the cinema of C H R I S TO PH E R N O L A N imagining the impossible edited by jacqueline furby & stuart joy the cinema of CHRISTOPHER NOLAN DIRECTORS’ CUTS Other selected titles in the Directors’ Cuts series: the cinema of THE COEN BROTHERS:hard-boiled entertainments JEFFREY ADAMS the cinema of CLINT EASTWOOD:chronicles of america DAVID STERRITT the cinema of ISTVÁN SZABÓ:visions of europe JOHN CUNNINGHAM the cinema of AGNÈS VARDA:resistance and eclecticism DELPHINE BÉNÉZET the cinema of ALEXANDER SOKUROV:figures of paradox JEREMI SZANIAWSKI the cinema of MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM:borders, intimacy, terror BRUCE BENNETT the cinema of RAÚL RUIZ:impossible cartographies MICHAEL GODDARD the cinema of MICHAEL MANN:vice and vindication JONATHAN RAYNER the cinema of AKI KAURISMÄKI:authorship, bohemia, nostalgia, nation ANDREW NESTINGEN the cinema of RICHARD LINKLATER:walk, don’t run ROB STONE the cinema of BÉLA TARR:the circle closes ANDRÁS BÁLINT KOVÁCS the cinema of STEVEN SODERBERGH:indie sex, corporate lies, and digital videotape ANDREW DE WAARD & R. COLIN TATE the cinema of TERRY GILLIAM:it’s a mad world JEFF BIRKENSTEIN, ANNA FROULA & KAREN RANDELL (eds) the cinema of TAKESHI KITANO:flowering blood SEAN REDMOND the cinema of THE DARDENNE BROTHERS:responsible realism PHILIP MOSLEY the cinema of MICHAEL HANEKE:europe utopia BEN McCANN & DAVID SORFA (eds) the cinema of SALLY POTTER:a politics of love SOPHIE MAYER the cinema of JOHN SAYLES:a lone star MARK BOULD the cinema of DAVID CRONENBERG:from baron of blood to cultural hero ERNEST MATHIJS the cinema of JAN SVANKMAJER:dark alchemy PETER HAMES (ed.) the cinema of LARS VON TRIER:authenticity and artifice CAROLINE BAINBRIDGE the cinema of WERNER HERZOG:aesthetic ecstasy and truth BRAD PRAGER the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK:poetic visions of america (second edition) HANNAH PATTERSON (ed.) the cinema of ANG LEE:the other side of the screen (second edition) WHITNEY CROTHERS DILLEY the cinema of STEVEN SPIELBERG:empire of light NIGEL MORRIS the cinema of TODD HAYNES:all that heaven allows JAMES MORRISON (ed.) the cinema of ROMAN POLANSKI:dark spaces of the world JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA (eds) the cinema of NANNI MORETTI:dreams and diaries EWA MAZIERSKA & LAURA RASCAROLI the cinema of DAVID LYNCH:american dreams, nightmare visions ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISON (eds) the cinema of CHRISTOPHER NOLAN imagining the impossible Edited by Jacqueline Furby & Stuart Joy WALLFLOWER PRESS london & new york A Wallflower Press Book Published by Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York • Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © Columbia University Press 2015 All rights reserved Wallflower Press® is a registered trademark of Columbia University Press A complete CIP record is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978–0–231-17396-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–231-17397-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–231-85076-6 (e-book) Series design by Rob Bowden Design Cover image of Christopher Nolan courtesy of the Kobal Collection Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 00 prelims.indd 4 26/8/15 09:58:24 contents Acknowledgements vii Notes on Contributors (cid:74)(cid:89) Foreword: Are You Watching Closely? (cid:89)(cid:74) Will Brooker Introduction: Dreaming a Little Bigger, Darling 1 Stuart Joy 1. Developing an Auteur Through Reviews: The Critical Surround of Christopher Nolan 17 Erin Hill-Parks 2. Cinephilia Writ Large: IMAX in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises 31 Allison Whitney 3. Nolan’s Immersive Allegories of Filmmaking in Inception and The Prestige 44 Jonathan Olson 4. Saints, Sinners and Terrorists: The Women of Christopher Nolan’s Gotham 62 Tosha Taylor 5. Memento’s Postmodern Noir Fantasy: Place, Domesticity and Gender Identity 74 Margaret A. Toth 6. Men in Crisis: Christopher Nolan, Un-truths and Fictionalising Masculinity 85 Peter Deakin 7. Representing Trauma: Grief, Amnesia and Traumatic Memory in Nolan’s New Millennial Films 99 Fran Pheasant-Kelly v 8. ‘The dream has become their reality’: Infinite Regression in Christopher Nolan’s Memento and Inception 120 Lisa K. Perdigao 9. Revisiting the Scene of the Crime: Insomnia and the Return of the Repressed 132 Stuart Joy 10. ‘You keep telling yourself what you know, but what do you believe?’: Cultural Spin, Puzzle Films and Mind Games in the Cinema of Christopher Nolan 147 Sorcha Ní Fhlainn 11. Stumbling Over the Superhero: Christopher Nolan’s Victories and Compromises 164 Todd McGowan 12. Inception’s Singular Lack of Unity Among Christopher Nolan’s Puzzle Films 175 Andrew Kania 13. Inception’s Video Game Logic 189 Warren Buckland 14. On the Work of the Double in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige 201 Kwasu David Tembo 15.(cid:1) (cid:47)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:38)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:1)(cid:52)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:27)(cid:1)(cid:616)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:38)(cid:89)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:1)(cid:53)(cid:70)(cid:78)(cid:81)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)Following 219 Erin Kealey 16. Hearing Music in Dreams – Towards the Semiotic Role of Music in Nolan’s Inception 233 Felix Engel and Janina Wildfeuer 17. About Time Too: From Interstellar to Following, Christopher Nolan’s Continuing Preoccupation with Time-Travel 247 Jacqueline Furby Index 268 vi acknowledgements The editors wish to thank all of the authors for their contributions and for their partic- ipation in the preparation of the manuscript. We also wish to thank students, friends and colleagues at Southampton Solent University and Yoram Allon, Commissioning Editor at Wallflower Press, for their enthusiasm and sustained support throughout this