FM4 - Spectatorship - Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

Focus of the unit

Understanding will be generated through:

• studying complex films from different contexts, extending knowledge of the diversity of film and its effects.

• exploring spectatorship issues in relation to a particular type of film.

• applying key concepts and critical approaches gained throughout the course to explore how differing approaches to film form demand deeper understanding.

Spectatorship: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video:

The study of radical 'alternatives' to mainstream film form and representation, challenging our sense of how we see and consequently how we respond to audio-visual material. Examples may be taken from both the historical and the contemporary. Where possible candidates should visit galleries and other venues where work is installed in relation to specific physical spaces.

Experimental film or experimental cinema describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking.

"Avant-garde" is also used to describe this work, and "underground" has been used in the past, though it has also had other connotations.

While "experimental" covers a wide range of practice, an "experimental film" is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques (out of focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing), the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even the absence of any sound track.

The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful relationship to the film.

At least through the 1960s, and to some extent after, many experimental films took an oppositional stance toward mainstream culture.

Most of these films are made on very low budgets, self-financed or financed through small grants, with a minimal crew or, quite often, a crew of only one person, the filmmaker.

It has been argued that much experimental film is no longer in fact "experimental," but has in fact become a film genre and that many of its more typical features - such as a non-narrative, impressionistic or poetic approaches to the film's construction - define what is generally understood to be "experimental".

FM4 - Spectatorship - Chris Cunningham: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

In 2005, Cunningham released the short film Rubber Johnny as a DVD accompanied by a book of photographs and drawings. Rubber Johnny, a six-minute experimental short film cut to a soundtrack by Aphex Twin, remixed by Cunningham was shot between 2001 and 2004. Shot on DV night-vision, it was made in Cunningham's own time as a home movie of sorts, and took three and half years of weekends to complete. The Telegraph called it "like a Looney Tunes short for a generation raised on video nasties and rave music".

FM4 - Spectatorship - Derek Jarman: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

The Queen Is Dead is a short film which incorporates three music videos Derek Jarman directed for The Smiths: “The Queen Is Dead,” “Panic,” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.”

This gorgeous 13-minute film was accompanied by three of the Smiths’ songs: “The Queen Is Dead,” “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” and “Panic.” The film is of a piece with the evocative collage features Jarman made during the same period, proving that this so-called “music video” is as much a part of his oeuvre as The Angelic Conversation or The Last of England.

The film is structured around its trio of songs, with each part somewhat distinct from the others. The songs flow into one another, and the first and third section mirror each other in style and techniques, but the film is unmistakeably a triptych rather than a seamless whole. The film opens with Jarman’s frantic, jittery interpretation of “The Queen Is Dead,” with the imagery conjuring a nightmare vision of disintegrating England to match its title sentiment. In strobing, sped-up motion, hoods spray paint slogans across crumbling stone walls, a flaming record shoots across the screen like a comet, a young man with angel wings appears to be suffering, doubled over in pain, and jeweled crowns float in the midst of layered video superimpositions. This segment is unrelentingly fast-paced, matching the steady pulse of the accompanying song.

Jarman’s images are simple and iconic, and he repeats them as though spelling out a mysterious coded message in rebus form: flower petals, a girl’s face, a revolving guitar, abandoned buildings. Only towards the end does the repetitive structure begin to break down, opening up for several longer shots of a girl with close-cropped hair frolicking in a courtyard surrounded by desolate buildings, throwing a British flag into the wind to flutter above her. The pace slows only slightly for these shots, and there are still interjections of layered video abstractions, but the effect of this slight slackening is exaggerated by the film’s overall density and speed. These few moments of relative relaxation are stunning in context.

Taken from: seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com

FM4/MS4: The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (Extract)

Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look

In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.

The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation. This alien presence then has to be integrated into cohesion with the narrative. As Budd Boetticher has put it:

'What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.'

