Film and Philosophy

published on August 19, 2022

Double Reversals in Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth

This essay explores the underlying connections, through reversals and doubling, in Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth. The film utilizes more than just similar cinematic techniques across its five episodes, it embeds conceptual connections that result in a strong location-expression conveying to the viewer the unique ‘flavor’ of each of the five cities. The essay explores the concepts of reversal, doubling, location-expression, and spectatorship. It elucidates the filmic expressions of place by gesturing toward expression theory and rasa theory. Ultimately, the film’s unity, like that of a rock band’s LP, holds together enough to suggest the peculiar awareness of the filmgoer’s tourist spectatorship.