Aesthetics and the Cinematic Narrative

Michael Peter Bolus

Description

A concise historical survey of Aesthetics as a philosophical discipline.

Since the inception of cinema in the late nineteenth century, filmmakers have employed a wide array of precursory aesthetic strategies in the conception and creation of their disparate works. The existence of these traditional antecedents have afforded filmmakers a diverse range of technical and artistic applications towards the construction of their respective cinematic narratives. Furthermore, the socio-political and cultural contexts in which films are conceived often inform the manner in which particular aesthetic sensibilities are selected and deployed. ‘Aesthetics and the Cinematic Narrative’ provides a concise historical survey of Aesthetics as a practical philosophical discipline and applies several of its underlying principles to the examination of filmic storytelling.

Acknowledgements; Introduction: Art and Aesthetics; 1. Myth and Parable; 2. Realism and Abstraction; 3. Classicism and Romanticism; 4. Escapism and Formalism; Bibliography; Index.

Sujets

• Arts
• ART

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 26 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783089833
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Aesthetics and the Cinematic Narrative
Aesthetics and the Cinematic Narrative
An Introduction
Michael Peter Bolus
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2019
by ANTHEM PRESS
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Copyright © Michael Peter Bolus 2019
The moral right of the authors has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bolus, Michael Peter, author.
Title: Aesthetics and the cinematic narrative : an introduction / by Michael Peter Bolus.
Description: London, UK; New York: Anthem Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019021036 | ISBN 9781783089819 (hardback) | ISBN 9781783089840 (pbk.) | ISBN 1783089814 (hardback) | ISBN 1783089849 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures – Aesthetics.
Classification: LCC PN1995.B5155 2019 | DDC 791.4301–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019021036
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-981-9 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-981-4 (Hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-984-0 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-984-9 (Pbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
To Kristin
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Art and Aesthetics
1 Myth and Parable
2 Realism and Abstraction
3 Classicism and Romanticism
4 Escapism and Formalism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The main ideas presented in this book were cultivated over many years in a wide variety of courses and seminars in which I participated, both as a student and a teacher.
I owe a profound debt of gratitude to my professors, namely, Marvin Carlson, Daniel Gerould, Jane Bowers, Jonathan Kalb, James Saslow, Rosanna Warren, Robert Phillip Kolker, William Flesch, Sarolta Takacs, and Derek Walcott, as well as a diverse array of critics, educators, and artists whom I was fortunate enough to encounter—central among them Christopher Ricks, Roger Shattuck, and Robert Pinsky.
There are, of course, the innumerable scholars and thinkers whose varied insights I’ve digested and assimilated indirectly over the years, which, sadly, prevents me from citing by name.
I must also acknowledge the acuity and passion of my many students at New York University, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Santa Monica College, and The Los Angeles Film School, whose probing curiosity helped sharpen my own ideas.
I would like to thank Tej Sood, Abi Pandey, Kanimozhi Ramamurthy, and Megan Greiving of Anthem Press, who were invariably kind, patient, and supportive.
My parents, John and Catherine Bolus, without whose support and never-ending love and devotion I might not have trusted myself to pursue my passions.
John Gutierrez, my administrative assistant, exhibited an amazing amount of industry, resourcefulness, and loyalty throughout what was often an obstacle-laden process.
My amazing young sons, Andre and Jean-Paul, who never made me feel guilty for disappearing into my office for hours on end.
Finally, my primary thanks are reserved for my wife, Kristin, to whom this book is dedicated. Her infinite love and support, keen intellect, critical prowess, and unbounded encouragement made this book possible.
INTRODUCTION
ART AND AESTHETICS
WHAT IS ART?
In his 1890 poem, Conundrum of the Workshops , Rudyard Kipling writes,

When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden’s green and gold,
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s pretty, but is it Art?”
As Kipling duly suggests, the questions surrounding our definition and understanding of the nature and purpose of “Art” are ancient ones:

