Symbolism in Soviet Revolutionary Cinema

[David]

It's pervasive, to say the least.

When each little proletarian is born, clouds tower above the farm fields, the zephyr blows, & the workhorses snort & paw at the dirt.

[shackin'up]

Well, the main thing is, they contributed bigtime to cinema in general by being the first films that show that editing is storytelling and that through editing, and framing and point of view the viewer became more important than the maker, as it comes to being active in giving meaning and becoming part of it.

excusez mon crappy anglais

[dissention]

How about the Odessa Steps sequence in The Battleship Potemkin ? There's a reason they wouldn't show it in England until the mid-fifties, you know.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by dissention

How about the Odessa Steps sequence in The Battleship Potemkin ? There's a reason they wouldn't show it in England until the mid-fifties, you know.

If you have seen more of the movie then the odessa steps I'll eat my hat. That movie is impossible to sit out. Maybe that was the reason in England. But why play it after the mid-fifties? As a punishment for criminals?

[Mari]

Ha, Gerald, you must have seen the same documentary as I did. Last week? About editors. Very good.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Mari

Ha, Gerald, you must have seen the same documentary as I did. Last week? About editors. Very good.

Yes I did, but I really once tried to watch that film The Battleship Potemkin
( I succeeded for an hour...or so....) I knew a lot of the history of editing before, (I teach audiovisual communication) and I liked some parts of the doc, although i think it was VERY crappy edited

[Mari]

It's your profession! Interesting Well then you'd know that a lot better than I would. I found the subject very interesting, mainly.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Mari

It's your profession! Interesting Well then you'd know that a lot better than I would. I found the subject very interesting, mainly.

It was Mari. And that Tarantino-dude cracked me up. What an asshole! Although he did have interesting oneliners.

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by David

It's pervasive, to say the least.

When each little proletarian is born, clouds tower above the farm fields, the zephyr blows, & the workhorses snort & paw at the dirt.

Which side do you like the most? The overall narrative and dreamy Eisenstein or the provocative and apparently rough Dziga Vertov?

Romy

[dissention]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

If you have seen more of the movie then the odessa steps I'll eat my hat.

I own it. I read that it was re-edited last year and a lot of the violent scenes that were excised were put back into it, but I haven't seen that version yet.

Originally Posted by shackin'up

That movie is impossible to sit out. Maybe that was the reason in England. But why play it after the mid-fifties? As a punishment for criminals?

If I remember correctly, it was banned because it was deemed too effective at getting people up in arms over the evils of capitalism, and because it was thought to have too much zeal for revolutionism.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by dissention

I own it.

Respect!

But did you ever sit it out in one session?

By the way: the use of close-ups in that movie IS amazing and was barrier-breaking. Don't know much about the sociological and/or political meaning/importance of it besides the obvious. For me it has importance in a cinematographic and visual-syntaxic way of looking at it. Why are you particular interested?

[David]

Originally Posted by Serrart

Which side do you like the most? The overall narrative and dreamy Eisenstein or the provocative and apparently rough Dziga Vertov?

I think I prefer the lyricism of Dovzhenko, of whose passionate imagery one can drink deeply.

Eisenstein "dreamy"?? Eisenstein was a firebrand, a scathing, corroscating visionary whose bold cutting puts me on my Star Wars montage fighter jet & launches me into unattainable utopian vistas.

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by David

I think I prefer the lyricism of Dovzhenko, of whose passionate imagery one can drink deeply.

Yes, I like him too, his subtle melancholy and attention to the characters are always striking.

Originally Posted by David

Eisenstein "dreamy"?? Eisenstein was a firebrand, a scathing, corroscating visionary whose bold cutting puts me on my Star Wars montage fighter jet & launches me into unattainable utopian vistas.

I think there's a dreamy element in his movies (not only in Que Viva Mexico, where the dream seems the subject many times), that takes together the most rigorous moments. I see it in that instant of suspension before tragedy or violence, that often stays as a shade. That's why I liked so much Steps, Rybzinsky captured very clearly that element inserting aliens in the Odessa's steps scenes, IMO.

Romy

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by David

I think I prefer the lyricism of Dovzhenko, of whose passionate imagery one can drink deeply.

Eisenstein "dreamy"?? Eisenstein was a firebrand, a scathing, corroscating visionary whose bold cutting puts me on my Star Wars montage fighter jet & launches me into unattainable utopian vistas.

corroscating

coruscating. as in emitting vivid flashes of light. like a giant disco ball

[David]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

coruscating. as in emitting vivid flashes of light. like a giant disco ball

Oh, I'm just malaproping all over the place tonight ... corroscating/coruscating/corrosive, "assent" for "ascent" on the other ledge.

I'm tired ... you guys make me tired...[rubs eyes]