How far back would one have to go? To Leonardo's camera obscura that projected images? To the shadow plays of Scrates, Plato and Aristotle's time? According to Jacob Bronowski, you would have to go back to the cave people.
Investigating the cave people, the first thing Bronowski discovered was that "Cave man" is a misnomer. The cave people actually had camps Bronowski excavated outside of the caves. Then why paint pictures of Ice Age creatures on the walls of the caves?
In looking around at the walls during his investigation, Bronowski discovered something curious in the ceiling. There was a thick layer of tallow. Why? He had the men helping him construct a makeshift torch and turn off all of their lights. Then they saw it: the first films. The torch turned the cave pictures into looming, flickering images.
On the spot, Bronowski developed a theory: the cave people were painting the pictures and then coming back into the caves with torches (and maybe even their spears and a few chants) to face their fears. A few choruses of "Kill the Mammoth" may have made them brave enough to go out and get meat for a month.
Could part of the attraction of film today be that it helps us to face our fears? Watching James Bond drive that car may give us the ability to go out and face our crazy roadways. Aristotle would agree. He claimed that seeing kings fall from great heights made the problems of us commoners not seem so great. In any case, we can see where film is probably as old as humanity's handle on fire.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The High Moral Consciousness and Conscience of Film
Film has amazing capacity for good and evil. On the surface, film merely offers an alternate reality for those who are willing to focus their senses on the images flickering by. This is both the brilliance and the danger of film. It is brilliant when it allows overly stimulated people to escape, forget, rest the snapping synapses in their brains. People can release tension into the quick escape proffered. This allows us simple folk to return to everyday tasks and face our fears. The same expunging catharsis and epiphanies have been engaging us since the days of the ancient and classic Greek dramatists.
The dangerous side of film is its evangelical quality. It has this naturally and intrinsically. Most filmmakers will mouth the oft quoted "If you want a message, use Western Union." But film cannot escape its magnificent ability to communicate. The unreal shadows sppear like a more favorable reality to the watcher, cut down into clear, bite-size morsels. Film changes what people think, wear, do, and even lifestyles according to what the audience sees. Where would the Third Reich had been without Riefenstahl? Where would the new deal and WW2 be without Capra and Ford?
The sorriest dread of humans is our ability to decline. Theater went from the height of Greek drama and comedy to Roman gladiatorial games that basically entertained with a lot of hacking. Our film history is following much the same pattern. The Silent Era could be seen as our Greek time and reality tv could be seen as gladitorial hacking.
Film has the possibility of changing society or dragging it down. Because it is driven by money, it will likely succomb to the lowest common denominator. "Garbage in, garbage out," claim the filmmakers--film merely reflects the society it is composed in. Without challenge, teaching, guidance---humans fall to their most base form. The hope of Classic Film File is to remember the noble shoulders film stands upon for a sense of film that can heighten the human condition.
The dangerous side of film is its evangelical quality. It has this naturally and intrinsically. Most filmmakers will mouth the oft quoted "If you want a message, use Western Union." But film cannot escape its magnificent ability to communicate. The unreal shadows sppear like a more favorable reality to the watcher, cut down into clear, bite-size morsels. Film changes what people think, wear, do, and even lifestyles according to what the audience sees. Where would the Third Reich had been without Riefenstahl? Where would the new deal and WW2 be without Capra and Ford?
The sorriest dread of humans is our ability to decline. Theater went from the height of Greek drama and comedy to Roman gladiatorial games that basically entertained with a lot of hacking. Our film history is following much the same pattern. The Silent Era could be seen as our Greek time and reality tv could be seen as gladitorial hacking.
Film has the possibility of changing society or dragging it down. Because it is driven by money, it will likely succomb to the lowest common denominator. "Garbage in, garbage out," claim the filmmakers--film merely reflects the society it is composed in. Without challenge, teaching, guidance---humans fall to their most base form. The hope of Classic Film File is to remember the noble shoulders film stands upon for a sense of film that can heighten the human condition.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Philosophy of Film
Thousands of tiny snapshots pasted together with light shinning through them to give the illusion of movement and life. Life is but a walking shadow. Plato's shadows at the back of a cave have become our reality. No other entertainment or art form has brought so much intrigue, delight, pervasive influence or worldwide acceptance.
It awakens the senses. Through the sense of sound and sight, we experience a sense of space (enveloped in an artificial one); we experience a sense of humor, a sense of drama, a sense of suspense, a sense of romance. We live so vicariously through these tiny strips that we oftn prefer this artificial world to our own reality.
The film experience is nothing short of religious. The theater is the temple, self-promoting and full of pleasure. It offers connection to favorite icons and the communicants choice of elements: popcorn, coke, junior mints. One enters in either purposeful fellowship or jungian super-conciousness. The lights are lowered, the sermon begins and the focus on this spiritual life ensues.
Yet, think of how ephemeral this medium is. A film can be written and re-written a thousand times before it reaches the screen---and I'm not talking about the script. Acting rewrites a film. Editing rewrites a film. Even set design, make-up and costume can completely change the look and feel of a film. I once saw a famous Director of Photography show how color choice can completely "write" a film.
This blog site will be dedicated to film in all its glorious, hallowed reaches and dregs---mainly in the 20th century and forgoing pornography. Even this inconography can reveal the depth, height and length of the human spirit.
It awakens the senses. Through the sense of sound and sight, we experience a sense of space (enveloped in an artificial one); we experience a sense of humor, a sense of drama, a sense of suspense, a sense of romance. We live so vicariously through these tiny strips that we oftn prefer this artificial world to our own reality.
The film experience is nothing short of religious. The theater is the temple, self-promoting and full of pleasure. It offers connection to favorite icons and the communicants choice of elements: popcorn, coke, junior mints. One enters in either purposeful fellowship or jungian super-conciousness. The lights are lowered, the sermon begins and the focus on this spiritual life ensues.
Yet, think of how ephemeral this medium is. A film can be written and re-written a thousand times before it reaches the screen---and I'm not talking about the script. Acting rewrites a film. Editing rewrites a film. Even set design, make-up and costume can completely change the look and feel of a film. I once saw a famous Director of Photography show how color choice can completely "write" a film.
This blog site will be dedicated to film in all its glorious, hallowed reaches and dregs---mainly in the 20th century and forgoing pornography. Even this inconography can reveal the depth, height and length of the human spirit.
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