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Yau,KF . Wide angle [0160-6840] 20.4 (1998). 51-.
Recon-figuration:
Revisiting Modernity and Reality in Deleuze's Taxonomy of Cinema Ka-Fai Yau's essay Recon-figuration: Revisiting Modernity and Reality in Deleuze's Taxonomy of Cinema begins by pondering the famous Sontag statement on Balzac, that "everyone knows, primitive people fear that the camera will rob them of some part of their being." In the age of film, this fear has been heightened because of the facility in which the image can be manipulated to suit the purpose of the person behind the camera. Indeed, Yau refers to the altered sense of reality in Cinema as the "paradox of moulding." That is to say that film has the almost magical ability to "bring forth" reality while at the same time omit essential parts of it. According to Yau, Gilles Deleuze's Cinema Project describes in great detail the "disembodying processes" involved in the paradox of moulding, and specifically how Deleuze shows that Cinema is a mechanism within the process, not a process in itself. Yau formulates his argument by focusing on particular era in the history of Cinema where artistic shifts occured, such as 1948 Italy. His discussion of Italian cinema, particularly neorealism, Yau focuses on how the "reality" in neorealism is a focused and deliberate depiction. According to Yau, "The real in neo-realism is no longer just concerned about the affinity between the frame and the audience. It is also concerned with the affinity between the frame and the external world" that contributes to the paradox of moulding. In other words, reality is never limited to what is seen in the mise-en-scene. To illustrate this, Yau looks at Bicycle Thieves and its subtle manipulation of causal reality. What Yau determines is that de Sica's film creates a space of where reality exists in an ambiguous space. Indeed, what seems like a simple story of a man looking for a bike is actually a carefully orchestrated depiction of life where reality becomes spectacle.
Revisiting Modernity and Reality in Deleuze's Taxonomy of Cinema Ka-Fai Yau's essay Recon-figuration: Revisiting Modernity and Reality in Deleuze's Taxonomy of Cinema begins by pondering the famous Sontag statement on Balzac, that "everyone knows, primitive people fear that the camera will rob them of some part of their being." In the age of film, this fear has been heightened because of the facility in which the image can be manipulated to suit the purpose of the person behind the camera. Indeed, Yau refers to the altered sense of reality in Cinema as the "paradox of moulding." That is to say that film has the almost magical ability to "bring forth" reality while at the same time omit essential parts of it. According to Yau, Gilles Deleuze's Cinema Project describes in great detail the "disembodying processes" involved in the paradox of moulding, and specifically how Deleuze shows that Cinema is a mechanism within the process, not a process in itself. Yau formulates his argument by focusing on particular era in the history of Cinema where artistic shifts occured, such as 1948 Italy. His discussion of Italian cinema, particularly neorealism, Yau focuses on how the "reality" in neorealism is a focused and deliberate depiction. According to Yau, "The real in neo-realism is no longer just concerned about the affinity between the frame and the audience. It is also concerned with the affinity between the frame and the external world" that contributes to the paradox of moulding. In other words, reality is never limited to what is seen in the mise-en-scene. To illustrate this, Yau looks at Bicycle Thieves and its subtle manipulation of causal reality. What Yau determines is that de Sica's film creates a space of where reality exists in an ambiguous space. Indeed, what seems like a simple story of a man looking for a bike is actually a carefully orchestrated depiction of life where reality becomes spectacle.
belongs to Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thief project
tagged Bicycle_Thieves Cinema Neorealism Sontag de_sica by colliert ...on 28-JUL-06
tagged Bicycle_Thieves Cinema Neorealism Sontag de_sica by colliert ...on 28-JUL-06