FM4/MS4: Postmodern Theory - 'Fight Club'/'The Matrix'

Postmodern Ideas

1. We no longer have any sense of the difference between real things and images of them, or real experiences and simulations of them.

2. The distinction between media and reality has collapsed, and we now live in a ‘reality’ defined by images and representations – a state of simulacrum.

3. Postmodernism rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. All judgments of value are merely taste.

4. Culture ‘eats itself’ and there is no longer anything new to produce or distribute.

5. All ideas of ‘the truth’ are just competing claims – or discourses – and what we believe to be the truth at any point is merely the ‘winning’ discourse.

6. Postmodern texts are said to be intertextual and self-referential – they break the rules of realism to explore the nature of their own status as constructed texts.

7. In the postmodern world, media texts make visible and challenge ideas of truth and reality, removing the illusion that stories, texts or images can ever accurately or neutrally reproduce reality or truth

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

FM3 - The Creative Project

FM4 - Spectatorship - Jiri Trnka: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

Jiří Trnka (24 February 1912, Plzeň - 30 December 1969, Prague) was a Czech puppet maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. In addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is best known for his work in animation with puppets, which began in 1946. Most of his movies were intended for adults, and many of them were adaptations of literary works of Czech authors or foreigners. Because of his influence in animation, he was called "the Walt Disney of Eastern Europe", despite the great differences between their works.

His greatest work is generally regarded to be the short Ruka ("The Hand", 1965), his last film. It is about a sculptor visited by a huge hand, which seeks the completion of a sculpture of itself. By rejecting the imposition, the artist is constantly pursued by the hand, ending with induced suicide and the hand officiating at his funeral. 'The Hand' is considered a protest against the conditions imposed by the Czechoslovak communist state to artistic creation. Although the film initially had no problems with censorship, after his death copies were confiscated and banned from public display in Czechoslovakia for two decades.

Jiří Trnka died of a heart condition in 1969 when he was just 57 years old. His funeral was a large public event.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Student Work

'Fight Club' in 6 images/6 key themes/250 words

1. Escapism

2. Desire vs. lack of love (position of women)

3. Marxism

4. Brotherhood/Fraternity

5. Rebellion

6. Narcissism

Fight Club is a comment on different issues within the American society. Firstly, its comments on postmodernism are extremely central from the start, through mise-en-scene, and this is also highlighted through the protagonist. ‘Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy’. This belief is shown within the house that Tyler and Jack live in, a place where everything has rotted because nothing new has been constructed. This is a comment on society because if nothing new is introduced, everything will lose its value and cease to contain any meaning. Nothing is new anymore within our postmodern society, everything is removed and recycled from its original source; lacking its’ initial meaning and everything is diluted over time.

The film explores the falseness of not only society’s belief in materialism but in its relationships amongst it. This is perhaps the lack of true emotions within the world, so the idea of going to ‘self-help’ groups give the illusion to the protagonist of being cared for and having a voice.

‘Fight Club’ explores the idea that this society is engulfed with possessions they don’t need; materialism shapes everyone’s identity. The idea of identity is seen when the characters do not, essentially ‘like themselves’ and find it hard to identify with a world without materials, with just raw rules. It also defines the way the world is always advertising a new image of their new personality, fitting in with the postmodern theme of a world that tries to constantly ‘re-create’ itself, a recyclable feature that is beneficial to no-one.

A lot of this film is entirely about the way in which the characters seem to be fighting against themselves, to the extent that Tyler is created, Marla is suicidal and completely unperturbed with the sanctity of her own life, and for the most part the members of Fight Club are simply fighting against a lifestyle. Apart from the obvious violence, there is a lot of fighting going on within the personality traits of all of the characters and we see this throughout the film which moves them all forwards in their fight to become someone else, or someone better - a postmodern version of Nietzschean philosophy.

