{"id":2509,"date":"2010-09-10T00:32:06","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T04:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2018-08-05T21:39:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T01:39:45","slug":"2509","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=2509","title":{"rendered":"Friday, September 10, 2010 \u2014 Homo Cinematis"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve col\u00adlect\u00aded films for a long time. Long before it was pos\u00adsi\u00adble to keep them as com\u00adput\u00ader files, I was accu\u00admu\u00adlat\u00ading video\u00adtapes by the gross. I love films of all kinds, good and bad, and will watch all sorts of things that puz\u00adzle my friends. Why, for instance, would any\u00adone in 2010 want to watch Spooks Run Wild<\/em>, star\u00adring the East End Kids, or a 1959 Swedish film about extrater\u00adres\u00adtri\u00adals invad\u00ading Lap\u00adp\u00adland? Well, quite apart from the direct, child\u00adish plea\u00adsure this sort of thing gives me, I can pre\u00adtend I have more seri\u00adous, and pre\u00adsum\u00adably laud\u00adable reasons.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate habit among his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans to talk about such and such a point in time as mark\u00ading the begin\u00adning of \u201cmoder\u00adni\u00adty\u201d \u2015 a point fixed, accord\u00ading to fash\u00adion, any\u00adwhere from the proof sheets of the Epic of Gil\u00adgamesh<\/em> to the death of Kurt Cobain \u2015 but there are two points in time where it can be con\u00advinc\u00ading\u00adly argued that things did change for us quite dras\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly. After a mere thir\u00adty years of exper\u00adi\u00adment, the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy of pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adphy became wide\u00adly avail\u00adable by the ear\u00adly 1850s. The sober\u00ading real\u00adi\u00adty of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Civ\u00adil War leaps out at us from the pho\u00adtographs of Math\u00adew Brady, and it was\u00adn\u2019t any\u00adthing like war was depict\u00aded by the painter Jacques Louis David.<\/p>\n

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Anoth\u00ader dra\u00admat\u00adic change in how we expe\u00adri\u00adence the world arrived in the last decade of the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry, when pho\u00adtographs began to move. The ear\u00adly days of movies fas\u00adci\u00adnate me. At first, peo\u00adple were con\u00adtent mere\u00adly to look at any\u00adthing that would move in front of a cam\u00adera. Peo\u00adple hap\u00adpi\u00adly flocked to the cin\u00ade\u00admas to see a chick\u00aden being plucked, a dog chas\u00ading a cat, or a man put on and take off his hat. But very, very quick\u00adly, the movies began to explore what Daniel Ari\u00adjon has called \u201cthe gram\u00admar of the film lan\u00adguage.\u201d Film rapid\u00adly became much more than a tech\u00adni\u00adcal gim\u00admick for record\u00ading the appear\u00adance of the world. It cre\u00adat\u00aded fan\u00adtasies, recre\u00adat\u00aded the past, retold myths, sat\u00adi\u00adrized, eroti\u00adcized, trau\u00adma\u00adtized, and induced laugh\u00adter. There was noth\u00ading obvi\u00adous about this gram\u00admar \u2014 which, like lan\u00adguage, con\u00adveys incred\u00adi\u00adbly com\u00adplex infor\u00adma\u00adtion by means of a struc\u00adtured code imposed on a sequen\u00adtial phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon. In fact, much of it had to be mutu\u00adal\u00adly, if uncon\u00adscious\u00adly, agreed upon by the film-mak\u00ader and the audi\u00adence. The most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult steps in its ear\u00adli\u00adest devel\u00adop\u00adment, for exam\u00adple, were to dis\u00adcov\u00ader that you could tell a sto\u00adry by the jux\u00adta\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion of dif\u00adfer\u00adent images, and that you could omit things from the visu\u00adal nar\u00adra\u00adtive. This process of agreed-upon omis\u00adsion con\u00adtin\u00adued as film devel\u00adoped, which is one of the rea\u00adsons that peo\u00adple have dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty watch\u00ading movies