The Captive Flâneur of The Beat Literature or The Gift Struggling to Exist in The Age of Commodities: Cinephilosophy on Jim Jarmusch`s Paterson

Authors : Deniz Kurtyılmaz

Pages : 325-343

Doi:10.17572/mj2024.2.325-343

View : 100 | Download : 85

Publication Date : 2025-01-08

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson (2016) focuses on the life of a bus driver and poet living in Paterson, New Jersey, which shares the same name with the city. The film is a rich text for fruitful philosophical examination when viewed through Baudelaire’s concept of the flâneur, the central characteristics of American Beat literature, and the dichotomy between art as a gift and commodity exchange. This article aims to illuminate the philosophical foundations of Jarmusch\\\'s work by placing the film within this theoretical framework. Through a detailed cinephilosophical examination, it is aimed to gain insight into how Paterson reflects the philosophical, aesthetic, and cultural continuities extending from Continental Europe to America. This essay attempts to offer meditation on the nature of art, individual existence, and daily life, and it is demonstrated that the film\\\'s protagonist, Paterson, eventually manages to establish a balance between gift and commodity exchange.
Keywords : Flâneur, Beat kuşağı, armağan, Paterson, Jim Jarmusch

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