The film shows a dark comic side of modern America and the irony is in the fact it is a product of what it is rejecting. The film shows the insanity of the social position literally and philosophically but also shows that destruction is no better than what we already have. The films narrative shows Jack’s character having an almost a moral misanthropic view of others who creates Tyler to show someone who is supposed to be perfect but in the end rejects him and chooses Marla instead who is shown as almost an opposite of Tyler (the lowest of the low); showing that people today never know what they really want. The film shows that addiction is necessary and almost an addiction its self, the film passes from one obsession to another, from consumerism to self-help groups to Marla to Tyler to fight club to destruction, showing that nothing is good enough and nothing lasts.

The idea of a white male, middle-class and working in an office in America, provides the idea of being a ‘favourite’ of the USA, so perhaps this film explores the male who wants to rebel against this anonymous identity, and becomes more accepted as a destructive, masculine form. This is shown when Jack is trying to fit in becoming comfortable with his sexuality and gender like his alter-ego, something he would never do in reality if he was ‘himself’.

The schizophrenia theme within the film is coherent to its meaning and its other themes running alongside it (violence, rebellion, consumerism, relationships, masculinity, sexuality) because it gives Tyler and Jack a blurred identity of all of these ideas, a liminal of what is reality and what is fantasy. It gives forth the role of an ‘idol’ present in many ‘road’ films; considering it’s a hybrid of genres, as the person must go on a journey to find ‘themselves’.

There are many elements of ‘Fight Club’ that give way to the conclusion of the film being about American values; Jack and Tyler are oppositions of honour and freedom because Jack is intent on keeping his moral beliefs and values, but Tyler simply wants to be free of it all, to the extent of terrorism. Both simply wish to be free of the connotations of a ‘grey collar worker’ and the security offered by America.

‘Fight Club’ is a compendium of ideologies being recycled that fundamentally questions and comments on society simultaneously. ‘Fight Club’ discusses issues that riddle modern America and the foundations of modern society, whilst beating one another to escape the monotony of the ‘Grey collared’ workers everyday lives. Fight club mastermind Tyler Durden visually represents the masculinity, nihilism and terrorism that are present in every single ‘average Joe’. This deeply self-referential postmodern observation on society uses irony to playfully invert us out off our ‘false consciousness’ by splicing as many ideologies as possible into a single film. Criticised by Alexander Walker but appreciated by ‘cult’ film fans it discusses Jameson’s ‘dustbin of ideologies’ whilst mixing undercurrents of homophobia on a background of psychosis - the ending will make you say ‘huh’, which makes it so essentially postmodern.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Student Work

'Fight Club' in 6 images/6 key themes/250 words

1. Terrorism

2. Sexuality

3. Branding

4. Pleasure/Pain

5. Meaninglessness/Fake

6. The Nietzschean concept of the 'superman'

‘Fight Club’ is story that deals with the concept of postmodernism in a very postmodern way. The narrative is constantly referring to the re-use of things and recycling texts, literally intertextually referencing older movies like ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Psycho’. The film constantly refers to itself to remind the viewer that it is a movie and that its not reality. It also deals with the crisis of masculinity and deals with the apparent nature of males of their constant need to be part of a fraternity of like-minded people and their willingness to follow any opposing ideology no matter what it is. Also it displays the idea that all problems men face in life can be fixed through therapy, fighting or terrorism as if it is what they were born to do. It also has narrative themes of mental instability and split personalities exploring the idea that men are weak minded yet physicality strong. The character of Tyler is also a strong Marxist showing the political messages in the film of conformity with everyone being the same and working together for the same purpose. This is shown to be interchangeable with how people will blindly follow ideas with little thought of the consequences. It could also be interpreted as having homosexual themes shown through the relationships of Angel Face, Tyler and Jack, as Jack feels threatened by the growing relationship between Tyler and Angel Face.