that were made long ago. Look at any nor\u00admal movie made, say, in the 1930s. A char\u00adac\u00adter will announce that he is going to vis\u00adit some\u00adone. There will be a shot show\u00ading him dial\u00ading a tele\u00adphone, then request\u00ading a taxi, then of him get\u00adting into the taxi, then of the taxi going down a street, then of it arriv\u00ading at his des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion, then of the char\u00adac\u00adter ring\u00ading a door bell, then of his being greet\u00aded. This will all seem point\u00adless and inter\u00adminably slow to a view\u00ader today. But, if a direc\u00adtor in 1934 had cut the film like it would be today, the audi\u00adence would have been con\u00adfused by what would seem to them an abrupt and incom\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsi\u00adble change of scene. Most peo\u00adple accus\u00adtomed to today\u2019s film lan\u00adguage will com\u00adplain that almost any film made before 1980 is \u201ctoo slow.\u201d Tech\u00adniques of rapid-cut\u00adting, inter\u00adpo\u00adlat\u00aded images, and non-sequen\u00adtial nar\u00adra\u00adtive that are rou\u00adtine\u00adly used in any trashy action flic today were once con\u00adfined to exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal \u201cart\u201d films dis\u00adcussed in the Cahiers du cin\u00e9\u00adma<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There is noth\u00ading auto\u00admat\u00adic or \u201cnat\u00adur\u00adal\u201d about any of this. Real\u00adi\u00adty does not hap\u00adpen in cross-cuts, pan shots, and jump-cut edit\u00ading. Curi\u00adous\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, the tech\u00adniques of film-mak\u00ading resem\u00adble the way we dream. When I\u2019m wok\u00aden dur\u00ading REM<\/span> state with suf\u00adfi\u00adcient abrupt\u00adness to remem\u00adber a part of a dream, I\u2019m struck by it\u2019s cin\u00ade\u00admat\u00adic qual\u00adi\u00adty. I\u2019ve asked many oth\u00ader peo\u00adple about their dreams, and many of them have remarked, when I brought up the issue, that it did seem to them that their dreams are struc\u00adtured like movies, with cam\u00adera angles, com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion, close-ups and long views, and a time struc\u00adture that com\u00adpress\u00ades and omits things in much the same way that movies do. Now, why would this be? I can think of two inter\u00adest\u00ading, and very dif\u00adfer\u00adent pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties. It\u2019s pos\u00adsi\u00adble that, before they expe\u00adri\u00adenced movies on a reg\u00adu\u00adlar basis, peo\u00adple did\u00adn\u2019t dream that way. Per\u00adhaps dreams dreamed in 1822 or 1196 were noth\u00ading at all like dreams are today, and they have acquired their cur\u00adrent pat\u00adtern from the expe\u00adri\u00adence of watch\u00ading films and tele\u00advi\u00adsion. Alter\u00adna\u00adtive\u00adly, it\u2019s pos\u00adsi\u00adble that films are sat\u00adis\u00adfy\u00ading to peo\u00adple because they repli\u00adcate the struc\u00adture of con\u00adscious\u00adness in some way, a struc\u00adture that is also present in dreams. Most films are, more or less, dreams of some kind. They pro\u00advide us with far more \u201calter\u00adna\u00adtive real\u00adi\u00adty\u201d than it would seem to be nec\u00ades\u00adsary mere\u00adly to train us for the vicis\u00adsi\u00adtudes of life, or to allay boredom.<\/p>\n

One of the rea\u00adsons I watch all sorts of films is because I\u2019m curi\u00adous about what kind of things peo\u00adple in dif\u00adfer\u00adent times and places chose to day\u00addream about. Anoth\u00ader is that films \u2015 espe\u00adcial\u00adly rou\u00adtine and con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal films that are not meant to be \u201cartis\u00adtic\u201d \u2015 pre\u00adserve vast amounts of infor\u00adma\u00adtion about the world that might oth\u00ader\u00adwise be lost, and will remind us that the his\u00adto\u00adry we read in book form tends to be flat and over-abstract\u00aded. Look\u00ading at ordi\u00adnary films from around 1930 can be extreme\u00adly enlight\u00aden\u00ading. For exam\u00adple, last night, I saw a 1930 Ger\u00adman film called Die Drei von der Tankstelle<\/em>. It was a musi\u00adcal com\u00ade\u00addy in which