Tom's Film History II Blog

 In Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash and Arthur Jafa work to dismantle the Hollywood studio-created image of black Americans. This was probably my favorite film in the class thus far. It was one of the best looking films I've seen in some time, and I am partial to intergenerational sprawling narratives (i.e. books like  East of Eden or Go Tell it on the Mountain, or films like  The Tree of Life or  The Godfather: Part II ). You can feel both the pressure and the blessings of family history in these works, and this is something I think about a lot in my daily life. I tend to give narrative art bonus points for ambition, and  Daughters of the Dust  is certainly ambitious. I don't  have a lot to say about the film as I feel that it essentially speaks for itself, but rather I would like to talk about Jafa's work in connection to Bell Hooks' ideas, as he was mostly all I thought about during the readings. Still from Daughters of the Dust Crooklyn, one of the best Spike Lee

One of my favorite biographical documentaries is Charles Burnett's  Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property, which deconstructs the subjectivity of history in the same way that Trinh Minh-ha deconstructs ethnography. I had never seen a documentary like Nat Turner, as I felt that it was more dedicated to challenging the historical record and the subjective nature of recorded history than offering a traditional summary of Turner's life. It includes a Hollywood-esque portrayal of Turner edited between documentary sequences and works on a meta-level beyond my full comprehension. The core idea, if I were to summarize it, is that when we are not aware of it, many of us take historical records (or non-fiction film) as truth, but we must consider the perspective from which our records are coming.  Even studio films can be misinterpreted as fact, as our over-saturation with visual culture can blur our concept of the "reel" and the "real". For example, films like  300 and

Suture is a useful term for me, as it is a tidy way to explain a feeling that I always had to verbalize in a rather clunky way (for example, "I identified with" or "I related to", etc.). It is also a valuable way of understanding why visual culture and narrative art hold so much power.  I haven't seen much Hitchcock, but what I have seen by him orchestrates suture very carefully. For example, Rear Window forces identification with Jimmy Stewart's character as a voyeur. At first, we (the audience) look down on him for looking in on people, but over time we occupy his perspective and forgive his voyeurism as the murder-mystery develops. The morality of his actions are swept under the rug as our (the audience) moral compass is enveloped by suture; we become more immersed in how the mystery unfolds than anything else, and we lose our critical lens through which we view the character we're now fully identifying with. This same concept can be seen in David Ly

Hello... I'm Tom Powers, a film major from Glen Ellyn, Illinois. I have been an avid movie watcher for many years, and I have increased my film consumption during quarantine, for better or for worse. I would like to make my own films but have never made a real attempt to do so. To briefly address our discussion from class, regarding whether technology is helpful or harmful to filmmaking... I failed to mention the Wachowski sisters, particularly Speed Racer (2008) and the Matrix trilogy as examples of film aided by advances in technology. In particular, their color grading, rapid editing and the constantly moving camera create a modern ambience that I have never felt in older films. Certain montages and effects in these films could simply never be achieved in prior decades. Reportedly, they are developing new types of dollies for the upcoming fourth Matrix. Still from Speed Racer However, I think that Eisenstein is probably the best editor I've ever come across despite working w

Jin's father has a sort of haunting presence over Columbus. While he only has a few minutes of screen time (if that), his ideas are constantly present. Architecture, particularly Jin's father's idea of architecture, is what forges the central relationship in the film between Jin and Casey. Director Kogonada draws parallel between form in architecture and film, chiefly drawing on Jin's father's concept of "modernism with a soul". From Oxford Languages, modernism is defined as "a style or movement in the arts that aims to break with classical and traditional form". In particular, this permeates through Kogonada's visual grammar. He wears his influences on his sleeve, repurposing cinematography from Yasujiro Ozu for an updated take on the family drama.  Still from Columbus To me,  Columbus reads as an antithesis to Ozu's work, and I believe this is somewhat intentional on Kogonada's part. Ozu is generally concerned with generational diff

What motivates us to consume art from other regions or cultures? There are a myriad of different reasons depending on the consumer. First, the textbook cultural hybridity; a mixture of familiar, "universal" tropes with the novelty of a different culture. For example, my grandparents watch detective dramas from other countries because they like to learn about other cultures within the framework of a familiar narrative structure (along the lines of shows like Perry Mason which they have watched for years).  For me, consumption of art from other cultures can be attributed, at least in part, to the internet. Hollywood films are generally more available to me in America, but practically anything that I want to watch is just a few clicks away. As a result, we are able to consume a variety of film grammar, and by now I am at the point where I am no longer looking to evoke any of my Hollywood expectations when I watch a foreign film.  You must tread carefully when evaluating art from