| This study reconstructs Deleuzian film philosophy using communication theories of rhetoric. Part one argues that rhetoric functions epistemically and rhizomically in the work of Gilles Deleuze taking note of how this differs markedly from social-scientific approaches and thus situates Deleuze within a constitutive framework. Part two argues that an epistemic and rhizomic understanding of rhetoric becomes a useful critical tool within postmodern cinema -- especially, paratemporal and counter-modern film ecologies that also feature the more "material" aspects of rhetoric. A Transcendental Rhetorical Critical (TRC) model along with four "rhetorics" of working with the time-image (epistemic, rhizomic, affective, and performative) is offered in order to help reconstruct the rhetorical spaces of Henri Bergson's Method (featured in Deleuze's Bergsonism). Moving from a "reading" model to Deleuze's model of the brain, I highlight the role of nooshock temporality in Christopher Nolan's Inception to illustrate this radically different sense of time (duree ) within profilmic discourse. |
