18th January 2008
In-Class Writing Exercise from Monday 14 January:
Why take a course like this?
“After first seeing this course listed in the catalogue, and after seeing of course the lucrative three-gen-ed. knockout opportunity, you ask what else there is to gain from taking this class. After some pondering, the answer reveals itself to be a challenge, in the sense that taking this class would be a challenge. It seems that this is rather obvious but oftentimes, we need to take on these challenges to help us grow, to help us create and to express.
This course is valuable because it allows the students the rare opportunity to do this in a hands-on atmosphere where all too often there is a hands-off approach to teaching in the college classroom. Working (and wrestling) with ideas and technology is important and an ever-more applicable task in our society. Better not pass it up.”
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Reactions to La Jetèe and the Readings:
The depth and insight found inside the reading and also in “La Jetèe” is almost overwhelming. Both are interrelated on varying levels and require much attention. Something I drew from the overall input of these varying media was the importance of “thematic synthesis,” or an “uninterrupted unity” that needs to exist in the making of film to create a marriage between the narrative and literature with images and pictures (and also sounds), ultimately creating art.
A stunning example of this marriage between narrative and images comes in its rawest form with “La Jetèe.” While using still photographs, Chris Marker is able to forward his narrative in a very unique and creative way. The film is wonderful, and in its production has three elements (in its most basic form) I would like to discuss: narrative, images, and sounds. These three elements are perhaps even the purpose of the film, if not just the story.
At the beginning of the film, sounds of a jet airplane and an image of the airport first appear. The choir enters; a gloomy, ominous music flows forth. Then the narrative enters, “This is the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood.” This introduction is so well-drafted, and exemplifies this “thematic synthesis” wrought about by the great revolutionary Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. This combination isolates the different elements and joins them together in very subtle ways. He continues to work in this fashion throughout the film and I do not think that using still photographs, as opposed to moving images hindered his storytelling effort at all. In fact, he uses this unconventional method to his advantage in the structure of his film.
I cannot claim to fully understand the film, but I believe that the point where he utilizes a moving clip of the woman (or image of woman) with whom he is in love shows a point where his “dream-world” or “image-world” takes over him. The woman blinks, and the background summer noise crescendos to an abrupt, shadowy shot of the scientist. The expression on the protagonist’s face shows a very human vulnerability, in my opinion. At the same time, however, I became very confused in the combination of the pictures with regards to the time-travel concept and I will have to view this film again.
Another reason for me (or any viewer) to watch this film over and over again is for its photographic worth. Iconic images of the jetty, and elegant, graceful images of the man and woman peering into the glass cases at the museum conjure an array of emotions and ideas about the nature of the story and existence. Of course, these images are assisted by the music and the sounds, and undoubtedly by the narrative.
This film can be about many different ideas, either about the nature of filmmaking itself, or, on a larger scale, about the vulnerable nature of the human condition we all experience. It surely is an important member of the film repertoire and needs to be studied for its incredible value. The different elements of images, sounds, and narrative combine and mix to produce a very important montage of thought.
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