Does film trump myth?
Have a look at Simon’s IS Blog. Here’s my response to his latest post about whether film kills imagination. Reply to this or comment on his blog to join the conversation.
Agreed that viewing a film is largely… umm… post-imaginative. That is, the imagining has been already done by the creative team. The viewer’s job is to sit back and take it in. That’s what makes viewing easy – no huge investment necessary.
That’s also its strength – it’s an escape, a vacation from the immediate world. Sometimes this can lend us strength, and sometimes the shock of reality afterwards saps us.
Visual storytelling simplifies things for the viewer. It says “Out of the one million things I could have shown you, I’ve chosen the following 3. Now enjoy.” In that way it is maybe the most focused medium, the most efficient. The assembly line of creative input.
But as a filmmaker, what could be as magnificent/terrifying/fulfilling/frustrating/godlike/childlike as taking the visions in your head and making them reality?
For the watchers I think yes, Film does inflict a few wounds on Myth (though Myth makes it out alive) but for the makers it straps wings on Myth’s back and says “flap baby, flap”.
Celluloid wings. Sounds like the name of a hair band…
