Index:
2.1. Movie perceiving the existence and life
2.2. Psychodynamic point of view to movies
2.2.1. Exhibitionism
2.2.2. Identification
2.2.3. Projection
2.2.4. Imitation
2.2.5. Idealization
2.3. Movie as synthetic art form
2.4. Cinematographic art as movies essence
2.5. Movie as sociological phenomenon
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2.1. Movie perceiving the existence and life
Movies create and reflect vision of epoch, life and existence,
world, the universe and humanity in all dimentions and all spectrums.
Of all art forms movies resemble the most that actual, real, genuine
life we can feel, see and hear with our senses.
With it's realistic documentary or fictional existence extensions movies
allow and make possible unrestricted space for our imagination or
imaginary world.
Andre Bazin says that in the fantasy of movie the audience is
charmed especially by the realism united with the conflict of photographs
objectivity and the incredible character of course of events.
Jean Epstein characterizes movie as the most real device of
the most unreal.
Andreij Tarkovsky thinks that movies answer to peoples need to
control life and become aware of it. From a movie the viewer is searching
time: lost, lived or inexperienced so far.
Tarkovsky is charmed by the
poetic relationships of a movie, the logic of its poetic. By poetic he means
the emotion of the universe, a way to face the reality. He thinks that the
purpose of all arts is to explain why we are living, what is the meaning of life,
what is the reason why we came to this planet? Art, just like science, is one way to
take over this universe, to understand a little bit more on this road to
absolute truth. If it does exist or can be found.
Tarkovsky thinks that movies can do it best, because
movie is the most realistic and most poetic art form.
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2.2. Psychodynamic point of view to movies
In movies viewers mind, viewer's psyche, consciousness comes true with
new form, in new material figure on mental dialogue with the screen.
While watching a movie viewer watches in some extremely important relation,
in proportion oneself.
What a viewer sees and hears and what touches a viewer is viewer oneself;
viewers own emotions and life's history, career.
On silver screen we see viewer's minds creation, mostly
unconsciously quicken reality. Movie is and lives from reflection;
from the way a human being is in proportion with oneself. In addition with that
movie yields imaginary object-relationships, which operates like passive
transference relationships and by that analyze viewer's relation to life and
with the world.
Reflection:
While watching a movie we are in deep mental and physical dialogue with it.
Movie takes us with it.
It takes usually only few seconds to dive into and inside the story there's going on.
We give and transfer
all the time our own important meanings and moral values to the characters and the
events they are in.
And that real-life-looking action on the screen gives birth to our emotions deep inside.
In good movie experiences reflection is like a two way street. We give and get the same time.
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One part of movie's attraction is based on photo genetic = in other words
the picture of reality achieves often more fascinating features that reality
itself. Dreams can have beautiful and bearing wings.
Movies can give us supernatural powers for a moment - that
we don't have in real life - like immortality or
omnipotence or invincibility.
This is one reason why adult's fairy tales like James Bond or Lethal Weapon are so
popular around the world in every culture and every country.
About fairy tales:
Quite often children fairy tales remind very much adult fairy tales.
For example:
classical Disney animation "The Fox and the Hound" (1981) and a
James Bond film "GoldenEye" (1995) are based on the same type of
story.
First there are two best friends: a fox and a dog / agent 007 and agent 006.
Then, for certain reasons, they grow apart and become as worst enemies who will
run in the end to total and fatal fight.
Just like it usually happens between good and evil in the movies: there's this last
total moral fighting between good and evil in the climax. And the good wins it - because it's
much more easier to go on living with that result.
The main difference between these two stories is that in The Fox and the Hound they will
have another chance with their friendship. In GoldenEye 006 must have so horrible
destruction as possible. The movie says: death is your reward if you betray your best
friend.
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Like daydream, dream, normal life, celebration, joy, sorrow or
hallucinations movie is normally experienced as real and because of that, as
effective. Reality blossoms and lives from daydreams and fantasies, from threat,
fear and passion, from glory and shame, from revenge and compensation, from
happiness and destruction - just like movies do.
Movies are existentialist art; something that happens at the present moment and
- at the same time - is separated with enormous information from the past and
related to the future. Movie knits two-way vision from outside world into
viewer's ego where effectiveness is based more on intensiveness of an
experience than to length of it. Often short fleeting moments can be - and
usually they are - most affective and immemorial and most important.
About therapy this maybe my most important presumption:
there are no
healing or therapeutic pictures or words or thoughts or music etc. that heals
itself. What helps in therapy the most is the meaningful healing relationship
(in Finnish = parantava merkityssuhde)
that touches so deeply and warmly and powerfully from deep down inside.
We can have that meaningful healing relationship with a movie if we
are safe and trusting enough. And if we have strong enough need to take a good look
inside, hear our "inner voice" and hidden wishes. If we have strong need to
face our emotions, which often "know" in advance what is happening and what we
really want to and can do with our life.
In many case symptoms of mental health problems are advance warnings, just like walking
on thin ice = don't go further or you will be drowned or at least you get wet.
