Film Studies (thinking film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Film Studies (thinking film - Essay Example One cannot be condemned or belittled for saying that life often imitates art and vice versa. In fact, it's a statement of facts and contradictions that needs to be revered, understood and deconstructed in its entirety. Now really, it's not that premature to say that our past makes our future, and it's owing to this meticulous and oversensitive fashion that our life moves in that we are caught in this struggle of assessing the correlating what has happened and what is about to happen. Lights, camera, actionfrozen in time, and captured for time's keep! Sure enough, literature and informative articles and write ups give us an insight into the past events and the sands of time that have elapsed over centuries, but it's needless to say that while this past may seem suitably exciting owing to the proficient writings of our forefathers, the cinematic past too speaks clearly, indeed alternatively. Alternative Most will be baffled by the use of the term alternative used to describe cinema. Ho wever, if one sees this medium in isolation, it becomes apparent that the reason for this is because Cinema has always been an alternative to conventional wisdom and movement through the ages. It's a reflection of the time, the aspirations, and the realizations one makes in that period. Its history etched in frames, in dialogue, expressions and color. While the past seems magnificent in its appeal, it goes without saying that it reflects on the future. Cinema has seen a lot of transitions, and manifestations through the years, and its appeal remains unbeatable even now. It's got the power to stop us in our tracks, take note of the direction and the paths we have chosen for ourselves and then question possibilities for the future. While one can go on and on about cinematic brilliance, one thing that cannot escape prominence is its history and its beautiful transformation. And while we are gushing at the past it seems only right to pay tribute to the rich past that has inspired present day cinema. Robert Stam wrote, "Theories do not usually fall into disuse like old automobiles relegated to a conceptual junkyard. They do not die; they transform themselves, leaving traces and reminiscences." While Stam eloquently talks about the old giving way to the new and instigating room for experimentation in the process of this transition, what remains inspiring in all this is the cinema prior to the 1960's which raised the bar for filmmakers and technicians alike. It set the foundation from which great cinema emerged and found acceptance. The era prior to the 1960's gave us filmmakers and pioneering geniuses like John Ford, Sergio Leone, David Lean, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosowa, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, and Isaac Julien. The list of filmmakers who have made a niche for themselves is long when you tread the boundaries of world cinema. These are the names of only a few who have paved the way for the new generation filmmakers to follow suit. Many theories developed from this school of thought. Isaac Julien's film, Battle of Algiers, not only thematizes the racialised and sexualized look but also provides audio visual illustrations that highlight the protagonist's angst. One can also further interpret it as a theorized orchestration of looks and glances, captured and analyzed in all their permutations