Kali Spencer
Richard Simpson
ENGL 342
09/08/20
Cinema/Ideology/Criticism
In “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism”, the authors Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni begin to observe the world of film in a way that is comparable to that of which we do for scientific criticism. They begin by recognizing the need to define their field and methods in order to draw awareness to “its own historical and social situations”. In this undertaking, they seem to seek a Marxist approach to the critical analysis of cinema. They simultaneously recognize that the art being produced, though it may wish not to be, is still of this world, meaning that it is still in some ways tethered to and a product of existing systems of power, like capitalism. In acknowledging this, the pair is able to highlight the need for critics to identify and understand the economic and ideological determinations of films. This is important because it allows the audience to see the impacts of societal structures in a film rather than considering them as works of art that are somehow autonomous or separate from the broader social environment. This idea is perfectly summed up by their quote “every film is political".
In order to successfully criticize films in this way, the authors seek to separate film production into groups. These groups range from those which praise the status-quo and are channels of capitalist ideology to those which Comolli and Narboni would classify as going “against the grain”. These films seem to fill a unique role in helping critique the dominant mode of representation while not relying on the stylistic conservatism found in films typically labeled as “political” .
I think the ideas expressed in this passage are of utmost importance as they help bring to light the ways in which art can be influenced by its surrounding, political moment. It helps us to recognize that the tools and techniques of filmmaking are part of reality themselves and on a deeper level that “reality” is sometimes nothing more than an expression of the prevailing ideologies at a particular point in time. This relationship with art that acknowledges the impact of society upon it helps create a healthy environment in which we can question the prevailing ideas of a time and allow ourselves to critique and subvert these systems through artistic expression.
Hello Kali,
ReplyDeleteThis paper of yours is well written, and I appreciate the amount of consideration you gave Comolli and Narboni's argument on reality and how it is consistently changing. I think that this is something we see in many films, especially documentary and political commentary; what was once socially acceptable and widely practiced, can easily become socially unacceptable and shunned. Although I do not support cancel culture, it is an excellent example of this as well. I often lull it over in my mind that even if the society depicted in older films is no longer existent, that it is still valuable to our realities now as learning devices. Maybe this is something that Foucault would agree to use as a training mechanism?
~Shaelene Moler
Great work here, Kali. Comilli and Narboni are exactly asking us to become aware of the way films register the concrete ideological and political practices at work within a given historical moment and cultural context. In this way, we can then begin to understand films like the Avengers or any Hollywood blockbuster as very much a document, or documentary, of the particular ideologies of a given moment. Great point as well at how Comilli and Narboni want us very much to confer how a film is produced, how it is constructed, along with its content. So the question becomes, what kind of production practices might be able to critique the dominant ideology? What "conditions of existence" could produced a different cultural practice?
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