1. I don't think I get Bordwell's, Thompson's and Staiger's view or maybe it's just that I don't agree with it. If my understanding is correct, and that is they find classical Hollywood still prevalent in today's films because today's films still incorporate a form of classical narration, then I disagree with them, because it definitely "flattens" out the history of film. If you were to take the same view and apply it to literature, you would lose nearly all movements simply because in the end they have a beginning a middle and an end. Most movements in literature are created by few and last only a short while, so why can't the same thought process be used to label film movements? I recall you said something about film not being seen as an art form??? But I think that was when we were discussing how merchandising has so fully become incorporated.
2. Fordist/Post-Fordist Hollywood? This relates to Hollywood because instead of mass produced assembly line products, Hollywood began producing genre pieces for specific niche audiences???Now, huge question, this is a new "movement" in terms of production, is it not? So, is there a timeline just for the production aspect and a timeline just for the stylistic choices in movies? Do these overlap? If so, why? Personally they shouldn't.
3. Spectacle through plot? There is always a plot in my opinion even if Bruce Willis spends three fourths the time blowing things up. I feel like this attack may come from those who regard art cinema as a better style, influencing intelligent thought, with the idea that blockbusters though widely appealing to the mainstream creates vegetables who digest the moving image without thought. Is this true? Who first stated this? I agree with Schatz and the idea of plot advances through spectacle.
I may have rambled incoherently, but reading this article created a cross fire in my mind of which I have yet to sort out.
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Re: #1: It's not that there hasn't been any change. The question becomes how to characterize the change and at what levels. Bordwell's basic argument is that classical narration has persisted, with particular innovations. And continuity editing has not been abandoned, rather certain trends have been emphasized since 1960.
Re #2: Ultimately, that is the big question: Has style changed in relationship to the changes in industrial organization. Keep in mind that the argument behind the concept of Classical Hollywood is a relationship between industrial organization and film form and style.
Re: #3: We'll get back to many of these ideas with Mission Impossible III
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