Collective Subjectivity in the Essay Film

It may seem paradoxical to devote a reflection on “self representation,” as the title of this special issue has it, to the fundamentally collective nature of authorship. But in fact, it is not; for the subjectivity that shines through the essay, hence, also the essay film, is anchored in collectivity. Authorship always is, but in the essay, with its hesitant, even stuttering discourse, even more obviously so. And this makes the subjectivity, in its collective nature, more conspicuous (see “Chalenging and Saving”). Which, I suppose, is the rationale for this special issue of Ekphrasis. The essayistic is in the expression but also in the reception, the reading or watching. How can the author-as-filmmaker then represent herself without turning the self into a main character, as in “first-person” filmic discourse? I will argue that it is precisely because of the collective nature of subjectivity that this is possible, without falling into the traps of narcissism.