I found it just as pointless - there was so much footage, and every once in a while it would loosely be tied together through transitions between shots of animals fighting and people doing the same, or through chaotic music with chaotic scenes, such as the furious typing in Akt II. But overall, the music was only background noise, and I didn't hear it really accentuate the film itself in more than a couple brief instances.
Obvious metaphors were seemingly randomly placed (i.e. the 'roller coaster as life' metaphor), and symbols Kracauer has previously established as symbolizing chaos (revolving doors, spinning images, the man turning the crank, whirling machinery) were present, too.
Some curiosities that were raised for me while watching:
--What was the point of the plastic bag drifting down an empty street? To symbolize lonliness? Because that's what I got out of it. Not that this was a great city in a state of slumber.
It actually reminded me of a scene from a film called American Beauty, which you can check out here.
--What was the point of the plastic bag drifting down an empty street? To symbolize lonliness? Because that's what I got out of it. Not that this was a great city in a state of slumber.
It actually reminded me of a scene from a film called American Beauty, which you can check out here.
Because it's been so long since I've seen the movie, I Wikapedia'd the intended symbology behind this scene:
The film presents Ricky as its "visionary ... its spiritual and
mystical center". He sees beauty in the minutiae of everyday life, videoing as
much as he can for fear of missing it. He shows Jane what he considers the most
beautiful thing he has filmed: a plastic bag, tossing in the wind in front of a
wall. He says capturing the moment was when he realized that there was "an
entire life behind things"; he feels that "sometimes there's so much beauty in
the world I feel like I can't take it ... and my heart is going to cave
in." Anker argues that Ricky, in looking past the "cultural dross", has
"[grasped] the radiant splendor of the created world" to see God.
--What as the point of the newspaper headline "Geld" come out at the audience again and again? It followed the juxtaposition of the hungry mom with her two kids and the "oppulent platters," as Kracauer put it, so possibly this alludes to the economic and class disparity?
--I don't know if any of you continued watching, but at the very end, after the giant "Ende!" shot came and went, a colored animation of geometric shapes set to music began to play, similar to the ones we watched in class. But the music for this was so poor, it sounded like the record was skipping. What was the purpose of putting this at the end? Is it just somehting for background noise while the audience leaves the theater?
Just to make a quick response to your post, I too am in agreement with Kracauer's assessment that the film presents us with an overwhelming number of facts, yet fails to point out their significance. While I didn't have as much of an issue with the score, I see your point when re-watching clips and the change in tempo doesn’t necessarily match what’s happening on screen. Perhaps my second major critique would be the shoddy transitions between Acts. The dog fights and swirling images seemed like they were just stuck in there and really jumped out at me as odd and poorly integrated with the rest of the film.
ReplyDeleteNow for more fun connections! What really caught by eye in your post was that connection between the bag blowing around in the street and that scene from American Beauty. Just watched A.B. for the first time recently, and what you referred us to was probably one of the more poignant moments in the story. Apparently the bag blowing in the wind is a common motif on screen. Whether it symbolizes loneliness or slumber, there’s something about the life given to that one solitary object when all else is still that takes ahold of us, as if we too are caught in the wind.
ReplyDeleteWhat these scenes remind me of is a short independent film told from the perspective of a plastic bag. Part of the series FUTURESTATES, which depicts different possible dystopian futures for America in the decades to come, this mini-feature is given the simple enough title “Plastic Bag” and is directed by American director Ramin Bahrani. Serendipitously enough, Werner Herzog, one of the German directors we’ll be studying in a couple of months, does the narration. Here a link to the film below. Enjoy!
http://www.futurestates.tv/episodes/plastic-bag
Yes! The first thing I thought about when I saw the plastic bag was the quote from " American Beauty": "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen". Great scene... That aside, I have to disagree with the impression both of you had about the film. When I watched it I followed the advice of our guest speaker and listened it with my music. What I found fascinating was that no matter what musical style I listened to ( classical, pop, oldies), the images seemed to be moving in rhythm to the music. Despite the apparent anarchical organization of the footage, each images on screen had some sort of musical value. What ties the film together is not necessarily each footage together, it is their rhythmic value. When perceived in a symphonic way, I think the film starts to make sense ni a more coherent way.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool! Maybe I'll try that next time, and put on some of my own music.
ReplyDelete