This is the first, admittedly very short, part of a lengthy essay I’ll be sharing in an attempt to articulate the dangers created by mainstream Hollywood film. Check back for updates.
Since this is the first piece on the site, let’s go way back to almost the beginning of all art, to ancient Egypt. While I’m no expert on this form of art, there are a few lessons that modern filmmakers and other artists can learn from the way they did things.
These works are familiar to everyone, and abide by a clear, rigid set of laws, or a style. As you can see in the picture, the head of a person is shown in profile, the eye from the front, the torso is front-on, while the arms and legs are seen sideways. These Egyptians displayed every thing they depicted from its most characteristic angle.
While the bodies look contorted to us, it’s important to remember that for those who hadn’t seen anything else, this was the clear, normal way to depict reality. With very few exceptions, these laws were seen as the only way to represent life. It would be impossible to argue to one of these artists that what they are doing isn’t true to the way things are, and there is a certain kind of logic to the notion that everything should be seen from the “correct” angle.
This notion was held so dogmatically that such a style was used to depict reality for two thousand years. So this style would not be recognized as a style, one particular way of doing things, but the only way of doing things, the way things are. The most admired artists were not those who were able to express themselves in an original way, but those who were most able to replicate the admired artists of the past.
It’s easy to look down on the ancient Egyptians with their blind adherence to such a primitive style. But it’s worth considering the ways in which we’re similar to these ancestors. Our own prejudices, our blindness to the way our art distorts reality, our inability to see the impact of style, and our belief that we’ve found the “right” way to show reality. This is where we come to modern film.
#1 by Michael on June 3, 2009 - 10:28 am
I like what you have to say here. I’m certainly interested in seeing more from this site in the future! Good luck.
#2 by fraser on June 4, 2009 - 6:42 am
Woah, someone’s actually visiting the site!
I wrote this a while ago, before being distracted by other pretty colours on the internet, so I think it’ll be a while before this gets added to. But who knows?
#3 by vigo on January 22, 2010 - 12:49 am
Yes, its an appropriate title especially given that Hollywood the main purveyor of ‘cinema’ has so rigidly formulated it (usually into spectacle) that it gives audiences the easy answers and the product that they,the audience, know -and want- and are familiar with – thought ends- the ‘formula’ of ‘movie’ as determined by big money studio ‘industry’ and the American way – notwithstanding its few dissenters. OK – but then in such a dominant culture another sensibility or other languages become eradicated and lost – and this infact transcends ‘technique’ or the way a shot is framed or cut, but what is lost is a POETIC sensibility of another language altogether (how many people watch Bunuel films these days?) and this is a shame – because great cinema is being lost entirely. Year by year the frame of reference has infact become smaller as more and more conform.
The criteria is to satisfy expectations; very few today understand let alone value serendipity.
Cinema from other countries is lost – but also great American cinema. So too cinema becomes ‘packaged’ into 90mins ‘feature lengths; when we havent explored the possibility of creating great art by expanding this time frame. All these constraints. Hollywood is politics – it has popularised cinema but also imprisoned it and clipped its wings.
#4 by nikki andrews on June 25, 2010 - 2:48 pm
You do realize that film has always been more of a form of entertainment than art form?