Hugo inside the clock at the end of the first scene is
a metaphor for what will happen as the move progresses. Machines will take on a
human element and be hailed as helpers for mankind. Because machines will take on a
human inner form (be able to emote, help people), they are comparable to early
film. Early film was concerned with the viewers’ connection to the content. Showing
an image up on a screen was not enough. Showing an image and getting a
reaction, pulling something out of the viewer, was the aim. Framing, as a
technique used in both old and new film, is meant to draw a viewer’s attention
to something of particular meaning, or what the filmmaker may deem important to
the viewer’s experience. The focus on experience was early film’s main goal; as
long as viewers felt something during the movie, or came out of the theatre
with something new, it was worth it.
As John Sloan’s painting suggests,
early film was an action/reaction relationship with moviegoers. The woman
looking back at the painting’s viewer is like the movie looking back at the
audience. Film puts something out there, but expects a reciprocated return of
emotion from the audience. Melies intention of showing a man’s face in the moon
was a way of getting a reaction from the audience, and he certainly did. He
showed an image that had never been seen before. As Hugo’s father put it, it
was like dreaming in the middle of the day. It opened up possibilities and
ideas undiscovered to people in their own day-to-day lives. Early film was
giving people a way to dream, to create, and to enjoy that they could not do on their own, or could not as easily be shared. It began an exchange of dreams: show one image of a dream and it gets other people dreaming.
OK--
ReplyDeleteI like this starting idea:
Machines will take on a human element and be hailed as helpers for mankind.
isn't this what framing does in all of these pictures you're looking at? That is, making the world readable---legible----and making people the center of it?
I think you wander from this idea in the rest of your intro which is about getting a rise out of people…ok but that's vague… doesn't a runaway train do that too?
I think you want to talk about the importance of the human element in machines--in the film, painting, etc…. how this works and what it means in terms of dreaming, bringing people together,even love (sloan's painting---what are they watching?)
you then might want to consider what's the opposite of a human element in machines----war? runaway train nightmares? becoming a mechanical boy like hugo does?