Dude, You've Gotta, Like...FEEL The Piano...WHOOAAAA....
Notes taken from a class about how Body Image is portrayed in film, in this case the movie "The Piano":
[The idea the teacher in this class put forth is that seeing an image would evoke the same sensory response as actually feeing the thing you see. Which got me thinking...]
Okay. So, the teacher sees the piano and "feels" the wood. It evokes that in him, but it does nothing for me. I can experience the sensation if I stare at the piano and consciously call up the memory of brushing my hand on smooth wood, but it doesn't evoke the feeling in me.
I'm starting to understand what the instructor is getting at, but still have little idea what this has to do with body image. Also, it took two whole class periods to get to this infinitesimal level of understanding. (Hell, at least it got me writing again.) (Though if you go further with this kinda thing, it does make for different ways to watch movies. Especially bullshit arthouse claptrap like this.)
If I consciously focus on it, sure. I can "feel" the rough wood of the piano crate, but that's not why I watch movies. I'm not looking for sensory provocation; I'm looking for the provocation of thought and/or empathy. I wanna have ideas I never had before, or learn something or see a story that I could relate to, or didn't know I could relate to until now, or just see some awesome shit happen because I like awesome shit.
The inherent flaw in this practice of "feeling" a movie instead of just watching it is it demands too much sensorial empathy from the audience. Most people just want to watch something. And I don't feel out of place in saying that most people would have to work consciously at achieving the level of synesthesia required for such an experience. This would be the antithesis of the escapism most viewers watch movies for. As an artist, I can understand such an aspiration, but I've had my own experiences in going too far into the abstract, and learned the hard way that you have to meet the audience half way before you can bring them any further.
Besides, this movie's gettin' a little too rapey. (Watch out! Harvey Keitel is RIGHT BEHIND YOU!)
[The idea the teacher in this class put forth is that seeing an image would evoke the same sensory response as actually feeing the thing you see. Which got me thinking...]
Okay. So, the teacher sees the piano and "feels" the wood. It evokes that in him, but it does nothing for me. I can experience the sensation if I stare at the piano and consciously call up the memory of brushing my hand on smooth wood, but it doesn't evoke the feeling in me.
I'm starting to understand what the instructor is getting at, but still have little idea what this has to do with body image. Also, it took two whole class periods to get to this infinitesimal level of understanding. (Hell, at least it got me writing again.) (Though if you go further with this kinda thing, it does make for different ways to watch movies. Especially bullshit arthouse claptrap like this.)
If I consciously focus on it, sure. I can "feel" the rough wood of the piano crate, but that's not why I watch movies. I'm not looking for sensory provocation; I'm looking for the provocation of thought and/or empathy. I wanna have ideas I never had before, or learn something or see a story that I could relate to, or didn't know I could relate to until now, or just see some awesome shit happen because I like awesome shit.
The inherent flaw in this practice of "feeling" a movie instead of just watching it is it demands too much sensorial empathy from the audience. Most people just want to watch something. And I don't feel out of place in saying that most people would have to work consciously at achieving the level of synesthesia required for such an experience. This would be the antithesis of the escapism most viewers watch movies for. As an artist, I can understand such an aspiration, but I've had my own experiences in going too far into the abstract, and learned the hard way that you have to meet the audience half way before you can bring them any further.
Besides, this movie's gettin' a little too rapey. (Watch out! Harvey Keitel is RIGHT BEHIND YOU!)
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