Woody Allen, serial schlemiel ?

Woody Allen has long constructed a cinematographic persona of schlemiel New- Yorker that the audience can easily identify. It impacts most of his films, whether he stars in them or directs “substitute” actors to impersonate his character. If this prototypical figure is the basis of seriality in his...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Frédérique Brisset
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française des Enseignants et Chercheurs en Cinéma et Audiovisuel 2011-01-01
Series:Mise au Point
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/map/959
Description
Summary:Woody Allen has long constructed a cinematographic persona of schlemiel New- Yorker that the audience can easily identify. It impacts most of his films, whether he stars in them or directs “substitute” actors to impersonate his character. If this prototypical figure is the basis of seriality in his cinematography, serial stylistic features can also be found all along his career: the annual recurrence of his productions, the formal signature symbolised by the typography of his singular credit titles, his rhythmical interjection-punctuated dialogues and the use of self-quotation imprint a very personal seal upon his movies. They all work as a recognition signals for the audience who thus receive THE Woody Allen vintage as an invitation to re-enter his microcosm. Seriality is then both initial and consequential to his cinematographic system, a unique creative process in American film history.
ISSN:2261-9623