1. What is it about certain man-made objects that make them beautiful, arresting, soothing, provocative, or enlightening?
2. Why are some objects worthy of the label “Art,” while others are somehow disqualified from that categorization?
3. How do objects created for specifically utilitarian purposes (e.g., a bridge, an office tower, a clay pitcher, etc.) transcend their practical functions and enter the realm of Art? What inherent properties or qualities must be present in a man-made object to justify that classification?
4. What is the criteria that we employ when making these types of determinations? And who defines and applies that criteria?
5. What is Art’s purpose ? To simply beautify our surroundings? To elicit an emotional response? To provoke thought or cerebral reactions? To make a rhetorical point or pose a rhetorical question? To compel some sort of social, political, and/or spiritual change? To allow for certain types of communication between human beings that cannot be achieved otherwise? Or to merely provide a welcome and relaxing diversion?

In attempts to answer these and related questions, we in the modern era are often ruled by Romantic 1 notions of individual subjectivity , which insists that absolute criteria be displaced by a fluid relativism , leading to the slippery notion that “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.”
But if beauty lies merely in the eye of the beholder, does it then follow that there are no native qualities or innate characteristics in the object itself that render it beautiful, regardless of our own individual gazes? Is there no such thing as a fixed set of definable standards by which we evaluate an object’s worth? If not, does it then follow that Art means whatever anybody wants it to mean? Wouldn’t that make it mean nothing?
The collision of disparate approaches to determining the artistic value of a given object can be, by turns, frustrating and futile or thrilling and rewarding, both for the creator of the object and its eventual audience—which is why it’s useful to be aware of the manner in which artists enter and navigate the creative process, and sensitive to the ways in which given audiences interpret and assess the ultimate worth of the final product.
It should also be noted that different cultures, subcultures, eras, geographical regions, religious/spiritual traditions, and self-contained artistic movements have defined and employed their own unique, idiosyncratic criteria by which they comprehend beauty and determine the value of a work of art.
Furthermore, the assumptions and expectations that distinguish one set of artistic criteria from another are not static—on the contrary, they are often fluid and dynamic, undergoing dramatic metamorphoses, even within the confines of an otherwise insular environment.
Happily, there is a field of inquiry devoted to the contemplation of these questions and the complex, nuanced ideas that accompany them: Aesthetics .
What is Aesthetics?
Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that attempts to locate and define the principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty—especially in Art.
Efforts to understand what makes something beautiful have a long and storied history.
In the Western tradition, Aesthetics can be traced as far back as the early fourth century BCE. The great Greek philosopher Plato (ca. 425–347 BCE) wrote penetratingly about Beauty and Art in his famous Dialogue s , which were composed intermittently across several decades.
Plato maintained an unusual set of ideas on both Art and Beauty—two concepts that he did not conflate. Plato believed that the material world we encounter each day is merely a collection of facsimiles—copies of Ideal Forms that exist in the universe. The truth—which is what Plato always searched for—is to be found in the Ideal Form, not its copy; therefore, man-made objects (like Art) can impede our connection with the truth. Plato also believed that Art, which we encounter through sensory perception, arouses our emotions in unproductive and destructive ways, contributing to our being diverted from the truth, which is why he distrusted Art, Artists, and the manner in which human beings generally experience and understand the physical world that they inhabit. Therefore, true Beauty, according to Plato, is not to be found in Art or the material world but, rather, in the purity and perfection of the fixed and universal Ideal. While Plato maintained his suspicion of Art and Artists, he never denied their power to elicit profound emotional responses from audiences, which is one of the reasons he feared their potentially damaging influence on society and what he considered to be the pillars of an ideal civilization.
Plato’s most famous student was Aristotle (384–322 BCE), whose celebrated treatise Poetics (ca. 335 BCE) is an in-depth, if somewhat elliptical, examination of Ancient Greek Tragedy, which necessarily touches upon tangential notions of Art and Beauty. While never mentioning Plato by name, Aristotle’s defense and glorification of poetic drama—and, by implication, Art in general—as a morally redemptive and emotionally cathartic enterprise can be interpreted as a direct challenge to his teache