‘Fight Club’ has many themes, I think that the main one is about recycling; this is shown throughout the narrative and through the fact that the film itself is a postmodern film. ‘Fight Club’ reuses many iconic scenes and shots from other films, the most notable being ‘A Clockwork Orange’. The constant reuse and references to other older films, and the overall lack of meaning, unresolved points and disappointing ending, demonstrates clearly that over time if things are constantly reused they lose any sense of meaning. In the end everything becomes a diluted and almost unrecognisable simulation of an original idea. The theme of recycling is referenced within the film also, seen clearly by the making of soap from unwanted fat to be re-sold to the same people that it was initially extracted from.

‘Fight Club’ is a complex film with multiple meanings and contemporary social ideas. Binary opposition and irony symbolises the dual personality of the main character. We see consumerism versus originality, rejection versus acceptance, escapism versus entrapment and importantly love versus hate. Jack is shown to be an insecure individual who finds it difficult to accept, not only himself, but also societies opinions and ways, thereby refusing to conform. As a form of perhaps escapism, the character of Tyler is created as a doppelganger of Jack and everything he wishes he could be.

Throughout the film, America is portrayed to be a society ruled by consumerism with everything seeming to be “a copy of a copy of a copy”. Ironically Jack detests this, yet we see him wanting to be a copy of Tyler and furthermore, they create copies of themselves when creating project mayhem. A further aspect of irony to this is the film itself. Intertextuality references copies of shots, themes and representations from an array of other films mixing conventions of multiple genres.

'Fight Club' lacks any overriding meaning but this is the point as it is an ironic statement on contemporary culture. The film presents the idea that we do things because we are consumed by multiple ideas yet we are all consumers as we watch the film, accepting passively what we see, this in itself is ironic. The film is a hybrid of many genres, the predominant ones being film noir and crime/ gangster, that reflects the mix in our own society, being filled with different types of people all wanting to show something, with sexual conflicts emphasizing the need to be in control and exhibit power. The film predicts that we will be so consumed with our own conflicting beliefs that we will resort to self-destruction. The theme of addiction is also explored as we subconsciously become consumers, we accept Jack and Tyler for what they are as we generally revert to being members of a passive audience. No matter how many times we overcome one addiction it will always be replaced by another.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Student Work

'Fight Club' in 6 images/6 key themes/250 words

Anarchy/Terrorism

Anti-consumerism

Re-cycling/postmodernism

Fighting against feminism

Self-destruction

Insomnia/Mental Illness

1. Nihilism

2. Crisis of Masculinity (homosexuality, men becoming feminised)

3. Rejection of Authority

4. Recycling/Postmodernism

5. Loss of Individuality (Meaningless, insignificant)

6. Anti Consumerism

‘Fight Club’ is a film that incorporates a postmodern narrative with themes of mental illness and messages of capitalist control. The film could be considered postmodern as it features cultural and literary references as well as being a hybrid of several genres and their conventions mixed with a similarly diverse variety of narrative roles. The film visually portrays a dark and critical exploration of deranged friendship and masculinity.

The film is trying to make a statement about modern America as it shows a very nihilistic view of the world and it is trying to reject aspects of authority, consumerism and order. The film constantly tries to show flaws in society through literal examples mixed with philosophy and shows the characters rejecting enforced ideologies. For example Jacks character creates Tyler as a way of rejecting modern social constructs like consumerism, almost as if he was being oppressed by ideology; Tyler is his way of becoming the person who he wants to be. The film also shows constant themes of postmodernism to express the view that everything is a copy of something else and nothing is original, no one is individual, everything is constantly recycled and degraded which could be seen as representative of society and the way it has degraded into something meaningless and chaotic. An example of this post modernism is shown through the way that Jack/Tyler makes soap from human fat, he is recycling other people’s waste and turning it into something that he then sells back to them. The constant theme of postmodernism is shown in the film to express how since nothing is original, everything will eventually degrade and decay into something worthless, in relation to society it would mean the loss of order and reason, which Tyler is trying to achieve.

