There Never Really is a Stereoscopic Image: A Closer Look at 3-D Media

Nick Jones

doi:10.1080/17400309.2015.1007264

There Never Really is a Stereoscopic Image: A Closer Look at 3-D Media

Nick Jones

Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article surveys the distinctive optical properties of stereoscopic 3-D in a cinematic context. Through an analysis of the nineteenth-century stereoscope (and the theories of vision that underpin it) and then a critique of the equation of stereoscopy with mimesis, the article works towards identifying several aspects of stereoscopic cinema that are insufficiently explored in contemporary film studies. These include the medium’s immateriality, inherent subjectivity and use of visual distortion. The broader argument of the article is that, in line with the work of Jonathan Crary, there ‘never really is a stereoscopic image’; that is, the phrase stereoscopic image is oxymoronic since the content that stereoscopic exhibition presents is not imagistic and monocular but embodied and illusionistic. This observation has important consequences for how we interpret 3-D cinema.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	170-188
Journal	New Review of Film and Television Studies
Volume	13
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17400309.2015.1007264
Publication status	Published - 2015

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10.1080/17400309.2015.1007264

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abstract = "This article surveys the distinctive optical properties of stereoscopic 3-D in a cinematic context. Through an analysis of the nineteenth-century stereoscope (and the theories of vision that underpin it) and then a critique of the equation of stereoscopy with mimesis, the article works towards identifying several aspects of stereoscopic cinema that are insufficiently explored in contemporary film studies. These include the medium{\textquoteright}s immateriality, inherent subjectivity and use of visual distortion. The broader argument of the article is that, in line with the work of Jonathan Crary, there {\textquoteleft}never really is a stereoscopic image{\textquoteright}; that is, the phrase stereoscopic image is oxymoronic since the content that stereoscopic exhibition presents is not imagistic and monocular but embodied and illusionistic. This observation has important consequences for how we interpret 3-D cinema.",

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There Never Really is a Stereoscopic Image: A Closer Look at 3-D Media

Abstract

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