project. (cid:43)(cid:39)(cid:1)(cid:111)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:8)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:235)(cid:83)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:77)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:1)(cid:52)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:43)(cid:80)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:71)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:1)(cid:73)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:70)(cid:78)(cid:81)(cid:77)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:84)(cid:81)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:88)(cid:77)(cid:70)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:67)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:85)(cid:1) and enthusiasm for all things Nolan. My thanks are due to colleagues at Southampton Solent University and elsewhere for support, inspiration and friendship: Karen Randell, David Lusted, Mark Aldridge, Darren Kerr and Donna Peberdy. Thank you to my students past and present for always being ready to chat about Nolan’s films with the kind of infectious zeal that only film undergraduates can generate. In particular thank you to Liam Hunter Nicholson, for being a willing test audience one stressful after- noon of indecision. Thank you to my family for their support and forbearance during the many times when I’ve had to neglect them in favour of ‘doing the book’. And finally, special thanks are due to Claire Hines for always having impeccable judgement, giving sensible advice, offering generous help and patient support, not to mention all the tea, wine and, especially, chocolate. SJ – To begin with, I would like to thank my co-editor and collaborator, Jacqueline (cid:39)(cid:86)(cid:83)(cid:67)(cid:90)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:73)(cid:80)(cid:78)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:67)(cid:80)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:15)(cid:1)(cid:52)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:77)(cid:90)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:1)(cid:78)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:81)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:70)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:84)(cid:1) for their continued love, encouragement and support throughout all my endeavours. (cid:42)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:67)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:73)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:78)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:69)(cid:66)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:79)(cid:80)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:71)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:1)(cid:90)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:15)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:1)(cid:88)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:84)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:81)(cid:83)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:78)(cid:90)(cid:1) gratitude to my brother, Philip Joy, and my good friend Kierren Darke, who both offered invaluable insights on early drafts of my own work and continue, in their own ways, to make me smile. Thanks also go to Claire Hines, Terence McSweeney, Donna Peberdy, Darren Kerr, Mark Aldridge and Karen Randell for taking the time to listen to my thoughts on Nolan throughout the years as well as for offering a few of their own. And finally, special thanks to Sophie for her patience, understanding and for her unfailing confidence in me. You continue to inspire me every day, and I can’t thank you enough. Thanks to Kaleidoscope for permission to publish a revised version of the essay that appeared as ‘Revisiting the Scene of the Crime: Insomnia and the Return of the Repressed’, Kaleidoscope, 5, 2, (2013). vii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Warren Buckland(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:51)(cid:70)(cid:66)(cid:69)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:1)(cid:39)(cid:74)(cid:77)(cid:78)(cid:1)(cid:52)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:69)(cid:74)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:48)(cid:89)(cid:71)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:35)(cid:83)(cid:80)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:54)(cid:79)(cid:74)(cid:87)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:84)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:90)(cid:15)(cid:1)(cid:41)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:70)(cid:1) author of numerous publications, including The Cognitive Semiotics of Film (2000) and Film Theory: Rational Reconstructions (2012), the editor of Puzzle Films: Complex Story- telling in Contemporary Cinema (2009) and Hollywood Puzzle Films (2014), and the co-editor (with Thomas Elsaesser) of Studying Contemporary American Film: A Guide to Movie Analysis (2002) and (with Edward Branigan) of The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory (2015). Peter Deakin is Visiting Tutor in Film Studies at the University of Salford. He has published on American Psycho and the work of Fred Zinnemann. Felix Engel is Research Assistant at the Institute of Philosophy at Bremen University. He is a professional filmmaker and is currently completing a PhD concerning film theory and semantics. Jacqueline Furby is Senior Lecturer in Film at Southampton Solent University. She is the co-editor (with Karen Randell) of Screen Methods: Comparative Readings in Film Studies (2006), co-author (with Claire Hines) of Fantasy (2011) and currently completing a monograph entitled The Shape of Film Time. Erin Hill-Parks is an independent scholar with a PhD from Newcastle University. She is the author of The Formation of Ideologies in Narrative Film: Understanding War Through Three Kings and Black Hawk Down (2004), as well as articles on identity construction in cinema. Stuart Joy is Associate Lecturer in Film and Television at Southampton Solent Univer- sity. He has published on the Paranormal Activity franchise, the politics of national identity in Line of Duty and Nolan’s The Prestige. Andrew Kania is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Trinity University in San Antonio. He is the editor of Memento (2009) and co-editor (with Theodore Gracyk) of The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music (2011). (cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:89)(cid:1)