The film ‘Fight Club’ is an attack on the fact that we, as a society, are consumed by standard morals and beliefs. This is where the main part of the film comes in to play, as Edward Norton’s character (who leads a normal, boring, mundane life) creates an imaginary character out of his own mind, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) - someone who is everything he would want to be – to help him escape from the conformist life that he leads. The two of them going on a nihilistic journey that leads to the mass destruction of the entire financial city block – an attack on consumerism; something that Pitt’s character talks about most of the time throughout the film. Another major theme of the film is the idea that men are gradually becoming more and more feminised in society, hence why the actual fight club is created – something that will allow men to regain their masculinity. However, this is something that has to be done in secret, away from the public eye, which could be seen as a theme of homosexuality, and Norton’s character trying to deal with his own sexuality. Norton’s character is also the subject of the theme of mental illness, as he (at the beginning of a film) suffers from insomnia, and needs emotional release to allow him to sleep - Brad Pitt’s character could also be the result of sleep deprivation, as hallucinations are prone to occur during insomnia.

FM4 - Spectatorship - Pipilotti Rist: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

The Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist talks to The Guardian's Adrian Searle about her new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, which features psychedelic video works and a pair of underpants hanging on a line.

The New Yorker critic Peter Schjeldahl has described Rist as an "evangelist of happiness". She is more than that. Her work is seriously crafted and paced, as generous as it is dangerous. We are, she has said, "permanently juicy machines" – and you can't really argue with that.

See the interview and extracts of her work here.

This video needs to be watched at a 90° angle

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

• Condense 'Fight Club' into 6 images/screenshots - download from google images and arrange in a logical way. Select specific key points of the narrative that represent your own interpretation of the film.

• Choose 6 words or short phrases that explain your own understanding of the film.

• Write a concise critical review of no more than 250 words that explains your viewpoints in light of of the approaches that have been discussed in class (postmodernism/psychological/consumerism etc.)

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Watch this classic scene from 'Apocalyspse Now' and consider how closely it resembles Tyler and Jack's philosophical discussion scenes from 'Fight Club'.

The style, tone and theme of these films share some similarities and it is conceivable that David Fincher would have taken influence from it.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

House on Paper Street - 'Fight Club' (1999)

Alfred Hitchcock 'Psycho' (1960)

Edward Hopper - 'House By The Railroad' (1925)

The influence of American artist Edward Hopper can be seen in 'Fight Club', in the depiction of the house on Paper Street. The painting has also influenced other filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock in his classic horror film 'Psycho' - another film that documents a form of psychosis and alienation.

FM4/MS4: Postmodern Theory - Useful Notes/Site

A very good discussion of postmodernism can be found here with some very contemporary examples used including Lady Gaga.

FM4/MS4: Postmodern Theory - Useful Notes

Postmodernism: Theory, Theorists & Texts

FM4/MS4: The Male Gaze - Useful Notes/Site

Despite the many references to an intimate and apparently heterosexual relationship with the celebrity in mass media and culture, it is important to stress that the ads are mostly reproduced in women’s magazines. In other words, the representation of gender in the perfume ad formula ads is designed for a female spectator. The typology of the perfume ad formula thus brings up a visual paradox in feminist visual culture. While the ads are designed for a female spectator, they apparently subscribe to the iconography of voyeurism, the commodification of women, even the visual codes of mens' magazines.

For further discussion of 'The Male Gaze' in perfume ads and other issues visit visualculture.blog here.

Or get an overview of the theory here.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Here is an example of a good response to the type of question that is likely to occur for this topic:

Section C:

‘Despite the gesture of destroying symbols of corporate power at the end, fight Club is a film about power and control, not liberation.’ How Far Do You Agree?

When looking at Fight Club, power, control and liberation are themes that cannot be ignored. I think that, how far I agree with the statement made would depend entirely upon which aspect of the film I was looking from.

