Home >> The Modern Language Review, Volume 103, Number 3

Performativity in Buñuel's The Phantom of Liberty and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Author: Izurieta, Ibon

Source: The Modern Language Review, Volume 103, Number 3, 1 July 2008 , pp. 753-766(14)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

The theory of performativity, as proposed by Judith Butler in Bodies That Matter, offers the analytical framework that elucidates Surrealism's undermining of intelligibility. The present analysis studies Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty by applying the theory of performativity to the Spanish director's revolutionary ways of representation. Buñuel's exploration of alternative semiological methods of signification based on the icon is intended to subvert narrative as the traditional method of communication. Performativity's study of the normative nature of intelligibility contributes the theoretical framework to Buñuel's surrealist and iconoclastic artistic innovations.

Keywords: Theory of performativity; Judith Butler; Bodies That Matter; Surrealism; Luis Buñuel; The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie; The Phantom of Liberty

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Colorado at Denver

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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  • The Modern Language Review, the flagship journal of the Association, is available to all individual members as part of their subscription. MLR is one of the oldest journals in its field, maintaining an unbroken publication record since its foundation in 1905, and publishing more than 3,000 articles and 20,000 book reviews.

    Each volume consists of four issues, published in January, April, July and October of each year. Its 1000+ annual pages are divided roughly equally between articles, predominantly on medieval and modern literature in the languages of Europe, and over 500 reviews of books in these areas. All contributions are in English, and each section is edited by a noted scholar in the field, under the overall supervision of the General Editor. Articles are chosen not only for their scholarly worth and originality but also, as far as possible, for their potential interest to a wider readership in other disciplines.
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