I am intrigued by the claim that movies can "create a deeper and more
authentic consciousness of reality." I think that this claim only makes
sense if you assume that what one perceives, experiences and assumptions
all together, consititue "reality." But even if that is so, it seems to
me that some films might not do that at all, that the "reality" which they
depict, the collaboration of the group that made the film (which reflects
the expereinces and assumptions of their culture and artistic
conventions), might very well clash with those of any particular viewer.
Maybe that viewer's own sense of "reality" thereby becomes intensified in
contrast to what the viewer is seeing. I have used films for my
philosophy classes for years, and am much more often surprised by
theextent to which what the students "see" is not so much what is there as
it is what they already thought was there.
At a recent viewing of "Celebration" with a friend and colleague, I was
really amused by his remark after the film that it was amazing how much a
film could make you feel "normal."
Phil Hamlin
On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Krzysztof Jozajtis wrote:
>At 7:37 pm 29/4/99, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>>What would a cinema of 'small nations' or the 'third world' look like
>>>without being rooted in the cultural bases of their indigenous religious
>>>traditions?
>>
>>
>>Healthy - opium free.
>>
>In relation to Marx's description of religion (or to be more precise,
>Prussian Protestantism in the early/mid 19th century) as an 'opiate', there
>is an argument that Marx's abiding concern with alienation from a more
>authentic mode of existence (whatever that might entail) means that his
>work actually represents a call for the fulfillment of religion rather than
>its abandonment.
>Whilst I see this as just another manifestation of the universalism
>inherent in Enlightenment thinking, there are more basic issue here in
>relation to cinema -
>Can movies help create a deeper or more authentic consciousness of reality?
>What is the relationship of film culture to the economic and political
>forces behind globalization?
>Love and Peace
>Kris
>
>Name Kris Jozajtis
>E-Mail [log in to unmask]
>Address:
>Depts. of Religious Studies/Film and Media Studies
>University of Stirling
>Stirling
>Scotland
>FK9 4LA
>Tel: 01786 473171 x.6201
>
>
>
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