Even the appropriation of models which appear to be only technical, industrial, scientific, etc., leads to a conceptual dependency

Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, "Towards a Third Cinema"

The placing of the cinema within US models, even in the formal aspect, in language, leads to the adoption of the ideological forms that gave rise to precisely that language and no other. Even the appropriation of models which appear to be only technical, industrial, scientific, etc., leads to a conceptual dependency, due to the fact that the cinema is an industry, but differs from other industries in that it has been created and organised in order to generate certain ideologies. The 35mm camera, 24 frames per second, arc lights, and a commercial place of exhibition for audiences were conceived not to gratuitously transmit any ideology, but to satisfy, in the first place, the cultural and surplus value needs of a specific ideology, of a specific world-view: that of US finance capital.

To endow with a poetic value that which does not yet possess it, to willfully restrict the field of vision so as to intensify expression

Louis Aragon, "On Decor."

Poets without being artists, children sometimes fix their attention on an object to the point where their concentration makes it grow larger, grow so much it completely occupies their visual field, assumes a mysterious aspect and loses all relation to its purpose. Or they repeat a word endlessly, so often it divests itself of meaning and becomes a poignant and pointless sound that makes them cry. Likewise on the screen objects that were a few moments ago sticks of furniture or books of cloakroom tickets and transformed to the point where they take on menacing or enigmatic meanings. The theater is powerless where such emotive concentration is concerned. 

To endow with a poetic value that which does not yet possess it, to willfully restrict the field of vision so as to intensify expression: these are two properties that help make cinematic decor the adequate setting of modern beauty.

 From French Film Theory and Criticism: 1907-1929 (Princeton UP, 1988: 166).

Anti-Paranoia in the Pacific Northwest: Reichardt’s Night Moves (2013)

*minor spoilers ahead*

Kelly Reichardt’s latest film, Night Moves (2013), continues the director’s trend of setting films in the Pacific Northwest. Reichardt collaborated once again with Oregonian Jon Raymond on the screenplay for the film, lending the film an aura of authenticity as it relates to the Pacific Northwest – although Reichardt probably knows the area well enough by now! Like most of Reichardt’s films, Night Moves centers on the loss of something fundamental to the subjectivity of the protagonist: an old friendship in Old Joy (2006); a life companion in Wendy and Lucy (2008); masculinity and (literally) the way forward in Meek’s Cutoff (2010). In Night Moves this loss is less corporeal than in these other films. While each character weathers the effects to different degrees, the protagonists in this film struggle with the loss of their own rationale or surety for the destruction of a local dam as an act of environmental activism.

As half the film follows the planning of the bombing of the dam, and the other half the fallout from this act, an air of paranoia pervades the film. The characters must buy truckloads of fertilizer to build their dam-destroying bomb, and post-bombing the group fears they might be ‘found out’ by whatever government agency is tracking them. Jesse Eisenberg’s nervous gestus, in the Brechtian sense, fits this film well, as he comes across simultaneously as paranoid and irrevocably resigned to his choices, even while vocally challenged by other mentor-type characters in the film. What I find most fascinating about this film is the way that this paranoia becomes what Thomas Pynchon and Friedrich Kittler referred to as ‘anti-paranoia’ through the film’s subdued cinematography, acting, and editing. Pynchon writes, “there is… also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long” (434). With paranoia, one assumes they will find the ‘Truth’ that has been obfuscated – Mulder says, “I want to believe,” and we as viewers always hang out the possibility that the global conspiracy/collaboration with aliens will be revealed to us, but in Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, narrative directions proliferate to the point where there can be no single Truth in the end. Night Moves resists revealing anything beyond the immediate perception of its characters to the point where we, as viewers, take on their unrequited paranoia, but the film ultimately never delivers the conspiracy.

As I mentioned previously, this anti-paranoia comes through the formal construction of the film, and it shifts attention from the narrative to both the physical and mental environments these characters live in. Fans of Reichardt will recognize her subdued style immediately, with her long takes, focus on labor, and emphasis on environment/bodily gest over action. Eisenberg’s character works and lives on a farming co-op, and the film doesn’t shy away from his day-to-day labors. At one point, the three environmentalists interact with an exuberant camper, but barely even respond to his friendly gestures. After the bombing, there are long shots of Eisenberg staring offscreen intently at the sound of a car – the FBI pulling up to the farm? – but such shots eventually dissipate without confirming any paranoid expectations we might have. Tomas Hachard at NPR called this an “ultimately unsatisfying new film” and I’m not too surprised by this assessment, but I also think this is precisely the point. Whatever paranoid delusions of eco-terrorists or the thriller genre the film might fulfill are replaced with issues far too complicated for narrative summation.

