Transcript Jaques Derrida (1930-)

Andre Bazin
&
Italian Neorealism
.
Siefried Kracauer
(1889-1966)
CINEMATIC REALISM : Philosophy

Critic of “modernity” (Frankfurt School)

Human condition characterized by alienation
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Mass culture/society manipulates individuals
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Materialistic values have replaced religion,
metaphysical, romantic convictions, resulting
in disenchantment
People live distracted lives
Film as a “redemptive” experience that can
show man damaged condition of modernity
and help him transcend materialism
.
Siefried Kracauer
(1889-1966)
CINEMATIC REALISM

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Foreshadowed and predicted dehumanizing
power of mass media
“Mass ornaments”--film, military parades and
sporting events
“Real” world of the individual desubstantiated
by spectacle and empty rituals
Film must “reengage” individual with nature
and the Kantian real world
.
Andre Bazin


(1918-1958)
Views cinema as a “redemptive” art
The role of cinema is to help man in his search
for truth and understanding in an ambiguous
and uncertain world

Man can transcend alienation and modernity

Film can be a religious experience

“Love” and “state of grace”
.
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)
Bergson’s concept of “creative evolution”

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Close experiential scrutiny reveals deep
structures/meanings behind phenomena
Under scrutiny of inquiry [artistic analysis]
these deep structures are brought into the
light
Cinema and photography are media that an
artist can utilize to review the deeper
meanings behind the phenomena of existence
.
Andre Bazin

(1918-1958)
We know that under the image revealed there is
another which is truer to reality and under this
image still another and yet again still another under
this last one, right down to the true image of reality,
absolute, mysterious, which no one will ever see.
.
Andre Bazin


(1918-1958)
Film image “embalms” time & wrenches
phenomena from the flux of life
Symbolic power of cinematic imagery
combined with empirical density of cinematic
realism

The spirit behind the “real” object

The “long hard gaze”

Disliked over-expressive, over-ornamental, or
overuse of montage
.
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)

“Montage...chops the world up into
little fragments, and disturbs the
natural unity in people and things.”
.
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)

“German expressionism did violence
to the image by ways of sets and
lighting.”
.
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)

Liked films that focused on everyday
psychological experience

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Italian neorealism (The Bicyle Thief)
Disliked modernist, expressionistic
Disliked films that imposed a political
ideology on the viewer
Long takes, of surrounding environment
Impact of environment on people
(French determinism)
.
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)
.

Francois Truffaut

Erich von Stroheim

Roberto Rossellini

Vittorio De Sica

Robert Bresson

Jean Renoir

Orson Welles

William Wyler
Andre Bazin
(1918-1958)
Depth of focus

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Respect for the continuity of dramatic
space and the flow of time
Composition in depth
“Dramatic effects for which we had formerly
relied on montage were created out of the
movements of the actors within a fixed
framework.”

Ambiguity of expression closer to
reality; viewer must choose
.
Cinematic Realism & Marxism (1930-present)

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Film as a reactionary medium
Expose the shallowness of modern
capitalistic society
Real-life problems of the common man
Poverty, crime, social injustice common
themes

Italian Neorealism

British Social Realism
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
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1937-1945: Fascists controlled cinema
(founded Cinecitta--largest studio in Europe)
Propaganda films
After WWII, Socialists and Communists in
government tolerated Neorealism’s left-wing
ideology (former resistance movement)
Economy in shambles
Cost of studio production, film, lighting, etc.
became prohibitive
Reflected desire for social reform
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)

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Response to artificiality of cinema of the
Fascist period
Influenced by French poetic realism and
American literary naturalism (e.g., Hemingway)
Experiences of poor and socially marginalized
“Slice of life”; things and facts in time and
place (versimo)

Ambivalence of everyday experience

Some took strong social political stance

Marxist, with a hopeful, humanistic dimension
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CHARACTERISTICS
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On-location shooting
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Long takes
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Natural light
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Medium and long shots
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Non-professional actors
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Working class protagonists
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Environment as important as actors
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
Three basics tenets of neorealism
1.
Portray real or everyday people, using
nonprofessional actors in real settings
2.
Examine socially significant themes
3.
Promote the “organic” development of
situations--the “real flow of life”--in which
complications are rarely resolved
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
“Some Ideas on the Cinema” (1953)
1.
Portray real or everyday people, using
nonprofessional actors in real settings
2.
Examine socially significant themes
3.
Promote the “organic” development of
situations--the “real flow of life”--in which
complications are rarely resolved
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI



“Identification with the common man in the
crowd.”
“Take dialogue and actors from the street.”
“Reality in American films is unnaturally
filtered.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI



“The world goes on getting worse because we
are not truly aware of reality.”
The job of the director is to “observe reality,
and not extract fictions from it.”
“The frequent habit of identifying oneself
with fictional characters will become very
dangerous.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI



“The world goes on getting worse because we
are not truly aware of reality.”
The job of the director is to “observe reality,
and not extract fictions from it.”
“The frequent habit of identifying oneself
with fictional characters will become very
dangerous.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)

Criticized for negative depiction of Italy

Lack of positive heroes
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Negative displays of human flesh

Catholic Church: “forbidden for believers”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)

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Not the most popular cinema of the times in
Italy
People didn’t want to be reminded of problems
Hollywood and “capitalist” system of
filmmaking an overpowering force
BUT the movement did influence the French
New Wave, Hollywood and TV
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
.

Roberto Rossellini

Luchino Visconti

Guisippe DeSantis

Giovanni Verga

Vittorio De Sica

Federico Fellini

Michelangelo Antonioni

Bernardo Bertolucci

Francesco Rosi