Notes from Bill Nichols. Engaging Cinema: an Introduction to Film Studies, “Three Fundamental Styles: Realism, Modernism, Post

Notes from Bill Nichols. Engaging Cinema: An Introduction to Film Studies, “Three Fundamental Styles: Realism, Modernism, Postmodernism” New York: Norton + Company, 2010. pp 175 - 207 Realism as Cornerstone of Film Style • Chapter looks at three styles into which all at from mid-19th century to early 20th falls: realist, modernist, postmodernist • Why style changes – formal component (new aesthetic possibilities) and social component (social changes bring new means of representation) • Realism- arose during heights of industrial revolution and gave graphic representation to a new world of commerce, industry, urban growth and rising middle class; supplanted art that focused on imaginary realms of the aristocracy, religion, myth and folklore • Modernism arose at start of 20th century as a reaction against both the apparent sacrifice of a high art tradition to commercialism and the collapse of civilization and the social order signaled by carnage of WWI; • Postmodernism: Post WII – rejects high art aura of modernism and celebrates the popular, mass media; tens to repeat and recycle previous work; tradition is cut free from historical anchorage; individual works float in a relativistic sea of references, citations and nostalgia Two Types of Realism • Considerations of realism can focus on two characteristics • Formally – film presents its story in an unobtrusive, almost invisible manner; process of narration or storytelling is relatively unnoticeable—such work is rarely reflexive • Socially –the film conveys a commonsense understanding of everyday reality; the world views bears a strong correspondence to aspects of the historical world; in this sense, it breaks ranks with myth; it aligns itself with the rising middle class and its public and private struggles AND turns a fresh light the working class and issues of poverty, injustice and crime • As a self-effacing form of storytelling, realism draws on general tendency in art to hide the means of its making in favour of the impression that the world it represents exists on its own (so can conjure up fantastic worlds like Lord of the Rings); story unfolds effortlessly as if self-propelled, driven by actions of characters; genre films rely on realism in this sense to endow imagined worlds with coherence and autonomy • As a representation of the everyday—bulk of its attention to lives of working and middle class people rather than social elite—a focus keeping with the rise of democracy and the spread of capitalism; parallels change in social system with a style that speaks to all classes; self-effacing storytelling is a formal quality of this style—construction of story masked by techniques of continuity system --- editing, sync sound, naturalistic lighting and method acting – all work to convey the impression that world simply unfold before us • Stress on everyday world and conflicts reinforces sense of reality Lumiere + Melies: The Original Realism/Fantasy Polarity 1 • Lumiere’s – realistic view of world; Melies presented fantasy BUT both adhered to a relatively invisible process of storytelling to create worlds independent of the filmmaker’s invention • With reference to Lumiere’s Workers… did not make great use of continuity editing but were composed with an awareness of depth—choices of staging heighten naturalness and typicality—some dispute about whether or not this is a true document OR whether it was scripted, as most documentaries are • Melies – drew viewers into fabricated world –no illusion that his worlds matched those of the viewers BUT techniques used do not fracture sense of story or make viewers aware of filmmaking process – in that sense they remain realist –the world appears to come into existence on its own but with magical properties – Melies anchored the fantasy- oriented pole within a realist tradition – maintained the illusion of a autonomous story world but made it appear magical instead of natural • The realism fantasy dichotomy is not a direct answer the question of how he dominant aesthetic conventions of the last two centuries find stangible expression and cinema Hollywood Realism + the Genre Film (plausibility vs. inaccuracy) • Hollywood realism of a particular kind –shares realistic characteristics with 19th century novels and plays and belongs to realist tradition in painting and photo • Films especially from 20s to 80s almost always remain realist in sense of character motivation and action is readily recognizable; most importantly the storytelling process does not draw attention to itself • Hollywood realism revolves around situations that are plausible within the terms and conventions of a given kind of world – world may have fantastic elements but plausibility remains litmus test • May not be accurate representation of everyday life BUT audience have come to regard them as familiar and plausible situations and events, characters and actions in the kind of world common to a genre • Realist film does not duplicate the world and so we can analyze films in term of how reality gets altered – what is true regarding social experience Social Characteristics of Genre Films • The commonsense tenets of realism—a coherent organization of time and space, the creation of character types with recognizable personalities and needs, a linear narrative of actions, reaction and results that moves toward the resolution of familiar problems and issues, reliance on highly realistic or utterly fantastic settings for a story world that seems to exist autonomously—attest to the adoption of shared perspectives that fosters a sense of belonging. These tenets affirm a sense of common cause and enduring community over the alienation and dis-enchantment of modern narrative or the irony and cynicism that underlies postmodernist art. • Realism fits comfortably with the ideology of the nation state that produces social unity via a melting pot of community (rather than an uneasy and perhaps incompatible amalgam of different classes, religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups) • Most genre films suggest that we live in a world beset by identifiable and remediable problems – problems that catalyze the hero to act; heroes do for other what they cannot do for themselves… the triumph or defeat of the central community becomes a 2 key measure of how any realist film locates itself in relation to the dominant culture of its time • Realism is not a reassurance of existent status quo – problems arise that need resolution and the introduction of real social issues is done in way that is highly recognizable even when setting and events are not part of viewer’s everyday lives –issues of deception and betrayal are familiar (ex. The Departed); anguish is not uncommon – Brokeback Mountain; rejection is too– Dreamgirls • These films focus on the ways in which community unravels – close-ups, point of view shots, and continuity editing all serve to boost the intensity of pivotal dramatic moments… • Another way to understand the social characteristics of realism is to compare it to Plato’s allegory – people live their lives inside a cave fascinated by sounds and images projected on the wall—presumably, the shadows cast on the wall are highly realistic, which bolstered their credibility • Some critics claim realism is a representational style the supports dominant ideology in that realism reinforces a commonsense belief that the way things appear to be is the way they are; that individuals rather than collectives or social forces are primary source of change • But, going back to the examples – Brokeback Mountain – realism can show us a world of conflict and disappointment The Mythical + the Historical • A powerful effect of film realism is that everyday qualities reinforced by a commonsense understanding of what society is and how it operates may strike viewers as timeless – realism can naturalize a way of seeing the world or an ideology so that it no longer appears contingent, constructed or debatable • Dominant ideology commonly offers a mythic view of the world –beliefs lie beyond question (patriarchy, for example)- political conservatism and reactionary positions tend to be mythical in this sense • A historical view understands the world as a place populated by contending forces and competing ideologies even if one happens to dominate – liberal ad radical political perspectives tend to be historical in this sense Modernism Two Emphases in Modernism • Modernism consciously takes issue with the tenets of realism. The two types of realism— invisible storytelling and representations based on commonsensical assumptions about everyday life—no longer prevail. • Modernism exhibits two prevailing characteristics o Formally –very noticeable storytelling process; reliance on montage and collage o Socially—an exploration of the interior, subjective life of characters in which characters drift into their own imagined worlds, regardless of their surroundings; the individual reality of consciousness, memory and desires received a weight equal to or greater than shared reality 3 Historical Background: Modernism + Modernity • Modernism – a critique of modernity: the conditions of life in the late 19th century and early 20th century, especially in the urban, industrialized cities • Modernity referred to the consolidation of capitalism into large, corporate, often international or colonial forms and to the ascendency of finance capital as a way to control development at one remove from actual production • Benefits and defects of industrial revolution observed in mid-19th century by Marx • At that point

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