Publication Details

Abstract

This article examines the epistemological implications of Paul Willemen’s theory of cinema. Against approaches that understand film primarily as a system of representation, Willemen argues that cinema is a historically situated cultural practice in which history presents itself through the material and formal organization of filmic texts. His concepts of indexicality, configurative pressures, and fantasy show how filmic forms are materially connected to the sociohistorical conditions of their production. Particular attention is given to Willemen’s reinterpretation of Peirce’s semiotics and his claim that the indexical dimension of cinematic signs establishes an ontological relation between representation and history. The article argues that cinema produces a non-propositional form of historical knowledge grounded in perception and experience, thereby opening the possibility of conceiving cinema as a symbolic form. From this perspective, cinema is conceived as a site where historical forces, forms of experience, and modalities of knowledge converge.