Introduction to Cinema and Media Culture

The advent of modernity brought forth a significant change in the lives of people. It changed how they work, how they enjoy leisure time, and the concept of private and public space.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Cinema and Media Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As pointed out by Ben Singer, modernity refers to an â€Å"array of technological and social changes† that took place by the end of the nineteenth century in form of â€Å"rapid industrialization, urbanization, and population growth;†¦ explosion of mass consumer culture.† In a way, Singer points out that the urban modernization that was ushered in a â€Å"barrage of stimuli† that changed the way society in every class worked and lived. Singer also points out how mass media through newspapers and magazines sensationalized the chaos of modernity. Media during the time presented a contrast of the serenity a nd poise of the pre-modern life to the post-modern confusion and disorder. In the name of mechanization, modernity and factory environment was making man more and more niche and tedious. Mechanization was making modern life more chaotic, disorderly, and confusing . The essence of motion and speed of modernity is captured in the two movies the essay discusses – first Dziga Vertov’s 1929 classic, Man with a Movie Camera and Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 classic Modern Times , but the differ in their conclusive point of view of modern life being chaotic. Both the movies provide a cinematic presentation of the advent of modernity. They put forth the philosophy of modernity through the precedence of mechanization and mechanical motion in modern man’s daily life. This essay discusses the various aspects of the philosophy of modernity and the underlying energy, commercialism, and chaos as discussed by Ben Singer is demonstrated in Vertov’s Man with a Movie Came ra and Chaplin’s 1936 classic Modern Times. The essay will first discuss the themes of modernity discussed in each of the movies and then demonstrate how this can be associated with the philosophy of modernity as presented by Ben Singer. The essay will critically review the movies in order to ascertain how modernity brings in chaos and disorder in human life.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera opens the scene with an invitation forwarded to the audience to enter the theatre . The folded chairs are magically opened and the audiences are invited to sit. Some mechanization that the camera captures shows an initial glimpse of the modernity that has touched even the small activity of unfolding the seats in a theatre. Through this, Vertov signifies that the 1920s was a time of radical transformation in the nature and function of the ci nema. Through the initial images, the movie takes the viewers through a tour of a modern city. The movie is edited much faster than was usual at the time and therefore, has been criticized by many. However, Vertov presents a film that presents a utopian world that technological modernization will bring. In a way Vertov’s documentary movie wanted to capture that figment of the imagination that dealt with understanding what modern technology can bring through this experiential cinema. He tried to show a world that is surreal to many viewers but provides the dynamics and energy of the modern times. The movie presents various aspects of modernity through advanced transportation systems through trains, cars, planes, and elevators and other forms of communication such as telephones, typewriters, and newspapers. One observes in the movie that all these means of transportation and communication are shown in the movie with cross-cuttings in-between signifying their linkage. The docume ntary shows a strong alignment even between the cinema, its movement, and the camera as in many cases the camera operator can be seen mounted on the motorbike in order to show a man with a moving camera. Therefore, the movie wanted to show that the perception of movement that the modern time provides is through the advancement of technology. In the movie, Vertov shows a man who captures all this through his camera. Though he tries to present a utopian vision, a perception to the audience, he actually shows that a machine, embodied in the camera, shows what the camera operator, a human being, defines it to show. In other words, man defines what a machine does and man created modernity for man and not by machines. This is captured through the overemphasis of motion in the picture wherein Vertov shows the essence of modernity lies in its continuous, mechanical movement.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Cinema and Media Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A similar idea is retold in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times where the chaos of modern assembly lines . The movie shows the plight of a man working in the factory day in and day out. Chaplin in the film re-emphasizes that the essence of modern line lies in its mechanical motion. Modern Times is a story of a man who works eight hours a day in an assembly line and is responsible to perform the same, repetitive motion, and for whom his whole being is transformed into the nuts that he must turn by his wrench. His day is moves ahead keeping pace with the enforced mechanical movement of the machine. The monotony of the work and the sheer speed of the conveyor belt in which he works unsettle his mental balance . Therefore, the movie essentially shows how modernity makes humans a machine and the monotony of mechanical work takes out the life and zeal out of humans. Chaplin’s movie shows the formation of a modern man th at of dictated through the mechanization and monotony of assembly lines . Therefore, in the end, Chaplin shows that in order to touch the very essence of being, man must take the road to break the monotony and boredom of mechanical life. In the showcase of modernity, predominance of machines in modern life, and mechanization, both Vertov’s Man with a Camera and Chaplin’s Modern Times shows a continuous and automatic movement. Both Vertov and Chaplin try to demonstrate the great impact on modern life through the essence of motion. Motion has brought forth through increase in the speed of life as has been discussed in Singer’s discussion of the illustrations in print media. The illustrations discussed by Singer also show a sense of motion and movement that brings forth the chaos of modern life. They usually depict a busy street, a train, or other firms of locomotion or machine. Therefore, one essence of modernity that both the movies present is the continuous sens e of motion that is entrenched in the philosophy of modernity.