Unseen No More? The Avant-Garde on DVD
by Paul ArthurThis article, found in Cineaste Vol. XXXII No. 1, introduces what has been described as the "left-side" of the cinema culture. This refers to, of course, the independent aspects of filmmaking, ones that are not driven by studio support in production, funding, exhibition or propagation. Arthur talks about the supposed lack of a "niche" in the contemporary commercial entertainment market - forcing the avant-garde to live out its life in the underground. Therefore, there is a large misconception of what the avant-garde is, and its nomenclature confusion with the term experimental filmmaking.
Many people conceive the avant-garde as a genre or subset of filmic categorization, when in fact, the avant-garde contains genres and has subsets of its own. The emotional and thematic spectrum is every bit as rich (some could argue richer) than that of Hollywood products.
Cable TV's growth during the 80s, Arthur argues, was a potential proliferation opportunity for the experimental culture. But, sadly, it never turned out that way. Now, most 16mm rentals of the experimental wave are reserved for universities (many artuists choose not to transfer their works to DVD - the medium in which they were shot becomes the essence of the piece: See Brakhage's Mothlight or Gatten's What the Water Said for examples). But, Arthur argues, this "low-profile ... became part of the movement's implicit appeal": screenings and installations seem to be kept as intimate as possible - the inherent uniqueness and randomness of staged and improvised projection are just some of the characteristics unique the avant-garde (not to mention merging non-filmic mediums in with a single work).
The article, in reality, is more of a review (comparison?) of two recent DVD releases helping to bring the avant-garde to the general public. Kino Video's six-hour, 25-film collection Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and '30s and Anthology Film Archives' 19-hour (wow), 155-film collection Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, 1893-1941 by Curator Bruce Posner.
The article strongly prefers the latter in this review - stating that the image quality is better (in the 9 repeated films from the two collections, in the least), the table of contents, translations and subtitles are more accurate and enjoyable. However, it does have its caveats.
The collection (not positive which one, I recall the latter) labels some of the silent 16mm films as "intentionall silent", yet adds tracks of "unobtrusive pinao riffs vie with abrasive electronic squall". These aural attacks seem anything but unobtrusive on something labeled "intentionally silent". The phrasing itself seems a bit insulting - that a film would be "intentionally" silent seems that there is something inherently broken the lack of sound in any visual medium. Yes, most silent films did have some sort of life accompanyment, but how would one choose a fitting track for a piece that was "intentionally" without sound?
The last thing I found interesting about the article happened to be a list of films that were listed in the Experimental section of Netflix: A Clockwork Orange, Pi, The Royal Tenenbaums and Shock Corridor. This, once again, leads us back to the nomenclature and the definition of avant-garde theory. I, for one, found that Arthur's suggested definition is quite fitting:
"Hence, what is avant-garde is identified as a set of typical, historical conditions of possibility governing the funding, method of production, distribution, exhibition and publicity of nonmainstream films."
This classifies the works of Man Ray as Avant-Garde while reserving the right to kick out Fox newsreels.
1 comment:
Eric - well done. I wish I read this post first and then would have spared you any lecturing in the second. The writing here is engaged, a deft balance I think from reporting on and considering (the late) Paul Arthur's work and sharing your own opinions and considerations.
Some great topics - definition, labels, circulation - that Arthur takes into a number of directions. I guess that is the nature of history, or how history is written. People write about what they can see, labels insistent markers on any sort of road map.
If you are interested the library has those two dvd sets that Arthur reviews, including the impressive Unseen Cinema set. That set is in interesting insertion into history, making the claim that it does that "experimental" work has been around from the beginning. (Discuss!) There are a lot of gems and no small amount of curiosities on it.
Okay, per my comments on Part II, I may be losing my balance here, going on so. But thanks for this nimble post. I appreciate your selection, your consideration, your relating the to work seen in class. (Brakhage, by the way, did authorize "Mothlight" on DVD. You can also - and here's the rub - check that out at the library on the "By Brakhage" DVD.)
Post a Comment