Bazin definitely put forth some interesting ideas about photography and cinema. I found his "mummy complex" (an innate human need to halt the ceaseless flow of time by embalming it in an image) to be such a beautiful truth, an eloquent take on the "capturing a moment" colloquialism.
I appreciate his view that the photograph is a product of mechanical reproduction, and as a result it is first and foremost a document rather than a work of art. The comparison of this to the hand-crafted work of a painting has always been a concept I've dealt with since high school, because I was always more of a hand-crafting kind of artist. It was comforting to see the idea expressed elsewhere. But rather than making the photograph have less depth in content than a painting, Bazin's idea gives the photograph another dimension - an inescapable connection with reality.
Bazin's prediction that cinema would merge with reality was deemed "wrong" by the author of the article, but in some ways he was correct. Although the film industry produces many escapist films, such as cheesy rom coms and dramas with ridiculous plotlines and unrealistic endings, the sheer technology advances over time have been able to make the experience of watching a movie incredibly realistic; with HD quality images and the sudden explosion of 3D, movies are becoming practically interactive. The advancement in CGI technology allows for mythical creatures to come alive and entire cities to deteriorate; and although from a logical standpoint those things seem impossible, when you're completely engaged in a movie.. its suddenly believable. In addition, many independent films today border on documentary style and are intensely analogous to real life, for example, "Rachel Getting Married".
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