SUB-SCRIPTED
MARGINALIA
BUT ERWIN, YOU COULDN’T
HAVE FORESEEN HOW YOUR IDEAS WOULD CONCEPTUALIZE
FILM AND THEN REDUCE IT, T’IS A SHAME
THAT IT HAS AND NOT THAT YOU DIDN’T.
YOUR DISCUSSION OF "THE EVOLUTION FROM
JERKY BEGINNINGS TO . . . GRAND CLIMAX" AS
OFFERING "THE FASCINATING SPECTACLE
OF A NEW ARTISTIC MEDIUM GRADUALLY BECOMING
CONSCIOUS OF ITS LEGITIMATE, THAT IS, EXCLUSIVE
POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS," IMPLIES
A MODEL FOR ARTFORMS IN GENERAL BUT --NOWADAYS
SPECIFICALLY-- VIDEO-GAMING-AS-ARTFORM… AND
ALL THAT THAT IMPLIES GIVEN THE TREND TOWARDS
SOCIAL/COMMERCIAL MANIPULATIONS.
THE MOVIES,
ENGENDERED AS A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT (ONLY
INFREQUENTLY AS ART) WERE FURTHER SUB DUCTED
BY TELEVISION, INVOLVING AN EVEN WIDER MARKET
SHARE FOR WAGE-SLAVES; DEVOLVED FURTHER
INTO VID-GAMES AND AD-CAMPAIGNS. AS YOU
SO SUCCINCTLY POINTED OUT, IT’S TECHNOLOGICALLY
FUNDED/DRIVEN APPEALING TO THE LOWEST COMMON
DENOMINATOR IN THE FOLK-ART TRADITION OF
ENTERTAINMENT FOR POPULAR APPEAL, AND IT’S
CHANGED THE WORLD.
THESE VISUAL SPECTACLES
NOW TAKE ON GREATER PROMINENCE; IT’S
PRECISELY THE POWER OF THAT PROMINENCE THAT
HAS THE DEEPEST EFFECT UPON CONTEMPORARY
LIFE, DRAWING IN THE MASSES OF PEOPLE AND
MOVING AND SHAPING OUR DISPOSITIONS. IT’S
ALMOST A REQUIREMENT OF THE MAJORITY OF
TODAY'S PRODUCTS THAT THEY MUST WEAVE IN
SUFFICIENT AMOUNTS OF SEX AND VIOLENCE TO
GRIP THE AUDIENCE VISCERALLY. IT’S
EXACTLY THOSE ELEMENTS THAT ANCIENT GREEK
THEATER CONSIDERED BEST ONLY ALLUDED TO
VERBALLY, IN PLACE OF APPEARING ON STAGE,
(ETYMOLOGICALY SUGGESTING OB-SCENE).
IT’S
IN KEEPING WITH THE SENSIBILITIES OF PLATO,
THAT TO MAINTAIN SUCH DEPICTION WOULD SO
AROUSE THE PASSIONS AS TO DISALLOW REFLECTIVE
JUDGMENT. WITHOUT THE DISCIPLINE OF REFLECTIVENESS
FILM AND ITS PREDECESSORS PANDER, AS NO
OTHER ARTFORM CAN, TO THE IMMEDIATE EVOCATION
OF DESIRE INVOLVING THE VIEWER IN THEIR
PASSIONS. THE ABILITY TO VISUALLY COMPOSITE
AN IDEAL, SO THAT THE ILLUSION DEVELOPS
AS A MENTAL CONSTRUCT, HAS THE POWER TO
MAKE US UNIVERSAL VOYEURS, TO MAKE US PRESENT,
IN A WAY IMPOSSIBLE IN REAL LIFE, TO EVERY
MODE OF HUMAN ACTION AND TO EXPAND OUR VICARIOUS
EXPERIENCE TO ANY REAL OR FICTITIOUS VISUAL
AND AUDIBLE SPACE. THIS ENGENDERS AN IMPOSSIBLE
DREAM OF CREATING A REAL-LIVING EXISTENCE
THAT MIRRORS NOT JUST A MOVIE BUT NOW A
COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGE FILLED WITH FALSE-DANGERS
AND FAKE-LUST.
PLUS, IT’S A SURROGATE
POINT OF VIEW. EVEN THOUGH WE USE OUR OWN
EYES, WE SEE THROUGH THE EYES OF SOMEONE
ELSE, DICTATED AT SOME ELSE'S PACE. WHAT
THIS UNDERSCORES IS EMBODIMENT, ALTHOUGH,
AS IN THE ARTS GENERALLY, ONLY FROM THE
CONTEMPLATIVE, NON-TACTUAL AND THEREFORE
PARADOXICALLY DISEMBODIED VIEWPOINT. IT’S
THE SEEING EYE RATHER THAN THE ACTIVE AND
REACTIVE EMBODIED SUBJECT THAT RESPONDS. THEREFORE WE’RE GIVEN A KIND OF HUMAN
OMNIPRESENCE, THE SATISFACTION THE VOYEUR'S
INSTINCT WITHOUT ENCROACHMENT UPON THE PRIVACY
OF OTHERS. IT ALLOWS THE AUDIENCE TO EXPERIENCE
VICARIOUSLY AN INDETERMINATELY EXPANSIVE
SET OF POSSIBILITIES OF ACTION AND SETTING,
TO BE EMOTIONALLY DRAWN INTO THE WORLD DEPICTED
IN A MODE UNRIVALED BY OTHER MEDIUMS. AS
SUCH, IT ALLOWS US TO BE EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATED;
IT ALSO GIVES US AN EXPANDED EXPERIENCE,
FURNISHING AN ARTFORM MEDIUM, FUELING AN
ANTITHESIS. |