“Blind Representation”: On the Epic Naiveté of the Cinema (original) (raw)

‘Cinema’ as a Modernist Conception of Motion Pictures

AM Journal of Art and Media Studies

In the 1960s and 1970s the Clement Greenberg’s Modernist ideology of ‘purity’ played a central role in the definition of ‘avant-garde cinema’ as a serious, major genre of film. This transfer between ‘fine art’ and ‘avant-garde film’ was articulated as ‘structural film’ by P. Adams Sitney. This heritage shapes contemporary debates over ‘postcinema’ as digital technology undermines the ontology and dispositive of historical cinema. Its discussion here is not meant to reanimate old debates, but to move past them. Article received: March 12, 2018; Article accepted: April 10, 2018; Published online: September 15, 2018; Original scholarly paperHow to cite this article: Betancourt, Michael. "‘Cinema’ as a Modernist Conception of Motion Pictures." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 16 (2018): 55−67. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i16.254

Film/Media Theory and Aesthetics

Course Description: This required M.A course is an advanced journey through the theoretical debates on film and media aesthetics. We will explore the ontological status of Cinema, its relationship to other media forms and its transformed nature in the digital age. The technological basis of cinematic and media practice will be central to the framing of aesthetic concerns. At the end of the 19th century, technologically mediated moving images ushered in a fundamental transformation in the spheres of public life and human experience. The aesthetic question no longer remained limited only to the formal and stylistic features of a tangible object but to a transformation of sensory perception. When viewed from the vantage point of the contemporary digital age, new issues come to the fore. In this journey from celluloid to the digital, the moving image will be positioned as a form of modern magic, as an indexical art, as an inter-medial surface, as a historical archive, as collage, as assemblage, and as a site of terror, thrill, and enchantment. We will focus on key theoretical formulations and specific historical conjunctures along with close analysis of filmic and media material. The course is only open to those who have already done Introduction to Film Studies.