The Fraternity of Metaphors

Abstract

THE FRATERNITY OF METAPHORS: JEAN-LUC GODARD'S FILM SOCIALISME The moment an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman.Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism(1) JEAN LUC GODARD'S career in filmmaking began in the early 1950s when, as a young journalist (and lapsed anthropologist), he dabbled in some amateur and short documentary projects. His great breakthrough came with À bout de souffle (Breathless, 1960), and since then he has been directly involved in the production of over eighty films, many of which are major works of cinema. While there might seem to be discrete periods, or points of departure, in Godard's career (the heady days of the Nouvelle Vague, the Groupe Dziga Vertov phase, the mid-life 'autobiographical' turn, or, according...