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- Title
Film/Mind Analogies: The Case of Hugo Munsterberg.
- Abstract
Munsterberg, like other film theorists to come, agreed with the opponents of film that if a medium is to be an artform, it must do more than imitate. And this, in turn, entails that in order to show that film is an art, he must refute the assumption that all the film medium must do (given its photographic nature) is slavishly copy. This, however, involves showing two things: both that film need not necessarily copy reality and that films need not be mere mechanical reproductions of theatrical dramas. <BR> Munsterberg pursues these demonstrations through an ingenious discussion of a series of cinematic devices--such as the close-up, parallel editing, flashbacks and flashforwards--that were being refined and popularized during the period from 1908 to 1915. His review of these techniques--which at the time were considered innovations--put him in a position to claim not only that the filmmaker transformed what he photographed but also that he transformed it in a way that was uniquely cinematic (rather than theatrical). Moreover, Munsterberg's explanations of the way in which these devices functioned also enabled him to connect film--specifically, film's peculiar way of transforming the world--with that which Munsterberg, on independent grounds, took to be the purpose of art.
- Subjects
ART &; motion pictures; FLASHBACKS (Narrative); MUNSTERBERG, Hugo, 1863-1916
- Publication
Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, 1988, Vol 46, Issue 4, p489
- ISSN
0021-8529
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/431286