winter). Jean François Lyotard. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lyotard/#JustLighPostCond
  10. Guillen, M. (2008, October 23). Synecdoche, New York—Interview with Charlie Kaufman. Screen Anarchy. https://screenanarchy.com/2008/10/synecdoche-new-yorkinterview-with-charlie-kaufman.html
  11. Kaufman, C. (dir.). (2008). Synecdoche, New York [Film]. Sydney Kimmel Entertainment.
  12. Kellner, D. (2020, Winter). Jean Baudrillard. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/
  13. Kelly, A. (2016). The New Sincerity. In Gladstone, J. - Hoberek, A. - Worden D. (eds.), Postmodern/Postwar and After: Rethinking American Literature. University of Iowa Press, 197–207. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt20q23p0.15
  14. Konigsberg, I. (ed.). (1988). Fade. In The Complete Film Dictionary. Bloomsbury Publishing Limited, 111.
  15. Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. (Bennington, G. - Massumi, B. trans.). In Theory of History and Literature, 10. University of Minnesota Press.
  16. Smith, D. L. (2011). Synecdoche in Part. In LaRocca, D. (ed.), The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman. The University Press of Kentucky, 239–253.
  17. Soanes, C., et. al. (eds.). (2008). Simulacrum. In Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1344.
  18. Wallace, D. F. (1993). E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction. Review of Contemporary Fiction, 13(2), 151–193. https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf
  19. Wilkins, K. (2019). American Eccentric Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501336942