Film Report #1 (blogger)

Images of watchtowers flooded my mind; it was like I was entering through the “Death Gate” once again. Memories of the place where millions died were vivid in my mind; Auschwitz crept into my vision like a bad dream. What I saw when I watched The Bear Garden will be different from what the person sitting next to me saw, and even more different than the person next to him. What I believe Duchamp is saying in the quote at the top of the page is that everyone is different in his or her interpretations when coming into contact with a “creative act.”

While I was visiting Poland I took a tour of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. While talking about those images in The Bear Garden, I not only experienced memories of the camp but of other parts of my trip in Poland also. Based on my experiences I saw several different aspects of the film past what was presented, I added personal insight and meaning to the creation. In this way I was completing an aspect of the film to get a more vivid picture.

The variety of images in this film was calling for the audience to fill in the gaps, whether they were faded images of people who we completed in our minds or to decipher a stopped image for the brief second we had. I imagined a bear getting attacked by a dog, I watched for frames that I could associate that image to. The group of people standing around and looking at something together was one of the images I thought was very similar to what I was thinking about. People letting their dog attack an un-armed bear is definitely a spectacle I would be watching along with the gang.

Not every image was crystal clear to the viewers and could create a need of more information. Paul Chan’s Film Baghdad in No Particular Order was a mesh of several different real life documentations in Baghdad. Here, our way of completing the images we saw was available through a different medium, the Internet. Paul’s website gave the viewer the option to further our experience by reading some of the backgrounds of the people in his film and other related topics (in no particular order).

Of course, this is contingent if the viewer wants to complete more of the image past on what he or she saw originally. We can stick with the interpretation based on our previous experiences in the world or seek more knowledge. This can be obtained through several mediums, from Paul’s website to asking questions in class or discussion. This newfound information can change the view in which we view aspects of the film. I didn’t know the towers in The Bear Garden were part of Auschwitz until it was brought up in class discussion, thus adding to my experience. Similarly, I deciphered 5:10 to Dreamland and Valse Triste differently after I had the idea of a sexual orientation of the film. I tried to flesh out the instances where it did seem to be specific to a sex.

Duchamp’s quote at the top of the first page brings something important into light. We cannot complete the image without adding to the act presented. Combining our experiences and interpretations opens up further understanding in our views. One person may think the film we just saw in class was worthy of applause and another student may think its worthy of a sarcastic addition to it, both valid responses in their own right. It is how our experiences interact with what we watch that create the final cut of the films we view.