Commentary narrated by Millicent Marcus at 00:03:19
Now we hear a voice. It’s disembodied. But we see it is the voice of an older woman. She is the mother. And she is calling into being her son by naming him.”
Cinema Paradiso. DVD, Disc 2 – Theatrical Version. (Shengley, England : Arrow Academy, [2017]) at 3:19.
What is important to note here is the installation of the character’s existence depends on another character naming them. (How things get created has always puzzled me in possible world semantics in particular in its application to fiction.) As Marcus notes the eucharist ritual returns and so does a theme of transubstantiation.
This commentary is not mere plot summary. It enhances the viewing of the film. If I had time enough and energy I would transcribe the entire commentary to make it available to those that see to hear and those interested in possible world semantics. However I stop at this snippet because of the naming that arises from a woman’s voice — she creates him — and am intrigued by the notion of rigid designation in possible world semantics (Still on my reading list is Saul Kripke’s Naming and Necessity). I have a sneaking suspicion that Marcus’s commentary suggests that names may not be as rigid as commonly thought in some quarters. I am not against rigidity per se butt…
And so for day 3047
15.04.2015