From: Kim Knowles (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Feb 13 2009 - 06:12:10 PST
Hi Simonetta,I think you've already begun to answer your own question. Perhaps one of the best ways to understand Emak Bakia (and this holds true for all of Man Ray's films) is to look beyond the aesthetic parameters of Dada and Surrealism and to look at the way Man Ray effectively problematizes much of what they were doing (whilst also adhering to certain principles). It's a complex issue though and MR's films are constantly fluctuating between Dada and other issues related to cinematic specificity and the photographic image. The notion of the look is a recurring theme in Man Ray's work so that might be a good starting point. However, I'm not sure that I would agree with what you say about the Dadas not wanting the viewer to think about what they see. Most films associated with the Dada movement try to break with the illusionist nature of film and draw attention to cinematic techniques (consider the washer woman sequence in Leger's Ballet Mecanique for instance, or indeed the opening sequence of Emak Bakia that you mention). Not that I want to use Frameworks as a plug for my own work (!) but look out for my new book on Man Ray's films which will be published by Peter Lang in a few months. It's called 'A Cinematic Artist: The Films of Man Ray'. I talk about some of the issues you're raising here, although I never actually came to any definite conclusions about how to read the images. I think this is beauty of the film is it not? ...Nice to see Man Ray on Frameworks. Thanks for bringing it up :-)Kim Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:46:30 -0500From: (address suppressed): question on Emak Bakia (Man ray, 1926)To: (address suppressed) everyone,I am writing to the list because I have a question and I would like to ask if anyone can help me understand something about Dada films. My question refers to the film Emak Bakia (Man Ray, 1926) in particular. I was discussing with some classmates (I am a grad students in Films Studies) today in one of my seminars about the power of the look/eye in Ray's film. The film literally "tries the patience of the viewer" at first sight. We questioned (but we could not find an ultimate answer) where we as viewers stand in relation to a movie like Emak Bakia. Are we active or passive viewers? I have studied that Dadaists do not want the viewers to think about what the viewers watch because they want the viewer to focus on the constant change of the shots rather than on the content of the shots. If that is true at a first viewing and the viewer is, then, a passive one, I think that after various viewings of the film, the supposed passive viewer feels the urge to become active. I found myself trying to remember what I was watching and I found it very hard, so I watched and re-watched the film many times. However, I think that the issue gets even more complicated right at the opening sequence of the film, where we have a medium shot of the director as he looks into the camera, while his eye looks at us being completely reversed in the lens. Is he "looking at" us, as we are looking at him? In other words, are we both active and passive viewers at the same time? I am interested in this (and this was my point during the discussion) because I have read that Dadaists are concerned about "the fixed object," however in Emak Bakia nothing is fixed. All the objects rotate somehow or move (the director's eye as well is upside down and suggests a sort of already-happened rotating movement.) The only element to be fixed at all times is us, viewers, as we watch the constant change of these rotating images. So, if the filmmaker is looking at us while the eye is upside down, thus, in an unconventional way, does it mean that what matters the most is the viewer in his/her passive or active role?
I hope this makes some sense. I'll be very grateful for any thoughts you may have on this matter. I have never taken a class on avant-garde fims so far (this seminar is about modernity), but I watch a lot of avant-garde films, so I may have misunderstood to some extent Man Ray's project.
Thank you so much in advance for your help.All the best,Simonetta
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.