Jean-Luc Godard - by Jonathan Scott Lee (Hardcover)

About the Book

In this book, Jonathan Scott Lee argues that Jean-Luc Godard is best seen as a philosopher who uses cinema and video as his media to develop provocative interventions into contemporary political situations and dilemmas, both explicitly and aesthetically.

Book Synopsis

In Jean-Luc Godard: Philosopher/Insurgent, Jonathan Scott Lee contends that renowned filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard can be most accurately considered as a philosopher who uses cinema and video as his media to develop provocative aesthetic interventions into contemporary political situations and dilemmas.

Rather than attempting to write a "definitive" study of Godard or establish a new canon from his expansive oeuvre, Lee identifies a particularly salient selection of his work which highlights innovative ways of understanding his lifelong engagement with film and video. Building on Godard's own claim that "cinema is made of forms that think," Lee embarks on a compelling exploration of the ways in which these films are poised to guide viewers into a "subjunctive" space of interpretation in which philosophical thinking engages fundamental questions about an art of living.

Moving through these films chronologically, each of the three essay-chapters considers a different stage of Godard's thought and career through the lens of another prominent thinker-in the 1960s, Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope; in the late 1960s and early 1970s, psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan; and in the final decades, historian and philosopher of art André Malraux. By offering a distinct trajectory through Godard's work between 1960 and 2018, Lee demonstrates how his various modes of cinematic and video intervention might be seen to effect real change in audiences' thinking and in the world more broadly.

Review Quotes

"The words "philosopher" and "insurgent" precisely capture the profoundly intelligent, endlessly ornery cinema of Jean-Luc Godard, and Jonathan Scott Lee's richly interdisciplinary study explores the full range of his achievements as a filmmaker, video artist, and sociocultural thinker. Film scholars and philosophers will find it as rewarding as one of JLG's own best works." --David Sterritt, Adjunct Professor of Film, Maryland Institute College of Art, USA, and Author of The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible (1999)

"This is a lucidly written and engagingly argued study of Jean-Luc Godard's film career that succeeds in offering a number of fresh and original insights on the work of this widely studied director. Lee's book examines the unique experience of watching films by Godard, showing how the process of thinking in, through and with images is encouraged by the filmmaker. It is refreshing to read a book that applies philosophy to film texts and that does so without recourse to jargon, approaching these questions seriously and methodically while remaining readable throughout." --Douglas Morrey, Professor of French Studies, University of Warwick, UK

About the Author

Jonathan Scott Lee is Professor of Philosophy at Colorado College, USA.