The mummy complex and the break between film and reality are the interlinked premises leading to Bazin's accounts of various components of the filmic process. They ground his accounts of both spectator- ship and filmmaking or authorship (Henderson, 1980)
This was montage, which articulated rigorous formal devices by which revolutionary subject matter would be most effectively and meaningfully rendered. Soviet film pioneer Lev Kuleshov proposed the key concept that came to underpin all montage theory: that all meaning in film comes from the juxtaposition of images, and not from the images themselves (Kuleshov, 1974)
As we have already seen, Bazin freely acknowledges these limitations. In fact, since it is grounded on subjective obsession, Bazin's ontology could not exist without a gap between referent and signifier; hence his oft-noted assertion of an asymptotic relation between film and reality (Mast & Kawin, 2000)
But such techniques are not inevitably colonialist in their operation. One of the innovations of Pontocorvo's Battle of Algiers is to invert the imagery of encirclement and exploit the identificatory mechanisms of cinema in behalf of the colonized rather than the colonizer (Noble, 1977)
The two understandings of realism in sound representation basic to the transition period embody different conceptions of the epistemological and referential properties of sound representations felt to be constitutive of "good" representational practice in general. Theory, which could easily be understood as secondary to the real relations and functioning of the social world, is precisely the terrain upon which certain terrifically important cultural and political struggles are fought -- battles over the nature of acoustic and visual reality and (Ray, 1985), over the proper relationship between the senses, technology, and representation
(Noble, 1977) Concurrent with, required by, and to some extent, constitutive of this shift is a shift in their standards and expectations for sound representations. By investigating the contradictions between initial theory and resulting practice we can, perhaps, reimagine the link between social structure, text, and subject posited by apparatus theory (Rosen, 1986) without having to resort to the vague pressure of an ideological demand for realism
So what is usually regarded as Bazin's ontology describes a subjective intentionality for automatically produced images based on a preservative obsession. Now, of course this means that the relations between such images and the physical world remain crucial for his theory: the special appeal to the subject rests on the preexistence of concrete objects, a pre- existence offered by their preservation via indexicality (Zettl, 1999)
Film Analysis -- the Longest Day The epic 1962 film the Longest Day recounted the historic Allied landings on five beaches in Northern France during the D-Day Invasion of June 6, 1944 that marked the beginning of the end for the brutal Nazi occupation of Europe throughout the Second World War. In the eighteen years since the actual events depicted, the motion film industry had already begun relying almost exclusively on color film, but the movie was shot in black and white (Eberwein, 2004)
Navy allowed the film to use several of the actual light cruisers that were involved in the landing, as well as numerous amphibious vehicles and the infamous "Higgins" boats often credited in large part for the success of the entire mission (Eberwein, 2004). Film Techniques The film was, in many ways, a cinematographic predecessor of the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, in that it followed the soldiers from their assembly into landing craft-vehicle and personnel (LCVPs), and landing craft- personnel (LCPs), to their treacherous disembarking in waist-deep water while dodging murderous fixed machine gun and mortar fire from heavily armored beach defense systems all along the French coasts (Katz, 2004)
Navy allowed the film to use several of the actual light cruisers that were involved in the landing, as well as numerous amphibious vehicles and the infamous "Higgins" boats often credited in large part for the success of the entire mission (Eberwein, 2004). Film Techniques The film was, in many ways, a cinematographic predecessor of the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, in that it followed the soldiers from their assembly into landing craft-vehicle and personnel (LCVPs), and landing craft- personnel (LCPs), to their treacherous disembarking in waist-deep water while dodging murderous fixed machine gun and mortar fire from heavily armored beach defense systems all along the French coasts (Katz, 2004)
Despite Kathyrn Bigelow's win for directing the Hurt Locker, the chances for women succeeding (or even being selected) as directors of commercial Hollywood films are small indeed: Although successful female directors appear to have gained higher profiles of late, the actual percentage of top films directed by women has remained static for 25 years at 7% to 9%, according to an annual study of women writers, directors, and producers of the 250 top-grossing films of the year by the Center for the Study of Women in Film and Television at San Diego State University. (Abramowitz, 2010) Ironically, part of the problem for women directors may be that women in the film industry may themselves be reluctant to admit that there is a problem
"A group of female investors might be more understanding, saying 'I'd use that product' and see the opportunity where a man might not." (Hanson, 2007) The investors quoted in the above article are generally split between those who deny that there is anything gendered about the products or services that they are involved in and those who have targeted a specifically female market
But it is also true that not identifying women directors as such may make it hard for women as a group to make progress in the film industry. It is hard to fight a social problem such as sexism -- or racism, or poverty, or corporate greed -- if one cannot even name it (Roth, 2006/2009)
Reality is presented to the viewer without glamorous embellishments. "Realism as a dramatic style refers to the appearance of lifelikeness (verisimilitude) in setting, costume, dialogue, gesture, facial expression, and so on" (Dietrich 1)
This historical convergence shows that a film like Sarah and James serves the function of reflecting the psyche of the screenwriter, who in turn captures universal dimensions of human existence that can be understood using Freudian psychoanalytic theory. Because film must appeal to the psyche of each viewer for the viewer to become engaged enough to watch, "psychoanalytic film theory, despite its relatively late development, has become one of the most widely practiced theoretical approaches to cinema studies today," (Netto 1) Furthermore, applying Freudian theories to film shows that the audience is also participating in a psychoanalytic process when watching a movie
As noted by the renowned film critic, Robert Ebert in his review of the film, The Crucible strikes "the wrong note" from its very first scene. (Ebert, 1996) It shows a scene that could never possibly have occurred in the Puritanical society of 17th century Massachusetts and never did
In Jane Bennett's book, The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings, and Ethics, the author describes "enchantment" in terms of a person needing not just to love himself, but to love life "before you can care about anything." A person must be "enamored with existence and occasionally even enchanted in the face of it" before he is able to donate "scarce mortal resources to the service of others" (Bennett, 2001, Chapter 1)
But in these two films, technophobia relates more to the bad things that technology has created -- and the detestable results of technologies -- not the fear of technology per se. Blade Runner -- Technophobia and Technophilia Technology has run amuck in Blade Runner, and as author Will Brooker explains in his book The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic, the city of Los Angeles is "nightmarishly futuristic" with acid rain pouring down in buckets and the sun just a vague, mostly missing due to heavy pollution in the air (Brooker, 2013)
It is scary to realize that some of what was seen in Blade Runner is a reality today. Writer Mary Jenkins quotes the original scriptwriter for the film, Hampton Fancher: "…a simple walk through any downtown neighborhood should convince viewers that the trash-strewn, poverty-ridden, overpopulated streets of Blade Runner are already with us today" (Jenkins, 1997)
It would be utopian in context if out of Wall-E could come a stronger commitment to conservation. As Robin Murray and Joseph Heumann write: "We must protect the earth and its resources because leaving it behind cannot effectively preserve humankind…[albeit] humans -- with the help of the robot left to clean up the mess -- can and should restore it to its more natural previous state" (Murray, et al