Creating cultural texts through Film and Literature
NOTE: You may disagree with the definition of some terms and theories. However, as an introductory lesson, its objectives is not to discuss theories nor terms, but to use them to demonstrate relevant examples.
What is film?
- motion picture or movies? recreational? banal?
- a cultural text? intellectual/sociological? profound?
Is film a cultural text?
-traditionally, cultural texts have been restricted to written works and paintings.
-high/classicist view (harold bloom) classifies literature only as "written works of high intellectual achievements".
-universal/modern view (allen bloom) classifies literature as cultural texts which reflects the everyday practices and everyday life.
-Taking the modern view, Film in its form is therefore a cultural text.
Film or cinema theory:
- We will consider four main theories in our study:
1) Auteur theory
2) Realism/Fantasy
3) Semiotics
4) Narrative theory
Auteur theory
In film, as in writing, the power of the film lies greatly in the vision of the author/s.
Looking at CITY OF GOD, the power comes from the author of the book, the director and the actors who understand the realness of the events in the film, and are able to deliver it to the audience with great impact.
In Miyazaki, his feminist and environmentalist attitude, and his view of bildungsroman, leads to his inclusion of these themes in his films.
Simple definitions
Feminism: belief that women are equal, extremely rare in Asian context, esp Japan.
Environmentalism: belief that human progress is bound by the environment, and that the
environment must be protected.
Bildungsroman: the coming of age, maturity and development of a person through time and experience. (eg. Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Narnia.)
Which parts of the film does Miyazaki demonstrate his
a) Feminism
b) Environmentalism
c) Bildungsroman
We move on from people in the auteur theory to the bigger picture, the world.
The world in which we as writers create can reflect reality, as in City of God, or Fantasy, as in Spirited Away.
In realism, it reflects "the world as it is to you". You may not identify with the streets
of Rio de Janiero. Can you identify with Jack Neo's I not Stupid?
What can and can you not identify with?
Consider this:
- Place
- Time
- Language
- Behavior
- Thoughts
In fantasy, it reflects another world beyond that we live in. Common themes include science fiction, horror, magic, fairy tales.
Another more important and perhaps, frightening theme, is the concept of Utopia and Dystopia.
Simple Definition:
Utopia: a perfect place where people are in harmony and free.
Dystopia: A supposed Utopia with major flaws.
Think about it for a minute, and write down a short paragraph describing your Utopia.
Now, write one flaw into your Utopia, which will cause the collapse of your world.
One of humanity's main considerations is the absence of crime, sadness and the presence of an intelligent world.
Three films portraying a Utopia gone wrong:
Intelligent world: The Matrix-perfectly artificial intelligent world. But the creators of the world had to write in suffering and pain to make the people alive, and later, the program tries to take over humanity.
Absence of pain: Equillibrium- no sadness, but society stops being able to feel. No "good" as well as "bad". Just equillibrium.
Absence of Crime: Minority Report.
Look at what happens when there is a possible world where there's no crime?
What's wrong with the world in Minority Report? What do you think will happen next? Do you think John will commit murder? Was it his choice to kill, or was he tricked into killing? Is there a difference?
We move on from the ideas or themes in a film to the elements which "decorate" a text and gives it greater meaning.
Semiotics: -The study of signs.
In semiotics, we attempt to link elements in the text to one of greater meaning than just a
sign itself. For example, a telephone booth, in the movie "Phone Booth". What does the telephone symbolize? It can be linked to communication, the need for love, loneliness,
truths and lies, etc.
Every element in a (well-made) film is thought out before its execution. The framing of the picture (why close-up?), language, props, names, time, place, etc are crucial parts of a film, and gives it greater meaning.
Using semiotics, what do these things symbolize to you?
Minority report could only be made in the 21st Century, as technology is far more advanced.
Steven Spielberg spent much time and effort getting the various props in the film to look right. Though the story was written about 50 years ago, it wouldn't have looked right without the special effects and gear.
Let's look at Hindi Cinema, one of the most important film industries today.
