Pour une astronomie du cinéma : le perfectionnisme moral de Tom Cruise, trajectoire d'une star
Our study is structured around this question: how does Tom Cruise, with his singular manner of being present to us on screen, reflects our experience of cinema? Our approach is inspired by the philosopher Stanley Cavell, for whom thinking about film stars lead us to think about cinema, and vice versa. This dissertation explores Tom Cruise’s filmography by asking what is a star, in Hollywoodian cinema, and more specifically, what is the relation between the star and the ontology of the cinematographic image. First, we will examine the question of the ontology of film for Cavell, and how the star creates itself by using cinema’s revelatory power. This will then help us to distinguish our approach from the star studies, and their preference for semiology. Secondly, we will explore the problem of skepticism that takes hold of Tom Cruise: for Cavell, the film star is a model to whom we confront our ordinary experience. By accepting his skepticism, Tom Cruise becomes a guide for the spectator, in part because this skeptical drama reflects our experience of cinema, which Cavell describes as a “moving image of skepticism”. And since it’s a recurring drama in Tom Cruise’s filmography, we propose that it becomes an example of moral perfectionism. Finally, Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002) introduces a new questioning for Tom Cruise, connected to the apparatus that projects his image. Cavell wrote his book The World Viewed in 1971, when the experience of cinema was still determined by a precise setting for viewing movies (the dark room, the large screen, the audience, film, etc.) So, in this movie, Tom Cruise seems to ask: if the film star is essentially linked with the photographic image, what becomes of the star within digital cinema? This question imply a second one: can the film star still be a guide for the spectator in our era of digital experience, and can she still help us think about digital image?
Tom Cruise Stanley Cavell star cinema ethics actor skepticism digital philosophy