I was fascinated by cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt’s ability to capture these physical/psychological environments in beautiful detail. I posted a few images that illustrate the attention to the environment of the Pacific Northwest, but you really have to see the film to understand the way this is done with the mental landscapes. Dakota Fanning’s character develops pretty obvious rashes as a result of the stress of her anti-paranoia, but I preferred Eisenberg’s watchful gaze as he tries to connect imaginary dots. I also appreciated the honest look at the farming coop culture in the Pacific Northwest, with the film intimating the farm’s location not too far away from Portland. Cascadians might also be interested in the politics of the farming coop and its relation to the federal government. If you’re a fan of Reichardt, you know what you’re getting when you see this film, but I love the style she’s developed that is area-specific without resorting to flashing establishing shots of recognizable monuments.

                                                                                                                     

Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier

The Society for Cinema and Media Studies has a new e-mail blast. Alongside the TOC for their print publication, they are now promoting certain web-accessible venues of publication. One of these is the Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier, and they name the issue I am a part of! Exciting to see an arm of Cinema Journal  devoted to pedagogy/teaching. See the CJ announcement below.

Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier at TeachingMedia.org:

Cinema Journal and TeachingMedia.org have formed a partnership to develop a quarterly feature called the Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier. The goals of this partnership are to foster critical reflection on media studies teaching and pedagogy and to engender serious discussion of pedagogical issues via an active online platform. The current dossier is titled New Approaches to Teaching World Cinema.

Long Time No Blog, Pacific Northwest Edition

It has been a long time since I've blogged due to writing other things like journal articles (a bit on short film, SF film, global film, see here for titles), some SF starts, random internet threads about theory, and a dissertation. Those dissertation things sure take a while.

I've also transitioned back to the Pacific Northwest and I am teaching at Western Washington University this year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies. This is an exciting opportunity, because I will be able to teach classes based on some of my writing/research interests. This fall, for example, I am teaching a class on 'Film and Television in the Pacific Northwest.' Teaching in the Pacific Northwest, and especially at Western, offers so many opportunities for a class like this. Early on in the course I will be taking the students to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies on Western's campus and the Whatcom Museum to look at archival materials. They'll be looking at these materials alongside The General (1927), which should give us a rich sense of the 'Pacific Northwest in the Past.' I am also currently organizing a multi-projector screening of Harry Smith's experimental Heaven and Earth Magic (1957-1962) – particularly exciting, because Smith was from Bellingham, but I'll have to dedicate another post to this further down the road. I'm also having local filmmakers from Hand Crank Films (www.handcrankfilms.com) come in and talk to the class about local film and video work, which will be exciting because a few students that are signed up for the class have been talking to me about their post-college career goals. Hand Crank's success illustrates the need for more graduates with a background in film. I'm also setting up an option to create a film for students interested in production – excited about the possibilities for video essays and documentary in particular! Part of my goal with this class has been to utilize the resources and community of Bellingham since we are, in a way, studying Bellingham! I hope that the student's work will contribute to local resources and future classes on the subject.

I recently got back from a working retreat set up by the Teaching Learning Academy and library at Western. The theme was 'Backwards by Design' and we looked at ways of approaching curriculum design from what we want students to learn in the end, rather than moving forward starting with content and assignments. It seems simple, but when you commit to approaching design this way I find that it results in subtle yet fundamental changes and innovative assignments. I think it is easy to get into a rut in assigning 'typical' assignments, but approaching these same assignments with a desired learning objective/threshold concept in the foreground reveals, at least to me, the ways in which such assignments aren't always sufficient if we're building real critical skills into our courses. The concept I'm working on in my Pacific Northwest class is the way that approaching an object of research from a particular method/discourse/theory presupposes a certain type of knowledge – borrowing from Feyerabend's Against Method, but we could also look to discourse theory in the vein of Foucault and Gee. This seems important to me for this class, because we will look at diverse types of film and television, each which provides a certain insight about the Pacific Northwest based on its formal and thematic modes.

I'm really happy that Western has these sorts of professional development opportunities, because it means that there is always a community for thinking through my work. The retreat was also an excellent opportunity to meet other faculty at Western! Glad to make some friends there and network with other Western folks interested in film. While I am teaching in the English department, I've made contact with faculty in Art History, Fairhaven College, the library, and Modern Languages who all research or teach film. There is some real interdisciplinary potential at Western for film students!

Well, I can't promise I'll start blogging more, but I'd like to repurpose this blog a bit and shift towards my teaching. I'll still probably post about films I've seen recently every once in a while, but writing about 'teaching film' seems like a useful exercise.

DeleuzeCinema.com

I've been busy with a number of articles, presentations, and projects, so I haven't had time to update the blog in a long time, but I thought I'd break the silence for a project I'm launching today with a team from St Andrews.

DeleuzeCinema.com

Deleuze Cinema (dot com) is a collaborative resource for scholarly and creative works dealing with Gilles Deleuze and film/media. We've spent a chunk of our time adding to the resource, but we'd like to invite others to contribute as well! If you're interested, use the contact form on the website.

Mumblecore, the Gif