Jeff Holley
Dr. Richard Simpson
Response Paper
September 9, 2020
What is cinema, its ideology or political stance, and the role of the critic? I thought it was interesting that the essay Cinema/Ideology/Criticism (Comolli and Narboni) delved into the ideological concept of film, which for me, was something most viewers are certainly less. The reality of film, whether it is part of a current system, meaning whether or not it is part of a dominant political ideology or an alternative ideology, it expressed by the maker. That reality is promoted as natural or sort of a “bourgeois realism” allows for at least the period of the film a journey to that reality imposed by the film-maker. The object of the film is dependent upon this ideological platform also (814) and becomes the object of political form in contrast to the object of the political content. Some of those realities come to life through “blind faith” and other characteristics that portray such realities (815).
Hi Jeff, you're opening question is the important one here. What are we to be doing when we go to assess or critique a film? There are many answers, but Comilli and Narboni offer us a strong one. What is it the specifically propose we try to do when we engage film and documentary? How does their argument connect to other readings about the unique function of film?
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