three \u201cpals\u201d open a gas sta\u00adtion and fall in love with the same girl. Noth\u00ading could seem far\u00adther removed from the \u201cGer\u00admany in 1930\u201d that is wedged into my mind from read\u00ading books. Nor could any book give me the insights that the silent film Berlin: Die Sin\u00adfonie der Grosstadt<\/em>, made only two years ear\u00adli\u00ader, could. This film lyri\u00adcal\u00adly showed dai\u00adly life in Berlin from dawn to night, fol\u00adlow\u00ading peo\u00adple at home, on the streets, at work, at play. It also made it clear to me why Hitler and the Nazis so intense\u00adly hat\u00aded that city, with it\u2019s insou\u00adciant, cos\u00admopoli\u00adtan life.<\/p>\n

The Black Camel<\/em> (1930) is the first Char\u00adlie Chan movie. One is struck by the fact that the Chi\u00adnese char\u00adac\u00adters in the movie are treat\u00aded with respect and dig\u00adni\u00adty, but the Japan\u00adese char\u00adac\u00adters are por\u00adtrayed as ludi\u00adcrous slap\u00adstick idiots. Local eth\u00adnic atti\u00adtudes in Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia have often found their way into Hol\u00adly\u00adwood films. A gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion before, the Chi\u00adnese had been intense\u00adly per\u00adse\u00adcut\u00aded in Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia, but had, through shear dogged per\u00adsis\u00adtence, worked their way to respectabil\u00adi\u00adty by 1930. The Japan\u00adese, how\u00adev\u00ader, had replaced them as the butt of con\u00adtempt and deri\u00adsion. Twelve years lat\u00ader, they would find them\u00adselves in \u201crelo\u00adca\u00adtion camps,\u201d though most of them had been out\u00adcast eta in Japan and had devot\u00aded them\u00adselves to their new coun\u00adtry. The same thing hap\u00adpened to the Japan\u00adese in West\u00adern Cana\u00adda. Warn\u00ader Oland, the actor who cre\u00adat\u00aded the Char\u00adlie Chan role, was Swedish by birth! A con\u00adsci\u00aden\u00adtious crafts\u00adman, and a schol\u00adar who had pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly trans\u00adlat\u00aded the works of Strind\u00adberg into Eng\u00adlish, Oland took the role very seri\u00adous\u00adly. He immersed him\u00adself in Chi\u00adnese cul\u00adture, and spoke Man\u00addarin. A mod\u00adern view\u00ader, exposed to post-mod\u00adern rhetoric about appro\u00adpri\u00ada\u00adtion and authen\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adty, would be sur\u00adprised to learn that Oland was as pop\u00adu\u00adlar in Chi\u00adna as he was in Amer\u00adi\u00adca, if not more so. The film also con\u00adtains the charm\u00ading sur\u00adprise of B\u00e9la Lugosi in a sup\u00adport\u00ading role, just before his sud\u00adden fame as Dracula.<\/p>\n

Look\u00ading for things like this makes movie-watch\u00ading some\u00adthing like archae\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy, to me. Just as most peo\u00adple are sur\u00adprised that archae\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgists can spend hours of back-break\u00ading labour to unearth a few frag\u00adments of pot\u00adtery or sift through tons of soil to count the fish bones in it, they are sur\u00adprised that my film col\u00adlec\u00adtion con\u00adtains Crit\u00adters 2: The Main Course<\/em>, Tante Pose<\/em> (a 1940 Nor\u00adwe\u00adgian com\u00ade\u00addy), Hua jai tor ra nong<\/em> (\u201cThe Adven\u00adtures of Iron Pussy\u201d in Thai), and Bom\u00adba the Jun\u00adgle Boy<\/em>. But frankly, they often mean more to me than the film clas\u00adsics I\u2019m sup\u00adposed to be watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve col\u00adlect\u00aded films for a long time. Long before it was pos\u00adsi\u00adble to keep them as com\u00adput\u00ader files, I was accu\u00admu\u00adlat\u00ading video\u00adtapes by the gross. I love films of all kinds, good and bad, and will watch all sorts of \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8,948,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-aq-blog-2010","category-d-viewing","category-dq-viewing-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2509"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7768,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions\/7768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}