For example, right from the beginning of the film we can see that Jack has ‘become a slave to the Ikea resting unit.’ This gives a strong suggestion of the consumerist values of western culture, how materialistic society has become. It has developed a strong consumerist ideology. It would seem to me that the burning of Jack’s apartment (unknown to the viewer at the time but it is in fact himself that causes the fire) is a symbol of his rebellion against this mainstream ideology. He becomes ‘freed’ from the idea that he needs material possessions to ‘complete’ his life and himself. I would be inclined to say that it is in this respect that Fight Club is about liberation. It is about removing yourself from the ties put in place by society and the ideology that is imposed upon us. This Marxist idea that is strongly shown through this escape would suggest that the film is about liberation.

However, the character of Tyler has very much control over Jack. This would lead me to agree with the statement that Fight Club is about power and control. We can see right from the beginning of the film, this kind of power Tyler may have, the splicing of Tyler’s image flashing at important aspects of the opening suggests we can expect him to change the way Jack acts, as it could almost suggest to the audience that he is part of a fabrication of Jacks mind (although this is not clear until we have seen the ending). Nietzsche’s theory of nihilism is quite relevant to this film. Despite Jack’s journey being one of what should be self-discovery, Tyler’s power over Jack’s actions turns it into one of self-destruction. Unaware of what he is in fact doing to himself, Jack goes along with the plans of ‘Fight Club’ and is sub-consciously having his path altered into destruction and not into freedom. One of the more prominent scenes to display this controlling idea, would be the scene in which Tyler lets go of the steering wheel of a moving car and Jack tries to take control but Tyler convinces him to just ‘let go’. This scene clearly shows the audience of how controlling and powerful Tyler is towards Jack. He can convince to effectively drive himself to death.

In this scene Tyler also says, ‘we are not special’ I feel that this is quite contradictory to the message he is trying to get through to Jack. He initially begins by getting him to rebel against mainstream ideology and be different, and this turning into ‘we are not special’ throws many different ideas at Jack and it is only when Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem that Jack finally sees what’s happening. He finally begins to see the control this figure has over him. This begins a whole new liberation process; he needs to free himself of Tyler’s influence. Free himself of his nihilistic personality to regain his own control and have his own actions overwrite that of Tyler’s.

Another theme that runs throughout this film is one of masculinity. In modern western society, women seem to have more relevance than ever before. This is shown through the Femme Fatal-like character of, Marla. At the very opening of this film, Jacks voice over tells us that “Marla is at the root of it all”. This warning of her is inflated more by the constant diegetic alarms/bells that sound every time she appears in the frame. (Marla is an anagram of ‘alarm’ suggesting she is a clear threat.) It would seem that masculinity if questioned throughout this film and Marla is a character that threatens to undermine Jack’s masculinity. The character of Bob is another example of how men are being feminised, (after having testicular cancer, the medication has given him breasts). The Fight Club initially starts out a form of liberation for them, only men are allowed. It allows them to fight with only there fists, to regain the feeling of masculinity that is considered to be lost in modern society. The underground nature of this club, (literally in the sense that it takes place in a basement) brings the men together. ‘We are still men. Men is what we are’. Again I would suggest that in this sense, Fight Club is about liberation, regaining the male status. Almost taking them back to caveman roots. Nevertheless, Fight Club once again, simply becomes another form of control and a new ideology to conform to. Everyone needs direction, need somebody for reassurance.

Fight Club is considered to be quite a post-modern text, continuous self-referential scenes, most clearly the scene in which Tyler is working as a projectionist. Fight Club also refers to several other ‘cult’ films, one shot in particular is notably famous to be an imitation of the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange. Nearer the beginning of the film Jack says ‘a copy of a copy of a copy’ this almost suggests that a post-modern text is nothing more than a mixture of themes, shots and meanings taken from other texts. This could be a suggestion of how society moving. No longer moving forward, just moving in circles picking up parts of the past to mix into a ‘new’. I feel that this post-modern aspect of the film would suggest that liberation cannot be accessed because there is no way forward out of a society of ideologies that are imposed upon us subconsciously. With that in mind, I would tend to agree with the statement that Fight Club is simply about having power, may that be over a society, a gender or one person.

FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

Schizophrenia & ‘Fight Club’

R D Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of serious mental dysfunction, greatly influenced by existential philosophy, ran counter to the psychiatric orthodoxy of the day by taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of lived experiences.

On mental illness:

Laing argued that the strange behavior and confused speech of people undergoing a psychotic episode were understandable as an attempt to communicate worries and concerns, often in situations where this was not permitted. He argued that individuals can often be put in impossible situations, where they are unable to conform to the conflicting expectations, leading to a "lose-lose situation" and immense mental distress for the individuals concerned. The symptoms of schizophrenia were therefore an expression of this distress, and seen as a cathartic and transformative experience.

Laing was revolutionary in valuing the content of psychotic behavior and speech as a valid expression of distress, albeit wrapped in an enigmatic language of personal symbolism that is meaningful only from within their situation.

Laing expanded a view of the "double bind" hypothesis and came up with a new concept to describe the highly complex situation that unfolds in the process of "going mad" - an "incompatible knot". Laing compared this to a situation where your right hand can exist but your left hand cannot. In this untenable position, something has got to give, and more often than not, what gives is psychological stability; a self-destruction sequence is set in motion.

Laing viewed mental illness in a radically different light from his contemporaries. For Laing, mental illness could be a trans-formative episode whereby the process of undergoing mental distress was compared to a shamanic journey. The traveler could return from the journey with (supposedly) important insights, and may have become a wiser and more grounded person as a result.

Key Work:

Laing, R.D. (1960) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

View the link below for an insight into this perspective.

http://youtu.be/DVWh9qQYTHU

Or:

FM4 - Spectatorship - 'Baraka': Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

'Baraka' is a 1992 non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke. The title 'Baraka' is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages. The film is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi films by Godfrey Reggio of which Fricke was cinematographer.

'Baraka' has no plot, no storyline, no actors, no dialogue nor any voice-over. Instead, the film uses themes to present new perspectives and evoke emotion through pure cinema. 'Baraka' is a kaleidoscopic, global compilation of both natural events and by fate, life and activities of humanity on Earth.

'Baraka's subject matter has some similarities to 'Koyaanisqatsi'—including footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. The film features a number of long tracking shots through various settings, including Auschwitz and Tuol Sleng: over photos of the people involved, past skulls stacked in a room, to a spread of bones. Like 'Koyaanisqatsi', 'Baraka' compares natural and technological phenomena. It also seeks a universal cultural perspective: a shot of an elaborate tattoo on a bathing Japanese yakuza precedes a view of tribal paint.

FM4 - Spectatorship - 'The Blood of a Poet': Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

There has never been a film like Le Sang d'un Poete (Blood of a Poet) -1930. It was not only the first film made by Jean Cocteau, one that ignited another satisfying scandal, but it brought all his diverse talents into focus in a medium that was new to him. The work represents an aesthetic milestone in Cocteau's career. The film was a commentary on his own private mythology. Cocteau designed the work concerning the adventures of a young poet condemned to walk the halls of the Hotel of Dramatic Follies for his crime of having brought a statue to life.

FM4 - Spectatorship - Michel Gondry: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. He pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in The Matrix.

FM4 - Spectatorship - Floria Sigismondi: Experimental and Expanded Film/Video

Floria Sigismondi is an italian, naturalised Canadian, photographer and director. Apart from her art exhibitions, she is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. Sigismondi has also directed music videos for Katy Perry, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Björk, The Cure, Christina Aguilera, The White Stripes, Fiona Apple, Sigur Rós, Muse, Interpol, Leonard Cohen, Incubus, and commercials for Old Navy, MAC, Adidas and Eaton's. Her trademark dilating, jittery camerawork, noticeable as early as her video for Manson's "The Beautiful People", has been replicated by a great number of directors since.