Sunday, January 18, 2015

"Coming into Focus" / "metaphors on vision"


          According to the article “Coming into Focus” by James Broughton, for many filmmakers the creation of films is not just the making of a moving picture – it is also poetry. Broughton is one such filmmaker, who views what he does and creates as “poetry and love and religion and my duty to the Lords of Creation.” To him, cinema has the ability to elicit a change on the viewer’s soul, his included.
          While his writing is lyrical and heartfelt, I find that the way he goes about attempting to express himself is unclear and scattered, and sometimes veers off the topic of cinema he’s supposed to be writing about. I do, however, agree with his ideology that, with there being so many aspects of our lives that we have no control over, the things we enjoy give us the ability to endure the moments in between.
          The article “metaphors on vision” by Stan Brakhage, challenges the entire concept of the societal influence on what we, as humans, see. He questions how we would perceive the world had we not been told how to define what we are seeing, and just how much of life we are missing by casually labeling things as we are taught to, then brushing them off. With this we lose our ability to question, to think, and to imagine, thereby missing out on much life has to offer.
          Brakhage’s writing brings attention to concepts I have never thought of, lending credit to his theory that as we are told how to perceive things, we lose the ability to see them as they truly are. His article is thought-provoking and profound, as he explains that some artists have retained and nurtured their ability to see the world as it actually is, and how some translate it into cinematic masterpieces. 

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