by INNIT » Thu Dec 26, 2019 5:19 pm
it's true that camera lucida can come across a bit dated because of barthes' assertions that photographs grant us some kind of unmediated access to the referent. that said, medium specific arguments in general aren't popular in theory (because they're usually bad). the idea is that affect is in some way connected to the analogical, and most digital mediums have analog aspects despite being digital (where digital is understood as chopping up/rendering discrete and analog is understood as continuity, modulation, etc). the deleuzians i read would say that marclay's the clock, a painting by francis bacon, and a novel by burroughs would all have more in common than say, marclay's film and a film like, idk, some major blockbuster or something. barthe's punctum working on a preconscious level or on the level of sensation has been adapted to explore the sonics of photography, the duration (in a bergsonian sense) of photography, etc. nothing wrong with using a brilliant work as a starting point unless you're suggesting that we just come up with completely novel ideas randomly; moten's piece demonstrates how barthes can help us in the present. most people drop his stuff about the referent and intent anyways.
also every single millennial is a "photographer" and it's not like theyre reading barthes lol
tldr nothing wrong with ol'roland