Drawing the curtain on our beautiful film festival
October 4, 2010
As last Wednesday’s evening Synchtube tutorial drew to a close Jeremy, Charmaine and I enjoyed some light-hearted banter about the emotional impact of the World Builder clip. I made the point that prior to the tutorial I felt the clip to be quite moving but, having now ‘read’ the film as a group and heard other viewpoints, I felt it had ‘lost its magic’. I damned Jeremy for poisoning me with his cynicism. He responded by calling me a ‘softie’. Either Charmaine or Noreen – I lost track in the watery blur – offered a virtual shoulder of consolation to cry on.
Later that night (with the tear stains on my cheeks finally fading) I reflected on the extent to which the materials we have looked at during the EDC film festival have presented pessimistic visions of the present and future. We’ve variously had scenes of death, violence and disease to mull over (and the case of eXistenZ, all three in one!) A dystopian shadow has loomed large over our screenings and seems to be a prevalent theme within the presentation of cyberculture in film.
Which isn’t of course to say that the rendering of a dystopian landscape can’t in itself be beautiful. If there was a genre in my local video shop called ‘Dystopian Beauty’ I like to think that the film Interstella 5555 might be available for rent. Interstella 5555 is an ‘animated House Musical’ collaboration between music artists Daft Punk (seen elsewhere in the EDC film fest) and legendary Japanese animator Leiji Matsumoto. The film tells the story of a music group from a distant utopian planet who are kidnapped, before being transported to a (distinctly dystopian) planet Earth. The band’s captor – a music manager – sees them as a money-making machine (what Hand might see as the inevitable exploitation of digital culture for wealth creation). Presumably unable to manufacture beautiful music (a cute comment on the artificiality of many music acts), the evil manager in the film is forced to try and import natural beauty. The idea of manufactured beauty reminded my of an intriguing point that Noreen made in Wednesday’s tutorial (and the equally interesting discussion that followed):
It would be tempting to say that the film Interstella 5555 is an example of ‘digital beauty’. However what we see on screen is the product of Leiji Matsumoto’s artistry and Daft Punk’s musical innovation, admittedly channelled using digital means. At most the film might be seen as a product of a human-machine symbiosis (for the time being we’ll ignore Daft Punk’s claims that they have been man-machines since a recording studio accident early in their career…)
Perhaps a compromise is to describe the following clip as beauty created through digital means. Irrespective of the balance of man and machine in the creation of this beautiful film, I defy anyone to experience the combination of Daft Punk’s music and Leiji Matsumuto’s animation and not be moved. And that includes you, Jeremy…
October 5th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
A definite case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, I think, James, particularly with visual texts. As some of the readings for this week point out, interpretations and readings are as unique and different as the individuals who make or view the image, film or piece of music. Ironically, in view of our recent discussion, I tend to find beauty in nature rather than machines or manufactured objects, in actions instead of words, in a smile instead of a pretty face!
October 7th, 2010 at 7:50 am
Hi James
‘Softie’ must have been a typo…I was probably trying to write ‘lofty’, obviously in relation to your intellectual abilities…
I think my disillusionment with World Builder came from what I perceived to be a comment on digital technology: that it is a tool for emulating the real, and that its highest ideals are to recreate things like flowers in perfect detail (this is aside from the storyline of comma). I am more interested in thinking about new things that the digital can offer, different concepts of beauty, innovative ideas of worlds or spaces. World Builder was definitely not an ‘other world’, it was ‘the same world’.
I am reminded here of something one of the Chapman brothers (of Brit Art fame) said once in a discussion about art. He (either Jake or Dinos, I forget which) suggested that any art which attempts to copy the real world in perfect detail is a challenge to that real world object, an assertion that the real world object cannot possess anything unknown or exclusive because it can be easily replicated by the drawing or painting. What is the point then of the art work? Taking this standpoint, creating a flower with digital graphics is an insult to both the flower and the technology. It feels like we are trying to undermine the real world when we propose digital technologies as alternatives.
I really like the video, and I’m a fan of anime in general, having the classics ‘Akira’ and ‘Ghost in the Shell’ in my collection (both with interesting posthuman type subject matter). Anime doesn’t attempt to copy the real world; it is stylistic and creates its own sense of place and culture. Daft Punk, although clearly influenced by 70s funk (particularly in this tune) and 80s electronica, definitely create an original sound. And yes, I would be much more moved by dystopic beauty than traditional notions of ‘natural’ beauty…I might even get teary eyed at the sight…
October 7th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for response Jeremy, all is forgiven
I had the good fortune to see Akira on the big screen as part of a Manga all-nighter many years ago. I now wish I’d suggested Ghost in the Shell for film fest – I remember a really distinctive scene with the creation of cyborgs that would have fitted our Westworld/Blade Runner/AI discussions perfectly!
It’s interesting that you mention Brit Art. After Noreen’s point about ‘finding beauty in nature rather than machines’ encouraged me to give a bit of thought to a response and I found myself thinking of Julian Opie. Some of his digital animated landscapes are, to me, stunningly beautiful:
http://www.julianopie.com/#/artwork/film/2005/602
Maybe that’s a good compromise position for Noreen and I – beautiful digital rendering of a beautiful natural landscape.
October 7th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Beautiful though the Julian Opie landscapes are James, they’d have to have the wind in my hair and the smell of fresh air, the changing clouds etc. It’s the living, breathing, constantly changing aspect of nature I find beautiful – the stuff you can’t put your finger on, can’t pin down because it’s ephemeral.