Juxtaposition, Form and Intervals of Meaning : Essayistic Montage in Lucky People Center International (1998)

Abstract

This thesis examines Lucky People Center International (Erik Pauser and Johan Söderberg, 1998) through the lens of the audiovisual essay, focusing particularly on montage, fragmentation and non-verbal thought. Rather than viewing the film as a conventional documentary, this study analyses it as an essayistic film, drawing on theoretical frameworks from Theodor W. Adorno, Dziga Vertov, Gilles Deleuze and Laura Rascaroli. The analysis identifies key essayistic strategies in the film's construct, such as juxtaposition, sonic interstice and visual rhythm, and explores how meaning emerges not through narrative synthesis but through disjunctive, dialectical relations between sound, image and voice. Particular attention is given to how the film handles spatiality, archival material and poetic argumentation. The argument of the thesis is that a form of cinematic thinking that privileges ambiguity, multiplicity, and fragmentation as productive conditions for audiovisual thought is exemplified by Lucky People Center International.