Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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debate between Bordwell and Žižek, seems to directly address concerns that are
perceived by the dominance of theory and its inclusive methodological approaches.
Here, it is important to stress that the argument appears unfairly weighted on
the side of Bordwell. As a result of the publication of Post-Theory, Žižek used a
section of his monograph The Fright of Real Tears: Krzysztof Kieślowski between
Theory and Post-Theory (2001) to respond to the arguments set out in Post-Theory.
In turn, in Bordwell’s own words, “I reply to those criticisms in the last chapter of
Figures Traced in Light (pp. 260–264). But there is much more to say about FRT
(The Fright of Real Tears), and this online essay supplements my remarks in
Figures.” (http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/zizek.php; accessed 26-04-2013)
What follows that statement is an extensive essay citing Žižek’s arguments against
Post-Theory, and highlights what Bordwell deems misinterpretations, glib
paraphrasing, and missed opportunities for arguing against vulnerable points within
the book.
Bordwell then intensifies the continuity of his argument by clearly stating the
views presented in Post-Theory and strengthening the weak arguments Žižek has
drawn out. What is significant about this debate is that the Post-Theory anthology is
dedicated entirely to the defence of methodologies outside of what Žižek describes
as “the deconstructionist/feminist/post-Marxist/psychoanalytic/sociocritical/cultural
studies etc. approach, ironically nicknamed 'Theory' (which, of course, is far from a
unified field- the above chain is more a series of Wittgensteinian 'family
resemblances') by its opponents [...]” (2001; 1) [parentheses in the original, brackets
mine] Žižek then continues to denounce what he sees as the claim made by
proponents of Post-Theory that the theory movement has a centralised source around
Lacanian psychoanalysis, which he then discounts throughout the introduction to his