Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 214-225 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Orbis Litterarum |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 5 Jul 2021 |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Sept 2021 |
Abstract
This essay examines digital de-aging—a process of making actors appear younger on-screen than they actually are that has taken a firm hold in contemporary Hollywood cinema—as a controversial filmmaking tool that raises fundamental questions about cinematic realism in the digital age. Since Hollywood’s visual effects are similar to the image manipulation that can be achieved with deepfake software, digital de-aging is framed as a complex creative process that supports the actors’ craft in order to distinguish it from the image manipulation and misinformation that has come to characterize the post-truth era. I will discuss the affordances and limitations of Hollywood’s “youthification” technology in terms of the shifting ontologies that characterize the transition from the photographic to the digital image, situate digital de-aging within larger debates about synthespians and the realistic portrayal of digitally created human beings, and argue that de-aging in films such as Gemini Man (Ang Lee, 2019) and The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019) reconfigures linear temporalities and ultimately reshapes the concepts of time and memory by which we structure our life trajectories.
Keywords
- digital de-aging, Hollywood cinema, memory, realism, visual effects
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Literature and Literary Theory
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In: Orbis Litterarum, Vol. 76, No. 4, 12.09.2021, p. 214-225.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - On the realist aesthetics of digital de-aging in contemporary Hollywood cinema
AU - Loock, Kathleen
PY - 2021/9/12
Y1 - 2021/9/12
N2 - This essay examines digital de-aging—a process of making actors appear younger on-screen than they actually are that has taken a firm hold in contemporary Hollywood cinema—as a controversial filmmaking tool that raises fundamental questions about cinematic realism in the digital age. Since Hollywood’s visual effects are similar to the image manipulation that can be achieved with deepfake software, digital de-aging is framed as a complex creative process that supports the actors’ craft in order to distinguish it from the image manipulation and misinformation that has come to characterize the post-truth era. I will discuss the affordances and limitations of Hollywood’s “youthification” technology in terms of the shifting ontologies that characterize the transition from the photographic to the digital image, situate digital de-aging within larger debates about synthespians and the realistic portrayal of digitally created human beings, and argue that de-aging in films such as Gemini Man (Ang Lee, 2019) and The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019) reconfigures linear temporalities and ultimately reshapes the concepts of time and memory by which we structure our life trajectories.
AB - This essay examines digital de-aging—a process of making actors appear younger on-screen than they actually are that has taken a firm hold in contemporary Hollywood cinema—as a controversial filmmaking tool that raises fundamental questions about cinematic realism in the digital age. Since Hollywood’s visual effects are similar to the image manipulation that can be achieved with deepfake software, digital de-aging is framed as a complex creative process that supports the actors’ craft in order to distinguish it from the image manipulation and misinformation that has come to characterize the post-truth era. I will discuss the affordances and limitations of Hollywood’s “youthification” technology in terms of the shifting ontologies that characterize the transition from the photographic to the digital image, situate digital de-aging within larger debates about synthespians and the realistic portrayal of digitally created human beings, and argue that de-aging in films such as Gemini Man (Ang Lee, 2019) and The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019) reconfigures linear temporalities and ultimately reshapes the concepts of time and memory by which we structure our life trajectories.
KW - digital de-aging
KW - Hollywood cinema
KW - memory
KW - realism
KW - visual effects
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109042709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/oli.12302
DO - 10.1111/oli.12302
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85109042709
VL - 76
SP - 214
EP - 225
JO - Orbis Litterarum
JF - Orbis Litterarum
SN - 0105-7510
IS - 4
ER -