Kabhi Khushi Khabie Gham (Sometimes happy, sometimes sad) is one of the most popular Hindi Film ever.
Looking at the frozen screen, where is the place and time? Which symbols tell you that? What else do the symbols represent? Are you correct? (let's look at the actual excerpt)
There are lots of props and decoration in Hindi films. Why? What do they represent?
The movement of the people, the beats of the songs, the expression on their faces, what do they represent?
We move on from the content of a film to the styles which are closely related to writing.
The last section of the lecture deals with narrative styles. In literature, what narrative styles do we employ? What kind of narrator do we have? (Excerpts from Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Joyce, Thomas Lim, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Rainer Rilke, Virginia Woolf: Western Canon?.)
Key narrative styles and moods:
1) Stream of Consciousness (Joyce and Woolf)
2) Omniscient Narrator (Lim, Borges)
3) First person Protagonist (Unreliable): (Camus, Dostoyevsky, Beckett)
4) Judgmental: (Mann, Rilke)
Films have a similar narrative style
1) Monty Python???
2) Amelie
3) Memento, Rashomon (multiple view), Fight Club
4) Rarely do films employ the judgmental, but they commonly use the invisible. There is no clear narrator. They story is carried through the actions/speeches/scenes. Most common film narrative.
Practice in Narrative Framing.
Practice in Writing a short paragraph detailing a character's Odyssey, with attention to the world, Symbols, Framing, embedding of personality and observable idiosyncracies.
Conclusion
Film and Literature attempt a converging path in the 21st Century with the proliferation of mass media. Is the creation of a mass culture necessarily bad? Is traditional qualities in literature "dumbed" and "watered" down to accomodate the masses? Or are the masses enriched through the availability of such mass cultural texts? These issues are greatly debatable, but as budding writers, these factors should influence you to maintain the integrity of your writing. Writing is a supreme art, and good writers are able to use the observations of the abstract in Texts, as well as embed their experiences, thoughts and feelings into their works. Owning a text is crucial to the development of your writings, and the various examples in the texts analyzed today allows you to see the quality in textual production which adheres to the presented principles. Read well, look well, think well, live well, write well.
What is film?
- motion picture or movies? recreational? banal?
- a cultural text? intellectual/sociological? profound?
Is film a cultural text?
-traditionally, cultural texts have been restricted to written works and paintings.
-high/classicist view (harold bloom) classifies literature only as "written works of high intellectual achievements".
-universal/modern view (allen bloom) classifies literature as cultural texts which reflects the everyday practices and everyday life.
-Taking the modern view, Film in its form is therefore a cultural text.
Film or cinema theory:
- We will consider four main theories in our study:
1) Auteur theory
2) Realism/Fantasy
3) Semiotics
4) Narrative theory
Auteur theory
In film, as in writing, the power of the film lies greatly in the vision of the author/s.
Looking at CITY OF GOD, the power comes from the author of the book, the director and the actors who understand the realness of the events in the film, and are able to deliver it to the audience with great impact.
In Miyazaki, his feminist and environmentalist attitude, and his view of bildungsroman, leads to his inclusion of these themes in his films.
Simple definitions
Feminism: belief that women are equal, extremely rare in Asian context, esp Japan.
Environmentalism: belief that human progress is bound by the environment, and that the
environment must be protected.
Bildungsroman: the coming of age, maturity and development of a person through time and experience. (eg. Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Narnia.)
Which parts of the film does Miyazaki demonstrate his
a) Feminism
b) Environmentalism
c) Bildungsroman
We move on from people in the auteur theory to the bigger picture, the world.
The world in which we as writers create can reflect reality, as in City of God, or Fantasy, as in Spirited Away.
In realism, it reflects "the world as it is to you". You may not identify with the streets
of Rio de Janiero. Can you identify with Jack Neo's I not Stupid?
What can and can you not identify with?
Consider this:
- Place
- Time
- Language
- Behavior
- Thoughts
In fantasy, it reflects another world beyond that we live in. Common themes include science fiction, horror, magic, fairy tales.
