Scott Bukatman is a
cultural theorist
Culture theory is the branch of comparative anthropology and semiotics (not to be confused with cultural sociology or cultural studies) that seeks to define the heuristic concept of culture in operationalism, operational and/or scientific metho ...
and Professor of Film and Media Studies at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. Bukatman's research examines how popular media (film, comics) and genres (science fiction, musicals, superhero narratives) "mediate between new technologies and human perceptual and bodily experience."
Career
1980s–1990s
In 1986, Bukatman published "Battle with Songs: The Soviet Historical Film as Historical Document" in the journal ''Persistence of Vision'' 3-4.
In 1988, he curated a retrospective exhibit on the films and television shows of comedian
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
at the
American Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Amer ...
in New York City. In 1989, he published "The Cybernetic (City) State: Terminal Space becomes Phenomenal" in the ''Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts'' 2. In 1992, Bukatman completed his Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
.
He has taught at NYU,
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by ...
in New York, the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
, and the
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
. Courses that Bukatman has developed include a range of interdisciplinary, intermedial offerings such as ''Cinema and the City'', ''World's Fairs and Theme Parks'', ''The Body in American Genre Film'', and ''Cyborgs and Synthetic Humans.''
In 1994, Bukatman co-organized "Cine City: Film and Perceptions of Urban Space 1895-1995" at the
Getty Center
The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views over ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. In 1997, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Media Studies in the Departments of Art and Comparative Literature at Stanford University, where he has developed the Film and Media Studies program in collaboration with Henry Breitrose and Art History professor Michael Marrinan.
Bukatman wrote ''Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science Fiction'' (Duke University Press) and a monograph on the seminal science fiction film ''
Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' for the British Film Institute. His articles have been published in ''Artforum International'', ''Architecture New York'', ''October'' and ''Camera Obscura.'' He has served as a consulting editor for ''Science Fiction Studies'' and is on the editorial boards of ''Art/Text'' and ''Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal''.
2000s
In 2003, Bukatman published ''Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century'' (Duke University Press). According to a review in ''Guardian Unlimited'', the fusing of the genres of superhero story and
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
in films such as ''
The Matrix
''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...
'' are "...superbly analysed in Scott Bukatman's collection of essays." Bukatman addresses the "question of bodies in a technologised age", arguing that in modern science fiction "...the body may be 'simulated, morphed, modified, re-tooled, genetically engineered and even dissolved', but it is never entirely eliminated: the subject always retains a meat component." In addition, Bukatman analyzes the "scopic mastery" of special-effects shots in several seminal sci-fi movies, which provide an "omnipotent God's-eye view" vision and "panoramic displays," which he argues address "...the perceived loss of cognitive power experienced by the subject in an increasingly technologised world."
In 2012, Bukatman published ''The Poetics of Slumberland: Animated Spirits and the Animating Spirit'' (University of California Press). The book description reads: "In The Poetics of Slumberland, Scott Bukatman celebrates play, plasmatic possibility, and the life of images in cartoons, comics, and cinema. Bukatman begins with Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland to explore how and why the emerging media of comics and cartoons brilliantly captured a playful, rebellious energy characterized by hyperbolic emotion, physicality, and imagination. The book broadens to consider similar “animated” behaviors in seemingly disparate media—films about Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh; the musical My Fair Lady and the story of Frankenstein; the slapstick comedies of Jerry Lewis; and contemporary comic superheroes—drawing them all together as the purveyors of embodied utopias of disorder." Calling the book "Essential" in ''Choice'', T. Lindvall of Virginia Wesleyan College wrote, "Slipping comfortably into Bukatman's book, one is dreamily transported to utopian worlds where merry madcap disorder rules. ...The lavishly illustrated book is delightfully Chestertonian, clapping its hands in glee over the unruly energy and plasmatic possibilities of the Pygmalion myth drawn into the imaginations of playful artists and their exhilaratingly disruptive arts. ... Bukatman shows the marvelous animated poetics of visual media."
A book-length work of comics theory, centered around Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics, titled ''Hellboy's World: Comics and Monsters on the Margins'' was published in January 2016 by University of California Press. An essay, "Sculpture, Stasis, the Comics, and Hellboy" appeared in the special issue of ''Critical Inquiry'' devoted to "Comics and Media" (Spring 2014
Volume 40 Issue 3). The online abstract for the essay, read, in full: "Comics awesome. Read Hellboy."
See also
*
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
*
Science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
*
Science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukatman, Scott
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Stanford University Department of Art and Art History faculty