While I agree entirely with the point made by Leo Enticknap about the importance of artistic technique as inextricably bound up with technology and its multiple constraints/possibilities, I feel obliged to point out that "Death by Hanging" was directed by Nagisa Oshima, not by Ozu. At least Stephen Heath got that much right... >David Issac Humphrey writes: > > > Political discussion about the cinema strikes me as *far* > > more important than debating the relative merits of Todd-AO > > or Super VistaVision or arguing about which aspect ratio > > "Miller's Crossing" is meant to be shown in. > >If you think that the role of technology in political representation is >unimportant, then you should be concentrating your efforts on virtually any >medium other than film. Theatre requires only a performance space and >performers (although admittedly, a range of other technologies are >routinely used as well), music requires only the human voice (although >admittedly, ditto), whilst literature and journalism can be produced using >comparatively simple technology that has been widely available for several >centuries. Cinema, together with radio and television, cannot exist at all >without a complex and inter-related range of mechanical, electrical, >electronic and chemical technologies. The bottom line is that without a >camera, film, lab infrastructure and projector, it is quite simply >impossible to produce and show a film. Far too many humanities scholars >have chosen to ignore that fact for the simple reason that they do not >grasp the basic technical concepts needed to engage with these issues. > >I could cite the most amazing rubbish that has been published by supposedly >leading academics, which a high school leaver with science 'A' levels would >laugh his or her head off at. My favourite example is a densely-theorised >paper in Screen by Stephen Heath, in which he procedes to analyse a scene >from 'Death by Hanging' in considerable detail. As Barry Salt lucidly >observes, his conclusions are somewhat flawed, as the editing techniques >used by Ozu, "had less to do with the intricacies of 'narrative space' >than with the difficulties of getting a cat to behave as directed within >the restrictions of low-budget film production". > >Determining the correct aspect ratio to project MILLER'S CROSSING in might >seem to you like a worthless exercise, but learning these skills in print >examination would also teach you how to (i) see where cuts have been made >either in the print itself or the negative it was printed from, (ii) >discover the year and country in which the print was made, and (iii) >discover other evidence printed through from the negative onto areas of the >print stock which are not projected or transferred to video. All of this >could be pretty useful for a political historian, don't you think? > >Incidentally, I would find it a challenge indeed to debate the relative >merits of Todd-AO and Super VistaVision, because the latter does not exist. >We all know the standard jokes - WILDE (special presentation - in >SodomyScope) or any slushy, romantic genre film (a new motion picture >experience - in Retch-O-Rama), or even the colloquialism 'Technicolor >yawn', meaning to vomit. But all of the products being satirised came >about for specific economic, cultural and technical reasons, and casually >writing them off in the way you seem to be doing is to undermine virtually >any argument or conclusion which casually ignores them. > >L >------------------------------------ >Leo Enticknap >Technical Manager >City Screen Cinemas (York) Ltd.. >13-17 Coney St., York YO1 9QL. >United Kingdom >Telephone: 01904 612940 (work); 01904 625823 (home); 07710 417383 (mobile) >e-mail: [log in to unmask] (work); [log in to unmask] (home) > >---- >Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the >University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu _________________________________________ Dr Gregory Sims, French Section, Dept. of French and Italian Studies, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Victoria, Australia Tel. (61-3) 8344-8119/5179 Fax: (61-3) 9347-2489 "Dieu n'avait fait que l'eau, mais l'Homme a fait le vin" Victor Hugo _________________________________________ ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite