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MANIFESTOS
OF A YOUNG SCHOLAR- UNDERGRADUATE RAMBLINGS From economics to media theory, college life is one long essay. Surveillance Rituals and Exhibition: Extending The Conversation UCI, 2007: Since the birth of cinema, film and cultural critics have noted the emergence of the spectacle as a challenge to traditional rituals of art – especially concerning the medium's capacity to “distract” the masses. In 1936 Walter Benjamin famously warned of the loss of artwork's so called “aura” in the age of technological reproducibility stating that “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (220). Benjamin saw spectacle as “politicizing art” such that cult values gave way to that of exhibition, art losing all claims of “authenticity.” However, recent advances in information technologies have seen this debate transmuted to encompass surveillance technologies and concerns of privacy in an era of mechanical and digital reproduction, plotting the collapse of boundaries between public and private spheres. Mythic Language: Cultural Agitations in Breathless UCI, 2007: Foreign language dialogue plays an important role as mythical cultural object and embodiment of American ideology in Jean-Luc Godard’s New Wave authorial classic, A Bout De Souffle (1960). While traditionally viewed in terms of reinforcing editing discontinuities, an interrupting agent paradoxically aiding a seamless flow of fragmentary montage, a dynamic mix of English and French underlie Godard’s political power as auteur: an ability to impose his expert will by projecting American superiority in the face of a complicated cultural climate. Yet the answer as to where this commentary originates cannot be as simple as from the auteur. Rather, the employment of language articulates the troubled cultural relationship between France and America in a globalizing post war environment. In this essay I examine the way this tension manifests itself as fearful excitement through conversation shortly after the start of the film as Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) encounters Patricia Franchini (Jean Serberg) vending the New York Herald Tribune along the Champs Elysées. I will restrict this analysis to an explanation of mythic language and subsequent function as a cultural agitation that glorifies globalization. Melodramatic Spaces: Reign Over Me and American Victimhood UCI, 2007: Hollywood melodrama can be defined as nostalgic spectacle: an exploration of lost American innocence and virtuous suffering that begins, unfolds, and ends in a place of innocence. Indeed film scholars such as Linda Williams and Thomas Schatz have extensively examined the way in which the genre/mode reveals America’s self-declaration as Mecca of innocence and virtue (Williams 50) in response to uncontrollable political events and social conventions that lead to inevitable suffering (Schatz 222). All is manifested by excessive emotional appeal. In this spirit and the bitter aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, it is perhaps fruitful to look at recent cinematic depictions of NYC, Reign Over Me (Binder 2007) in particular, to explore the function of locality as melodramatic space, locus of pathos driving emotional efficacy in times of lost innocence and unrecognized virtue. By exploring how melodramatic cinema techniques transform NYC into a center of collective mourning, reinforced by mournful musical accompaniment, we can begin to understand modern melodramatic tendencies within a larger generic corpus. Mechanisms of Containment: Semantic and Syntactic Manipulation UCI, 2007: Although Invasion of The Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) is traditionally considered in relation to its generic embodiment of science fiction and horror, the film also employs preexisting formulas characteristic of mystery, noir, and hardboiled detective models to advance an ideology of containment. Made during the height of HUAC’s anti-communist fervor, the film illustrates the way in which The Cold War can be characterized as a system of covert manipulation, especially when analyzed using Rick Altman’s semantic/syntactic approach (1984). FULL ARTICLE
L'économie de
l'immédiateté: le marché du DVD Mechanisms of Contradiction: A Formulaic
System of Distraction
UCI, 2007: In the bitter aftermath of September 11, Reign Over Me (Binder 2007) offers a surprisingly provocative commentary on the synthetic distinction drawn between familial and social roles of work and play, specifically in terms of ideology and gender. In this film, friendless family man Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) befriends former college roommate Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) who suffers from post traumatic stress after losing his family in the attack. While traditionally, friendship and caring have been associated with femininity (Hatch), this film works to problematize that distinction through masculine depiction of self-abnegating, therapeutic male bonding as distractive love. The result is indeed an emotional return of the repressed, achieved through spectator positioning and the recognition of virtue in Alan’s character. However, the film is unable to resolve these contradictions, instead reinstating patriarchal norms of love and friendship through comedic episodes of sexuality, addiction, and fear. (The Economy of Immediacy: The DVD Market) with Akari Okamune Bordeaux, 2006: De nos jours l’économie du cinéma est profondément affectée par l’émergence de l’ère numérique. Notamment, le domaine de l’Internet, qui « ne connaît pas de frontières », a un grand effet sur le marché de l’audiovisuel, surtout sur le vente des DVD en créant et nourrissant une véritable demande parmi les spectateurs pour une immédiateté et une interopérabilité de sorties. On exige de plus en plus une rapidité de sorties aux systèmes de diffusion et on exige à tous les genres de support des compétences optimales à visionner les films. Quels sont les avantages et quelles sont les conséquences du haut débit sur l’industrie du film qui continue à être bombardé par les nouvelles technologies et qui souffre du penchant des consommateurs pour la vidéo à la demande (VOD)? Controlling Reality: Exploring Ideas of Power in Contemporary Cinema UCI, 2005: Cinema can be defined as a reflection of and reaction to reality, especially when considering the depiction of new technologies and expressing the apprehension that modern computing devices-- artificial intelligence, cybernetic systems, robots, simulated realities, and surveillance technologies-- possess the inherent and inevitable ability to grant unwanted power to corrupted governments, individuals, and machines. As computers continue to develop and become increasingly integrated into every facet of society, so do people’s age-old fear of losing control and becoming overly dependent on these machines to the point of abrogating not only democracy as known in the United States, but eliminating any and all sense of human superiority over animals and machines. Fostering Communication: New Media Storytelling UCI, 2005: As technology continues to evolve so do the ways in which stories are told. There is a mutual dependence between not only the devices used to tell such stories, but amongst the stories themselves, past, present, and future. The introduction of these technologies is neither linear nor as random as popularly believed. Hoover's Vigilent Utopia UCI, 2004: Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) are considered to have given birth to America’s anti-Communist fervor during the 1940s and 50s. McCarthy’s demagoguery has become the definition of a political witch-hunt. However, many historians of “McCarthy’s era” continue to overlook the FBI’s defining role in these trials. At the same time McCarthy was overtly leading a fight against communism for political gain, the FBI was covertly manipulating HUAC to promote their own political cause as well, using various media to spread anti-Communist propaganda. *Links should be available shortly |
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2007 Ludogrind
All opinions expressed herein are solely those of Lavant
All company and/or product names and logos are trademarks of their respective companies
All opinions expressed herein are solely those of Lavant
All company and/or product names and logos are trademarks of their respective companies