Movies help us to touch gently our hidden emotions and to let those "forgotten"
feelings to come in daylight from the darkness.
Intensive movie experience happens best in cinema. It's atmosphere: wide screen,
dark hall and loud volume helps us to minimize external irritants (stimulus) and
let loose from present moment to a dreamlike state of mind. Darkness helps us
to weaken self-control what is needed in sufficient control of ego while living in
"real" world.
In darkness we can be free from those norms that chain our thinking and
thoughts and to face our belief and disbelief, true, despair and wish
in our imagination at the same time.
Jean Goudal says that watching a movie is an aware hallucination, which
improve fusion of dreams and wishes.
Christian Metz emphasizes movie's ability to create illusion
of reality what viewer's emotional and observing participation
supports: viewer participates in events, which are served from silver screen.
And because those events are visible a viewer experiences them as believable.
While viewer sneaks to fiction that is developing in front of viewer's
eyes, viewer goes through that critical point which Andre Breton
says is as fascinating and unnoticeable as that tiny moment when we are still
awake and at next moment fall asleep.
Breton is fascinated from idea: why we human beings are so easily
willing to be taken by movie, to be lead by movie and to step into
exterior course of events, to world of strangers, strange values and
norms?
Viewer's glance seeks continuous imaginary and symbolic,
search of reaching fullness of identify and on the other hand,
dialectics of deficiency, which at the end leads to visual fantasy.
Screen serves only small bits of vision, suggestive partial truth that
viewer's mind completes to so entire general picture what is needed to be
believable enough. As "god", creator of own consciousness and reality
viewer creates own, fictional world inside the movie.
In cinema we play mind games.
Children do same thing when they are playing with toys. And authors, artists,
musicians, dancers, etc. do it too.
The screen creates lines (frames, borders) inside of which "official" events
are happening but outside of which will be left immeasurable
amount of extremely subjective fictional information and emotion. It helps to
disappear events "internal" and "external" meaning and makes that experience so
total.
Formally as an outsider a viewer lives inside the movie and is lead by it and -
at the same time - creates fantasy that satisfy those needs a viewer has.
Often directors exploit information that is "told" outside screen (= inside
viewer's imaginary world) - especially in thrillers and horror movies - to have
that kind of strong general impression and reaction director wants to have.
Although a movie serves manipulating, intentional stimulation the final reaction comes
from inside of viewers mind, from emotional history and from those needs viewer
is trying to satisfy.
A movie can - at it's best - stimulate those hidden,
fend off, covered emotions, but not create them from emptiness.
If watching movies is so dangerous that it can cause huge damage, almost spoil
human mind, as some people say, it would be extremely good news to movie therapy:
then in "useful" actuation we could do almost miracles with movies.
Sad or not, movies are effective, but not that effective.
If a person is like a walking powder barrel the spark that explodes those dammed
emotions can come anywhere.
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If our stress level is too high people demolish it usually two ways:
act out or act in.
Acting out may cause damage to outsiders, acting in may cause damage to
oneself.
For example: horror of a horror movie or indecency of
a sex movie is only in viewer's mind, not in those dead, lifeless pictures
of a movie. Different people react and feel differently when they see horror or
indecency because they have different background and different values and
moral.
We go to see movies that we hope can satisfy our needs.
Every movie, just like all piece of art, contains a lot of subconscious
information from its makers that is unknown to them and came unintentionally
to that piece of art.
One fascinating part of movies is possibility to peek, to satisfy our
need of peeking and to satisfy "natural" curiosity we human beings have
in morally accepted way. A viewer is allowed - in fact: a viewer is
"forced" - to watch all those intimate details of "privacy", that kind of
private life that
normally, in real life, happens behind closed doors and curtains.
Christian Metz says that one reason why movies have exhibitionist
character is because its existence is depending on to being seen.
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2.2.1. Exhibitionism
In movie therapy we understand exhibitionism as bringing out object dimension
of individuals and society; showing emotions and experiences openly and
publicly; "stripping" privacy in front of viewer's eyes.
Exhibitionism means a lot to elements of healthy narcissism and holds inside
a seed of collective growing. We can notice where the world is going and how
people act and react in this time.
If all people would live facade life we could never look behind the curtain.
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2.2.2. Identification
Identification means need to identify with those persons and those ambiences
seen on silver screen and to have good enough emotional contact with them.
To get to know those persons and become friends with them, recognize their
character and behavior and give them life even outside
the screen while they are doing something we can't see.
Identification helps us to understand better those people on silver screen
and their situation and connection to the story.
When they are well enough known we don't have to spend extra energy
in understanding what is going on and we can concentrate in the story.
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2.2.3. Projection
Projection means need to project different kind of emotions, usually strong
emotions to and through those persons on the silver screen.
It means need to give characteristics to them and to project norms,
values and explanations to what is happening on the
screen. It means need to have some missed sense what and why is happening. Need to create
safe and secure clear miniature world we can control.
And most of all: to verify our own omnipotent divinity with and through
the silver screen.
