Reading Response #2

I chose the article Introduction to “Avant-Garde Film” by Scott MacDonald. I chose this article because I was intrigued by the way it described the relation of commercial cinema to avant-garde films.

The article argued, “by the time most people see their first avant-garde film, they have already seen hundreds of films in commercial theaters and on television.” (MacDonald) Because of this, people seeing avant-garde films for the first time already have a sense of what a ‘movie’ is. The article talks of viewer’s responses to these kinds of films, which include that it is ‘too long’ (despite the actual length of the film), and that it is ‘not a movie.’ The article argues that avant-garde films create a fully critical response to what our culture trains people to enjoy, making people question what a movie really is. A person’s first experience with avant-garde film may be used “as a means of catalyzing thought about Cinema.” (MacDonald)

As a media artist who may some day call myself an ‘avant-garde filmmaker,’ the point that I could change a persons preconceptions of cinema and what people see as a ‘movie’ is critical to what I believe I want to achieve. I am a media artist so that I can inspire others. Our culture’s concept of a ‘movie,’ in a lot of ways influences their ideal way of life (and vice-versa), or how they believe life already is. Movies, for many people, define reality. If I can change a person’s concept of a movie, I also change, to some extent, their concept of reality, and even their concept of how reality should be. By changing a person’s concept of a ‘movie,’ I can change their ideals and their morals and inspire them to become certain kinds of people, or to become themselves and live the life they were meant to live. I can inspire people to fight for what matters and to look past what doesn’t. For me to become an avant-garde artist that goes against the grain of commercial cinema, I would affect the commercial cinema more than if I were an artist that followed the ‘rules’ of commercial cinema, because I could create a catalyst in the minds of my viewers instead of simply entertaining them and showing them what they’ve already seen.