Medium Specificity

Artist Statement

            The Avengers, Battleship, Cars 2, James Bond, and Inception. All movies that have made millions of dollars, all very entertaining and visually stimulating films, all representations of the media market, but perhaps also these movies are only that. They don’t seem to have a story that has any connection to reality, or has anything to say about life, relationships, emotion, struggles (besides how to kill a bad guy), or any real increase in understanding. Aristotle defined theater as beautiful and functional, he said that the only reason we should indulge in it is for the sake of learning, of gleaning something new about life and ourselves. Now I’m not saying that Aristotle word is scripture, but I am saying that while escaping can be good and necessary, escapism is detrimental.

            Similarly, newspaper clippings from 1943 show that this may not be just the musings of an old crackpot, they too wrote articles about how to try and understand, accept and learn from paintings that were on exhibit at the time. Edward Alden Jewell closed is column by saying, “Permit[ting] unrecognizability to be a barrier is to condemn ourselves to a life of monotony, without thrills of discovery, insight and ‘conversion.’” Apart from making up the word ‘unrecognizability,’ I believe this quote to be fact. So, how then can I have the double standard against the unrealistic films? Film should not only be about the world created, but also the lessons that we may learn while inside.

            My short film here is a visual representation of the way movies can focus on the wrong things. In this tiny clip, real conversations are happening, actual relationships are being formed, and the intensity and lulls of the conversation are natural and affect each person individually. While it may be just a mundane task of decorating a small space, the viewers could still gain knowledge or enlightenment from watching something that raw happening. However, instead of allowing my audience to do that, I set up a nice shot with the focus on something interesting, it is artistically set up and I even have effects to further blur the background figures. This is all set up so that not only are you in my universe, but you will only look at what I’m allowing you to. Sadly, so much of the media we consume does the exact same thing, showing the audience a calculated and ultimately frivolous view, while missing the real edification that is just beyond our scope.