Responses

Here are my responses to the three articles.

- Halbert Bai

Ersatz Reality in "The Ontology of the Photographic Image"

In his perspicacious article "The Ontology of the Photographic Image," Andre Bazin exhumes the roots of the photographic image while considering the evolution of painting. He alludes to inexorable clashes between existence and abstraction that culminate into entropy and the degeneration of reason (a theme even more relevant today than in the early half of the twentieth century). By grasping the complexity of reality and illusion, Bazin writes with a deep ratiocination of humanity while remaining rooted in the temporal world. He understands the irrationality of the human condition that forces us to adopt means of preservation. Moreover, through our continuing study of the most essential question, "What does it mean to be human?" Bazin perceptively states, "Today the making of images no longer shares an anthropocentric, utilitarian purpose. It is no longer a question of survival after death, but of a larger concept, the creation of an ideal world in the likeness of the real, with its own temporal destiny." This progressive idea may have been mostly true in Bazin's era, but the boundary between reality and fantasy has become jeopardized with the advent of new technology. We can no longer differentiate among painting, photography, and the moving image. Bazin argues, "Photography and the cinema on the other hand are discoveries that satisfy, once and for all in its very essence, our obsession with realism." The era of photographic realism and credibility, however, is over, instead these visual mediums are on a level playing field, competing to capture the essence of humanity as conduits of culture.

Visual Perception and Imposed Social Bastions in "Metaphors on Vision"

Driven by a tendency to curb innate fears and seek meaning, man establishes manifestations of lost innocence in social order to provide boundaries and conventions of behavior and thought. In Stan Brakhage's "Metaphors on Vision," he exposes the genesis and transformation of original naïveté and the implanted delusions that corrupt our perception of reality. These misconceptions are evident in hallucinations: "Allow so-called hallucination to enter the realm of perception, allowing that mankind always finds derogatory terminology for that which doesn't appear to be really usable, accept dream visions, day-dreams or night-dreams…allowing that the abstractions which move so dynamically when closed eye-lids are pressed are actually perceived." Moreover, Brakhage pushes us to fear less and "[become] aware of the fact that you are not only influenced by the visual phenomenon which you are focused upon." And once again, the essential question "What does it mean to be human?" rises out of the ashes of neglected innocence and forces us to consider the limitations that come with curbing animality through rigid social bastions while our latent desires tell us otherwise.

The Visual Compass in Kino-eye

In a telling excerpt from Kino-eye, Dziga Vertov presents the power of imagery and montage to communicate more effectively. He argues that by overcoming the limits of self-imposed rules and through the use of our mechanical eyes, we can "create a new, perfect man." In an exploration of time and space, the camera acts like a compass that establishes order within chaos. Furthermore, by verging "away from copying," we can create montages that synthesizes the most concrete perceptions of the world.