Caitlin Zera | Webster University (original) (raw)

Papers by Caitlin Zera

Drawing upon Maya Deren’s panel contribution at the 1953 Cinema 16 Symposium and Martin Heidegger... more Drawing upon Maya Deren’s panel contribution at the 1953 Cinema 16 Symposium and Martin Heidegger’s “Memorial Address” from Discourse on Thinking this paper uses Deren’s vertical/horizontal investigations theory and Martin Heidegger’s ideas on calculative/meditative thinking to describe how the mechanics of filmmaking contribute to the process of poetically creating meaning in film.
Maya Deren suggests two kinds of investigation in film, that of the horizontal and that of the vertical. The horizontal operates primarily to move the plot forward in sequence of action-after-action-after-action, while the vertical stops at a particular point on the horizontal plane of action and proceeds to move upward into the story or character, exploring meaning-upon-meaning-upon-meaning.
In the avid pursuit of the horizontal, popular filmmaking, in a distancing from the experimental, has lost concern for the vertical poetic investigation of Deren’s description, in the visual, the symbolic, and the act of characterization. What remains is a shallow preoccupation with pace, a perpetuation of action not story, an attraction to only the look of a character. What is forgotten is content - narrative and otherwise - the meaning of a moment, a character, an exploration. Such films can be seen as a reflection of present culture, which has come to reject the vertical poetic in thinking as well.
Philosopher Martin Heidegger presents a duality in thinking, similar Deren’s duality in filmic investigation. He observes two, contrasting kinds of thinking - that of the calculative thinking and that of the meditative - as approaches for how human beings think about the world. Calculative thinking, Heidegger says, concerns the technical and formulaic, while meditative thinking explores meaning. Meditative thinking, he believes, is practiced less and less by the modern human.
While Deren and Heidegger worked in different disciplines, film and philosophy, respectively, their thoughts can be seen as not only complementary to one another but when connected can advance an understanding of how meaning is poetically created in film. This process ultimately reflects cultural shifts in the way human beings think, understand, and create when guided by calculative practices instead of meditative. Discussion of the commonalities between the ideas and examination of Deren’s short films will serve as the vehicles by which this concept is explored. Film Theory is the field of academic discourse to which the paper contributes.

"Urbanization, the relocation of human communities from wild settings governed by natural boundar... more "Urbanization, the relocation of human communities from wild settings governed by natural boundaries to tamed spaces within a built environment largely divorced from natural limits, initiated not only new ways of thinking but new ways of living. Historical patriarchal oppressions spawned exploitive industrialization which supported mass urbanization and reinforced anthropocentric attitudes toward land use and sense of place. The intimacy with one’s bioregion and ecological community once necessary for survival was replaced by instantaneous access to global goods and services through monetary exchange. Digital technologies, currently made most available to urban populations, have also reshaped human interactions and humanity’s relationship with the environment. While virtual mobility, atomization, mass digitalization, and access to technology have contributed to the re-conceptualization of “place” from wilderness and rootedness to constructed space and migration, technological advancement provides ample opportunities to support a bioregional philosophy in theory and action. Practicing bioregionalism in both modern urban and rural settings ultimately enhances physical relationships with the immediate ecological human and nonhuman community.
Informed by historical changes in human perception of place from poetic notions in the works of Wendell Berry to Heidegger’s “Building Dwelling Thinking” and studies in humanist geography and the New Ecological Paradigm, this paper explores how the radical environmental theory of bioregionalism offers an ecologically and philosophically valuable and necessary worldview in the rapidly changing landscape of the digital era. Many aspects of mass digitalization and non-linearity encourage new possibilities for the localization and democratization of energy and economy, communication, politics and education, which can enrich human interaction and make possible different, profound relationships with one’s bioregion and the larger natural world. Place awareness facilitates the creation of meaning for individuals and society as whole in a world that is increasingly freed from concrete limits, physical connection, and significant interaction.
Guided by the ecologically-conscious principles of bioregionalism, the application of digital technologies, especially in urban environments, can better human stewardship toward the bioregional community while maintaining connections with the global community, both vital to human survival within physical, ecological limits and overall improved health of the environment."

Urbanization, the relocation of human communities from wild settings governed by natural boundari... more Urbanization, the relocation of human communities from wild settings governed by natural boundaries to tamed spaces within a built environment largely divorced from natural limits, initiated not only new ways of thinking but new ways of living. Historical patriarchal oppressions spawned exploitive industrialization which supported mass urbanization and reinforced anthropocentric attitudes toward land use and sense of place. The intimacy with one’s bioregion and ecological community once necessary for survival was replaced by instantaneous access to global goods and services through monetary exchange. Digital technologies, currently made most available to urban populations, have also reshaped human interactions and humanity’s relationship with the environment. While virtual mobility, atomization, mass digitalization, and access to technology have contributed to the re-conceptualization of “place” from wilderness and rootedness to constructed space and migration, technological advancement provides ample opportunities to support a bioregional philosophy in theory and action. Practicing bioregionalism in both modern urban and rural settings ultimately enhances physical relationships with the immediate ecological human and nonhuman community.
Informed by historical changes in human perception of place from poetic notions in the works of Wendell Berry to Heidegger’s “Building Dwelling Thinking” and studies in humanist geography and the New Ecological Paradigm, this paper explores how the radical environmental theory of bioregionalism offers an ecologically and philosophically valuable and necessary worldview in the rapidly changing landscape of the digital era. Many aspects of mass digitalization and non-linearity encourage new possibilities for the localization and democratization of energy and economy, communication, politics and education, which can enrich human interaction and make possible different, profound relationships with one’s bioregion and the larger natural world. Place awareness facilitates the creation of meaning for individuals and society as whole in a world that is increasingly freed from concrete limits, physical connection, and significant interaction.
Guided by the ecologically-conscious principles of bioregionalism, the application of digital technologies, especially in urban environments, can better human stewardship toward the bioregional community while maintaining connections with the global community, both vital to human survival within physical, ecological limits and overall improved health of the environment.