AUDIOVISUAL ESSAYS
Simply put, an audiovisual essay is an essay that is outputted through the audiovisual medium. It uses the medium's affordances to disseminate and transfer knowledge for educational, academic, and scholarly ends. See my manifesto for more.
Barbenheimer (Barbie and Oppenheimer) and the Socio-cultural Phenomenon of Metamodernism
Save to LINER
July 2023
Arguably, two of the most anticipated films of the year, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" will be released this weekend. Subsequently, fans have flooded the internet with Barbenheimer memes and audiovisual mashups. What does all this say about our contemporary culture? Check out the audiovisual essay for more.
World's First Scholarly VR Essay: The Transformational Potential of Atom Egoyan's "Calendar".
​
May 2023
Put on your VR headsets! I am proud to present the world's first scholarly, autonomous, and argumentative VR essay within the field of Film Studies and Videographic Criticism! It might also be the world's first scholarly VR essay in general! VR offers a more immersive and interactive environment for the viewer which can foster experiential learning. In doing so, the traditional top-down approach of knowledge distribution can be reinforced through active engagement with characters in the film. This VR essay aims to elucidate that aforementioned idea: the transformational aspect that the film attributes to the viewer is accentuated through the medium specificities of VR as the viewer is a character in the film and not a passive observer. What follows is a link between the viewer's experiences of the film and the critical insights that are disseminated through the space of the audiovisual essay.
Controversial Dubai and Qatar: Capitalism's Slaves
Sav
December 2022
As the world cup in Qatar comes to an end, we shouldn't forget about the systematic injustice and oppression people in the Gulf region face. Thousands of laborers have died due to systematic exploitation and manipulation by the powerful elite. Even middle classes in the region are exploited due to the mishaps of the kafala system, but they are also slaves to materiality and glamor. Check out my audiovisual essay about the subject matter for more.
Controversy and Metamodernism in Rammstein
December 2021
A series of audiovisual essays about Rammstein's Controversy and Metamodernism. Episode 1 posits why Rammstein is generally controversial and introduces their Metamodern position (German version available). Episode 2 and 3 are vignettes of "America" and "Radio" respectively which are used to illuminate the posited points in episode 1.
IFFR 2021- Selim Mourad's "Agate Mousse": Ontological Meditations
February 2021
Audiovisual review of Selim Mourad's painstakingly beautiful film "Agate Mousse". Made for the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021.
An Audiovisual Manifesto on the Audiovisual Essay
August 2020
Why is there a crisis within the humanities? Shall we rethink how we disseminate knowledge in academia? Check out my plea for some enlightening and unorthodox changes.
The Transformational Potential of Atom Egoyan’s "Ararat"
December 2020
Using Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002), this audiovisual essay demonstrates the power and relevance of self-reflexivity and metacinematic techniques, particularly the mise en abyme, in Egoyan's film and within the Armenian diasporic context. Furthermore, it briefly explores how metacinematic techniques function in the more general field of Diasporic Cinema. Published in Tecmerin.
Subversive Affirmation in Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible
June 2019
A less personal audiovisual essay, but one that is very theoretically dense. Join me in the exploration of Sergei Eisenstein's ingenuity in his penultimate film, Ivan the Terrible (1944). The audiovisual essay uncovers the ways the film criticizes the Stalinist Regime through Slavoj Žižek's concept of "subversive affirmation".
Let's Cult!: "Repo Man's" Plate o' Shrimp Logic
January 2020
Audiovisual essay about the shrimpy and culty logic of Alex Cox's "Repo Man". "Let's Cult!: 'Repo Man's' Plate o' Shrimp Logic" puts the cult in cultability to showcase how an audiovisual essay itself can be part of a cult. Why is "Repo Man" a cult film? What fuels this aforementioned cult? Co-created with Dr. Miklós Kiss for Critics Choice VI at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020. Chosen as one of the best audiovisual essays of the year by BFI.
Marxism in Metropolis
November 2018
An audiovisual essay that closely dissects the Moloch scene in Fritz Lang's Metropolis from a Marxist perspective. Published in the Autumn 2018 issue of Necsus. Co-produced with Greta Calaciura.
Synaesthesia in F.W. Murnau's Films
June 2018
An exploration of the film phenomenological concept of synesthesia in Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's silent works. The audiovisual essay first introduces the concept, then moves on to demonstrate how Murnau uses certain filmic techniques to evoke the presence of sound in his silent films. Co-created with Diego Casas and Panos Achtsioglou.
Diasporas, (Armenian) Diasporic Cinema, and their Intersections
August 2019-April 2020
As an Armenian diasporian myself, I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings about diasporas, diasporic cinema, and Armenian diasporic cinema to the world. I aim to bring these discourses into the sphere of the general public as we can all take important ideas that are applicable to our lives from them. I invite you to take the intense, yet transcendental journey that this series creates.