Cinematic Realism: A Defence from Plato to Gaut

The purpose of this paper is to defend a particular kind of cinematic realism, anti-illusionism, which is the thesis that cinematic motion is real. Following a brief introduction to realism and cinema in §1, I analyse Berys Gaut’s taxonomy of cinematic realism and define anti-illusionism in §2. §3 contrasts the anti-illusionist theories of Gregory Currie and Trevor Ponech with the illusionist theories of Andrew Kania and Gaut. I reconceptualise the debate in terms of Tom Gunning’s cinematic animation in §4, focusing on the question of cinematic singletons. In §5 I argue that cinematic singletons both exist and undergo objective displacement – and thus for anti-illusionism. I conclude, in §§6-7, with responses to potential objections to my argument from Kania and Gaut.