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Four Corners

Name: Four Corners
Director: James Benning
Released: 1997
Duration: 80 min

Representation Score

1.2/10

Minimal

1997

Director

James Benning

Runtime

80 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

James Benning’s Four Corners is a formalist experiment that emphasizes the cinematic frame over social representation. By focusing on the environment and excluding characters, the film avoids stereotypical characterization but fails to provide multi-layered ability to act. Its value lies in challenging perceptions of place and ownership through a structuralist approach to the landscape.

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Category Breakdown

Does Four Corners have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film features long, static shots of the American West with no human characters or dialogue, so LGBTQ+ identities are not shown.

How does Four Corners portray gender?

Minimal

The story focuses solely on the environment and architecture, with no characters or gendered social interactions to explore gender hierarchies.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Four Corners?

Limited

There are no actors of color in the film, so direct representation of diverse racial backgrounds is missing. However, the film challenges Western myths through its deconstruction of geography.

How does Four Corners represent religion and culture?

Fair

Benning’s film implicitly critiques Western expansionism, offering a nuanced view of national identity through a slow, observational approach.

Does Four Corners include disability representation?

Minimal

Since the film focuses on landscapes and architecture, there are no human subjects to depict disabilities or lived experiences.

Present on Screen

Avoids stereotypical characterization by excluding characters
Challenges traditional Western myths through geographical deconstruction
Offers a nuanced view of national identity through observation

Limited or Absent

Lacks multi-layered ability to act
Does not represent human identities directly
Does not engage with identity politics through human subjects

Official Synopsis

James Benning's "Four Corners" uses a specific geographical location to pose larger questions about the United States. Here, the geographic and wholly imaginary place Four Corners, that favorite tourist destination where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet, becomes a kind of theoretical ground zero, the site from which Benning can give voice to other, pointedly unofficial American stories.

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