You know, I was gonna write a review of
“The Phantom Menace” today, but then I realized that hearing a
bunch of people complain about the film is annoying so I'll pass. Of
course, now, I am writing on an equally debated subject; experimental
film.
Now if you are very analytical then you would be able to figure
out my position on the issue via my position on art. If you haven't
read that, you can check it out HERE. What has peaked my interest in this subject is that I am in film school, which means that 60% of
what I see is experimental by popular definition. And of course for
anyone who doesn't understand the traditional (and by that I mean the
general understanding of the term) concept, experimental film is film
that does not follow traditional structure, and tries to reach out
into “un-charted” territories. Now this may sound great to most.
Avoiding cliché is a big theme in filmmaking. However, the “genre”
if you will gets a bad rep, and the issue is very two sided.
Experimental filmmaking has become synonymous with pretentiousness, it is made to be un-readable by others, and is very self absorbed in nature. There usually isn't a narrative structure, and the narrative structure if any doesn't usually work.
Now I will be perfectly honest, my thing is narrative filmmaking. I don't watch experimental film because it just isn't my field of study, so maybe I am not fully qualified to speak here. However, I don't see what the harm is with it. And I really am speaking in regards to all film that is considered "pretentious," a term that irritates me to no end because it is so loose in definition. The thing is that people want to own the films that they see, and I am not talking about the DVD or anything like that, they want to feel like the film is on their side, like a sport. But suddenly if the film or filmmaker isn't, they are bad. But the thing with most film, even some experimental films, is that the filmmakers aren't making this film for you, they are making it for themselves. They want money or they want self actualization. I like to make films because it is a great place for me to project my stress! So complaining that an experimental film is bad because it isn't palatable and isn't made for you doesn't quite work as an argument.
This is why I decided to not do my Star Wars review last minute. "Why are they doing this to us, why can't they just do their movie right?" It's their movie! They can do what they want with it because it's theirs! I mean, the whole spirit of filmmaking in my eyes was that people could share their films with each other and then comment on the content of the film and its meaning, not whether the film its self matters.
Just as a note, I will be changing my uploading times to 3pm instead of 12pm from now on. It just works out better for me. Thank you guys for reading, and let me know what you think! Do you think I have a point, or do you think I should flush my head down a toilet infested with pythons? I love to hear what you guys have to say, so say it in the comments below!
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