Through the looking Glass. The ethno-cinematographic rhizomes of Anocha Suwichakornpong

Abstract

Based on Deleuze’s concept of “rhizome”, which understands knowledge in a non-hierarchical way, as an apprehension of multiplicity, we propose a conceptual framework for film analysis, the “ethno-cinematographic rhizome”, as a parallel and convergent vehicle of audiovisual artistic creation and para-ethnographic observation. We present the example of two feature films by the Thai independent director Anocha Suwichakornpong, conceived as ethno-cinematographic rhizomes: By the Time It Gets Dark (Dao Khanong, 2016), which deals with the historical memory of the massacre of students at Thammasat University in 1976 and Krabi 2562 (co-directed with Ben Rivers, 2019), which presents the sociocultural microcosm of the tourist town of Krabi. We highlight their fragmented rhizomatic structure that presents a multiplicity of narrative and chronological lines that are assembled in a complex way to make emerge a cinematographic apparatus of great aesthetic beauty and deep para-ethnographic knowledge of the past and present Thai social reality.

Partiendo del concepto de “rizoma” de Deleuze que entiende el conocimiento de forma no jerárquica, como aprehensión de multiplicidad, proponemos un marco conceptual de análisis fílmico, el "rizoma etno-cinematográfico", como vehículo paralelo y convergente de creación artística audiovisual y observación para-etnográfica. Presentamos el ejemplo de dos largometrajes de la directora independiente tailandesa Anocha Suwichakornpong, concebidos como rizomas etno-cinematográficos: By the time it gets dark (Dao Khanong, 2016), que trata sobre la memoria histórica de la masacre de estudiantes de la Universidad de Thammasat en 1976 y Krabi 2562 (codirigida con Ben Rivers, 2019), que nos introduce en el microcosmos sociocultural de la localidad turística de Krabi. Destacamos su estructura rizomática fragmentada que presentan una multiplicidad de líneas narrativas y cronológicas que se ensamblan de manera compleja para hacer emerger un aparato cinematográfico de gran belleza estética y profundo conocimiento para-etnográfico de la realidad social tailandesa pasada y presente.