This post raises an interesting point for me. I am not exactly sure of how
film theorists define an index. I have a PhD in English studies, but an BFA
in film studies, although that was some time ago. I think it is important
that we be able to speak across disciplines, though. The symbol, in
literature, is not necessarily stable as a figure, as it underwent at least
one change with the symbolists poets, who personalized or subjectified the
symbol. Later, I would suggest, what became significant in modernist writing
was the attribution of symbolic value, not the symbol itself, per se. Thus
even the meaning of symbol itself is subject to change over time. Is an
index, then, the measure of that or a similar change?
Elaine Pigeon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Reynolds" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 11:43 PM
Subject: And now for a new subject: Trains
> Trains are used effectively, I think, as a symbol (or do I mean index?)
> of the modern condition in Juozo Itami's Tampopo. In a movie
> explicitly concerned with the role of food in our lives, those lives
> are linked together visually by the recurring appearance of elevated
> trains.
> Also, if one considers the Lumiere film, I think it would be a good
> idea to consider also Jerome Hill's Film Portrait, which quotes from
> and recreates the Lumiere film, appropriating it as a symbol (yes,
> symbol) of the self-refreshing nature of film art.
>
> DR
>
> *
> *
> Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon.
> After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are
replying to.
> To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to:
[log in to unmask]
> For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon.
> **
>
*
*
Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon.
After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to.
To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask]
For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon.
**
|