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another aspect of modernity that is demonstrated through the movies is the use of assembly lines. Chaplin’s Modern Times is demonstrated through the opening scenes of the movie where we see the cast busy working in a mechanized assembly line. The movement of the assembly wheel is so continuous and uninterrupted that if one misses the momentum the whole process if disrupted. The mechanization and the assembly movement is shown in Vertov’s movie through the positioning of Vertov of cinema as a production of the motion and movement of the modern day machine and the inter-linkages of the processes are established through their crossing. Therefore, Vertov intended to demonstrate the production of the cinema as a line process attuning to the modern assembly lines. Both the films in a way show that the essence of modern life through the movement and mechanical setting of the modern technology and how human life, work, and media has become dominated by this technology. Both th e movies show a movement from the private to the public space of man and the impact modernity on both. In Man with a Movie Camera, Vertov shows a day in a city through a camera. The setting begins in a morning with waking up indicating personal space, then to the working day, and then again to re-creation in the evening. Therefore, through this Vertov intends to display how technology touches the personal i.e. private and then the working and social i.e. public space of man. Vertov actually shows the anthology of the camera and its interaction with the individual at home, then at work, and then with friends and family. Therefore, it shows how the new technology in the form of cinema touches man in every aspect of his social presence. One the other hand, Chaplin in his Modern Times shows that vast mechanization throughout the movie, though it is most explicitly shown in the beginning of the movie and the dream sequence in the bungalow. In the movie, Chaplin emphasizes of the actions of labor in the two spaces i.e. work and home. The use of the double setting of home and factory shows that modernity is analyzed and present in both the spaces of human life. Therefore, in both the movies the touch of modernity in the private and public life of man are shown indicating that both Vertov and Chaplin were analyzing modernity in the two spaces. Therefore, both the movies successfully gels together different aspects of modern life through time and space. Though the essence of modernity and technology are at the heart of both the movies, they differ in certain depiction and treatment of cinema as a medium and their cultural and social significance. Vertov in one hand shows movement of the modern times but does not show any collision in the movement. In a scene in the movie where an aerial shot of a street is shown with thousands of bicycles, automobiles, horse-drawn carts, streetcars, and pedestrians. The street embodies the speed at which modern life moves but extraordi narily there is no collision shown. Therefore, against all the odds, the city functions with all its chaos. However, in Modern Times Chaplin shows that the chaos and disruptions technology and modern times can bring to a man’s life and the way it transforms the individual identity. Therefore, the message presented by Chaplin in essence is different from that of Vertov. Chaplin is against the insane rhythm brought forth by industrialization and technology during the time of depression. While Vertov presents a modern life through the camera that is fast, rhythmic, full of motion but ultimately it helps in a seamless, continuous movement. The essay demonstrates the similarities and dissimilarities of portrayal of modernity in the films by Vertov and Chaplin. The films demonstrate that there is a great deal of movement of the machines and man has to keep pace with the monotony of the mechanical movement. However, a point of difference arises in support or disregard for this monot ony. Vertov actually feels that monotony has brought speed and accomplishment for man while Chaplin shows complete disarray that mechanization can bring to human life. Chaplin, in contrast to Vertov, goes on to contrast factory life to domestic bliss. The essay therefore successfully shows that modernity has brought forth its share of mechanization and through it speed and chaos as shown in both Man with a Movie Camera and Modern Times. Works Cited Beller, Jonathan L. â€Å"Dziga Vertov and the Film of Money.† Boundary, 26(3) (1999): 150-190. Print. Delgado, Sergio. â€Å"Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera and the Phenomenology of Perception.† Film Criticism, 34(1) (2009): 1-16. Print. Golec, Michael J. â€Å"Motionmindedness: The Transposition of Movement from Factory to Home in Chaplin’s Modern Times.† Home Cultures, 7(3) (2010): 287-312. Print. Man with a Movie Camera. Dir. Dziga Vertov. 1929. DVD. Modern Times. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. 1936. D VD. Singer, Ben. â€Å"Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the rise of Popular Sensationalism.† Leo Charney, Vanessa R. Schwartz. Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1995. 72-102. Print. Stewart, Garrett. â€Å"Modern Hard Times: Chaplin and the Cinema of Self-reflection.† Critical Inquiry, 3(2) (1976): 295-314. Print This essay on Introduction to Cinema and Media Culture was written and submitted by user Mikayla Cline to help you with your own studies. 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