This week’s lectorial could be considered…interesting. The first section discussed non-narrative, both in terms of documentary and experimental film. The reading for this section was from the Film Art book we use within our Cinema Studies class, so I had already read this chapter multiple times. It’s interesting to see that within experimental film, there are two ‘forms’, abstract and associational. Prior to reading about the forms of non-narrative, particularly within experimental film, I hadn’t considered that films of this genre would have any sort of form at all, or any larger purpose beyond pushing the boundaries of the definition of art and film. But, upon watching the ‘abstract form’ Ballet Mechanique, and observing the juxtaposition of shapes and movements between human and machine, used to encourage the audience to view human movements as entirely machinated in nature, I realised that experimental films could actually have form, and even structure. Similarly, any non narrative film (even those that are far less extreme in their deviation from tradition linear narrative style films) has a clear structure, and a defined purpose. Take ‘Gap Toothed Women’ by Les Blank, a categorical non-narrative documentary that is not particularly linear (though not entirely non-linear either, it simply exists within time), which places things into categories so that audiences can better understand and piece information together even if it is not in the correct temporal structure. Its main aim is to perhaps reduce the stigma culturally surrounding women with gap teeth, and instead redefine their appearance to be one of beauty, rather than one that people would want to change about themselves.
Various other films were shown to the class to demonstrate how films without a narrative per se may still have a purpose, a controlling idea and a structure, though the audience (and students’) concepts of these in regard to these types of films may need some redefining.
