Postmodern mimesis in Woody Allen's film Zelig

• Main Author: Čanji Andrej
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Akademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom Sadu 2020-01-01
• Series: Zbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti
• Subjects: mimesis; woody allen; zelig; identity; genre
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-8666/2020/2334-86662008042Q.pdf

The paper analyses the specific nature of mimesis in Woody Allen's 1983 film Zelig. Mimesis here takes on a dual function: it is fundamental in the protagonist's individuation, but also an essential model of the genre determination. The aim of the study is to re-examine Woody Allen's flirting with the interpretation of subjectivity, as well as with his understanding of genre usages, through poststructuralist perspective. The question that looms over the work is directed towards the identity breviary of Leonard Zelig based on a hyperbolized imitative conformity that implies the constructivist nature of the subject. It is questionable whether these different identity manifestations derive from the a priori essence of the subject, which adapts to external influences, or whether the subject itself is a result of different influences which, by piling up, form a construct of personality. A similar enigma is present in the genre where Woody Allen's film problematizes the identity of documentary film in the role of a true referent of historical facts. In the conclusion of the paper, it is established that the mimetic principle determines a dualism of thematic and formal plan that ideally intertwine and complement, deconstructing on the one hand the notion of the subject as a natural, unchangeable and solid whole, and the view of art forms and genres as clearly demarcated and independent structures on the other. At the same time, this deconstruction re-examines the truth of historical facts by pointing out the possibility of authenticating a fictional work with historiographical, documentary usages. Such a complexity of semantic richness is established on the principle of what is revealed as the postmodern mimesis of Woody Allen's documentary imaginary.