Beauty, atmosphere and experience. Photo: Andrew Tseng
After being a recluse (a cinema-recluse at least) for most of 2012, the last 10 months have seen more cinema action for me then I have experienced in a long time. Why? Well firstly, my girlfriend’s family bought a new TV with a bonus offer of free movie tickets each fortnight, so I don’t have to pay. But more so I think it is because of a reinvigorated love of cinema. The atmosphere in a cinema can’t be replicated, except for in the best home cinemas (I know of one in particular, which may be discussed in greater detail at a later date), there’s just something special about the gargantuan screen – I love a good dose of Vmax – and the engulfing wall of sound that exists in a movie theatre.
I can’t even remember all the films I’ve watched in the last 12 months, but I’ll do my best to recount some of the more memorable ones for you:
- The Hobbit (48FPS 3D) – twice
- The Wolverine (3D)
- The Great Gatsby (3D)
- Elysium
- Looper
- Lincoln
- The Avengers (3D)
- Django Unchained (3D)
- Iron Man 3 (3D)
Don’t know about any others. Those were the ones that popped to mind. Interestingly enough, I’d be willing to go on record and say they were pretty much all outstanding films (with the exception of the start of The Wolverine being a little arduous). What’s great is the fact that I have been able to really resonate and think on a much deeper level with a lot of these films then I have previously, thanks to a little bit of enthusiasm and interest. I’ve always loved cinema, but recently I’ve really found its my passion – something that I can understand and relate to.
Red One. The future of cinema. Photo: Neilson Eney
I saw Elysium tonight, and while I agree to an extent that District 9 director Neill Blomkamp might be flogging a dead horse in terms of the conceptual thinking (well some critics seem to say so, personally I really like the thinking, you could call it design fiction), Elysium still stands as a film in its own right and shouldn’t be compared to the more creative and alternatively created District 9. The movie had the right level of emotional depth, politics and story to balance off against the high impact and fast paced violence. I didn’t feel like the fighting and action overshadowed the plot or values the movie projected – like a lot of films do tend to do in our highly fantastic and computer orientated industry.
What got me thinking today however was the relation between how we think of cinema and how we think of the essay. Adrian obviously chose to provide Graham’s article on the essay as one of the week 4 readings for a reason. To me after my deep thinking and speculation for the evening, I really feel that effectively this sort of ideology stands true for the film as well. You’d be hard pressed to find a cinema class at a university that focuses on the future of film – or even current film. We’re stuck in this trend of studying the classics. Learning how the classics work, when really, the cinema is heading in a completely different direction. Sure, the classics are the foundations of cinema and they let you understand how the Classic Hollywood, the French New Wave or the Soviet Realist works (etc, etc). But what about learning how to understand cinema as it stands today, or how its progressing? The technologies behind it, a greater understanding of effects and digital effects. Are we afraid to admit how great an influence special effects has had on the cinema?
Our good friend Peter Jackson once again has a great idea on this. 48fps is the future. Advancing and progressing the art of cinema through contemporary and future technologies is high on Jackson’s important things to do list. Embrace new technology, respect the past – understand its workings – but most of all keep an open mind and embrace the future. It is obvious that cinema studies is intended to be what it is, to understand the classics and film history. But my question is, why isn’t there ever a course on offer that studies cinema as it is today and into the future?