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2.2.4. Imitation
Imitation means the need to act, be and think like those heroes on the screen.
Just like in behavior therapy: to find role models, living examples, to find
important values, principles and - from the opposite way -
to have justification for viewers own values and thoughts.
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2.2.5. Idealization
Idealization means a need to have idols, authorities, leaders and role models, to
catch up enough safety, immortal divinity to state of insecurity. It means
need to experience to be saved and to find saviors and those who can solute
problems - to feel touch of someone bigger than this little me - and at
the same time to feel omnipotence dreams of being in the middle, in the spot
lights.
Idealization means a need to feel that the world in movies is real, real at
least for few hours.
Idealization means a need to have good enough clarification to those
difficulties of life and existence and with that knowledge to be able to have
piece and harmony in mind.
Finnish philosopher Matti Puolakka says that most denied emotions
direct the most of our behavior. Denied emotions affect more than allowed
emotions to where lines or borders of our behavior stand.
Border is set far enough from where dangerous zone starts.
From where that unbearable fear starts. By that way we can feel secure enough.
We try to avoid getting to that threatening area by limiting our safe,
permitted area.
More threatening or more dreadful that dangerous zone is more far
from it we are willing to stay.
And those people who are too afraid of living, little by little they shrink their
safe area until at the end there is not enough space to live decent life. People
isolate too much, loose contact to community and finally go crazy.
Those declined emotions; taboos and secret thoughts that appear in community
tell us very important things about that community to individuals and to those who
are living outside the society. They tell something about what is thought to been allowed
and morally good or decent enough.
It happens sometimes in real life that grass seems to be greener on
the other side of a fence. That is one reason why movies from time to time are testing
limits of good taste or moral or censorship.
Creativity is frightening because it offers and needs steps on that new, unknown and
tempting area. Going over allowed fences and borders. It is only way of growing: do
something new and different way than earlier has been done.
Sometimes you hurt your head when you bang it against the wall or you hurt your
wings when you fight with windmills.
It maybe like mission impossible - but it can and will be done. Some day.
Movies open a curtain of private reality by offering - with its
exhibitionist character - a possibility to a viewer to peek through that
mysterious hole to another kind of reality. It offers a chance to step on forbidden
area, to examine and search new incitements to be able to replace old norms.
Movies offer time and mind traveling to those who are brave and
unprejudiced.
When movies show too dangerous or forbidden reality through its window,
then comes censorship and pulls curtains down.
Censorship works like subconscious mind and tells when a pothook is too
hot to be touched. This is too much for your mind, close your eyes and
go home, good night.
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2.3. Movie as synthetic art form
Sometimes movie is defined as a synthesis of literature, painting,
architecture, music and theatre. Or that it can bind time-arts (music, poetry
and dance) and space-arts (architecture, painting, sculpture) together
as living and plastic art that binds time and space to unique rhythm.
Movie has been classified to music that works just like visual Esperanto.
Or some think that movie is visual drama, pictures drawn with brush made
from light. Or someone says movie is visual language written by pictures.
Synthetism of moving pictures is very hard to define because there is same
kind of contradictions like with music: when a sound is music and when it is not?
Or what kind of music is art, presentable at court, distinguished and what is not?
Who has a bottom line authority to decide what is the final truth or even good enough?
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2.4. Cinematographic art as movies essence
Developer of montage theory Sergei Eisenstein says that essence
of a movie can't be found from single pictures. It can be found from
relation between them. Single pictures and montage create base of a movie.
To make it simple: two different pictures together are more effective than
they are separate.
With montage a director can build bridges over different meanings and
situations and emotions.
Many movie researchers think that montage is the real cinematographic art.
Louis Delluc compares movie to harmony that comes from parts of
music and rhythm. Movie's structure is sometimes compared to poetry: editing
different pictures and scenes together is like placing words on same level in
poetry.
What makes it more fascinating are those same time existing and
different ways working elements and levels and dimentions there are in movies.
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2.5. Movie as sociological phenomenon
Movies are art for individuals and made for big mass of people.
Movies can cross epochs, continents and cultural borders and be shown all
around the world at the same time for millions of people.
A normal two-hour movie needs work contribution of tens, maybe hundreds
of professionals. Final result is more like a compromise of many ideas and ambitions
than a portrait from a single artist.
Movie is the most collective art form. That is one reason why movies are so
good windows and mirrors of the time.
Movies show pictures of present time and epoch.
We can notice how fast the world has been changing by watching movies made
in 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970 ... or this year.
Not only technology has changed.
General attitude, atmosphere, content, values and even moral have changed a
lot only in few years. Human race has (too) huge speed going on if we think
about all existence of Homo sapiens.
I think that it's quite scary because this change has been so (= too) fast
and not only in movies. Movies only reflect time and life in that time.
Beta Balaz defines movie as a document how crowd is thinking
and been recognized. Its existence depends more on public interest than
is question with any other art form. Balaz says that movies dig deep
down in crowd's emotional world. It is result of subject and object,
not only it's passive reflex but more like synthesis of subject and
object.
- The End of Chapter Two -
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