Another more important and perhaps, frightening theme, is the concept of Utopia and Dystopia.
Simple Definition:
Utopia: a perfect place where people are in harmony and free.
Dystopia: A supposed Utopia with major flaws.
Think about it for a minute, and write down a short paragraph describing your Utopia.
Now, write one flaw into your Utopia, which will cause the collapse of your world.
One of humanity's main considerations is the absence of crime, sadness and the presence of an intelligent world.
Three films portraying a Utopia gone wrong:
Intelligent world: The Matrix-perfectly artificial intelligent world. But the creators of the world had to write in suffering and pain to make the people alive, and later, the program tries to take over humanity.
Absence of pain: Equillibrium- no sadness, but society stops being able to feel. No "good" as well as "bad". Just equillibrium.
Absence of Crime: Minority Report.
Look at what happens when there is a possible world where there's no crime?
What's wrong with the world in Minority Report? What do you think will happen next? Do you think John will commit murder? Was it his choice to kill, or was he tricked into killing? Is there a difference?
We move on from the ideas or themes in a film to the elements which "decorate" a text and gives it greater meaning.
Semiotics: -The study of signs.
In semiotics, we attempt to link elements in the text to one of greater meaning than just a
sign itself. For example, a telephone booth, in the movie "Phone Booth". What does the telephone symbolize? It can be linked to communication, the need for love, loneliness,
truths and lies, etc.
Every element in a (well-made) film is thought out before its execution. The framing of the picture (why close-up?), language, props, names, time, place, etc are crucial parts of a film, and gives it greater meaning.
Using semiotics, what do these things symbolize to you?
Minority report could only be made in the 21st Century, as technology is far more advanced.
Steven Spielberg spent much time and effort getting the various props in the film to look right. Though the story was written about 50 years ago, it wouldn't have looked right without the special effects and gear.
Let's look at Hindi Cinema, one of the most important film industries today.
Kabhi Khushi Khabie Gham (Sometimes happy, sometimes sad) is one of the most popular Hindi Film ever.
Looking at the frozen screen, where is the place and time? Which symbols tell you that? What else do the symbols represent? Are you correct? (let's look at the actual excerpt)
There are lots of props and decoration in Hindi films. Why? What do they represent?
The movement of the people, the beats of the songs, the expression on their faces, what do they represent?
We move on from the content of a film to the styles which are closely related to writing.
The last section of the lecture deals with narrative styles. In literature, what narrative styles do we employ? What kind of narrator do we have? (Excerpts from Thomas Mann, Samuel Beckett, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Joyce, Thomas Lim, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Rainer Rilke, Virginia Woolf: Western Canon?.)
Key narrative styles and moods:
1) Stream of Consciousness (Joyce and Woolf)
2) Omniscient Narrator (Lim, Borges)
3) First person Protagonist (Unreliable): (Camus, Dostoyevsky, Beckett)
4) Judgmental: (Mann, Rilke)
Films have a similar narrative style
1) Monty Python???
2) Amelie
3) Memento, Rashomon (multiple view), Fight Club
4) Rarely do films employ the judgmental, but they commonly use the invisible. There is no clear narrator. They story is carried through the actions/speeches/scenes. Most common film narrative.
Practice in Narrative Framing.
Practice in Writing a short paragraph detailing a character's Odyssey, with attention to the world, Symbols, Framing, embedding of personality and observable idiosyncracies.
Conclusion
Film and Literature attempt a converging path in the 21st Century with the proliferation of mass media. Is the creation of a mass culture necessarily bad? Is traditional qualities in literature "dumbed" and "watered" down to accomodate the masses? Or are the masses enriched through the availability of such mass cultural texts? These issues are greatly debatable, but as budding writers, these factors should influence you to maintain the integrity of your writing. Writing is a supreme art, and good writers are able to use the observations of the abstract in Texts, as well as embed their experiences, thoughts and feelings into their works. Owning a text is crucial to the development of your writings, and the various examples in the texts analyzed today allows you to see the quality in textual production which adheres to the presented principles. Read well, look well, think well, live well, write well.
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