#Bazin

[catsofyore]

Renowned film critic André Bazin with cat friend, 1950. Source.

[schweizercomics]

Adding to the THREE MUSKETEERS collection I'm working up (building on the existing lead character drawings); the lackeys! Pious Bazin, daredevilish Mousqeton, stoic Grimaud, and crafty Planchet.

[detournementsmineurs]

“Portrait de Rodin Tenant une Statuette Egyptienne" gravure de Gustave-Léon Bazin (1914-17) à l'exposition "Rêve d'Égypte" du Musée Rodin, Paris, février 2023.

[acumtv]

BAZINUL DE ÎNOT DIN ONEȘTI INTRĂ ÎN LINIE DREAPTĂ

BAZINUL DE ÎNOT DIN ONEȘTI INTRĂ ÎN LINIE DREAPTĂ   Municipiul Onești se pregătește să își îmbogățească infrastructura sportivă cu un nou bazin de înot acoperit, destinat atât activităților didactice, cât și celor de agrement. Proiectul, în valoare de 4.000.000 euro plus TVA, este finanțat de Compania Națională de Investiții (CNI) și a intrat deja în faza de licitație. Finanțare CNI CNI a demarat…

[bustakay]

Daney on Bazin and cinema's disappearance/realisation

[dog-uncrushed]

"Hence the charm of family albums. Those grey or sepia shadows, phantomlike and almost undecipherable, are no longer traditional family portraits but rather the disturbing presence of lives halted at a set moment in their duration, freed from their destiny; not, however, by the prestige of art but by the power of an impassive mechanical process: for photography does not create eternity, as art does, it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption." –– A. Bazin

[yocantech]

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[goldlock1]

~ideological state apparatus theory~ & la la land

I love this theory so I just want to talk about it! Basically, it's the idea that film is a vehicle for the dissemination of an ideology that reinforces the control of the dominant class. Mainstream cinema would have us believe that it is doing its best to represent real life, and Bazin would say that this is cinema's most important aim. Colin MacCabe, however, thinks that cinema is not equipped to represent reality because reality is something that just...isn't representable. He's fighting against this idea we tend to have of films being real and raw and emotional -- and I would tend to agree with him. i think that there is something that a lot of films are missing when it comes to emotional integrity. there's something about a lot of them that i just don't buy.

at the same time, i also think that films affect us emotionally because we have accepted our position as the subjects of the film. We relate to the characters and their experiences. we fall into the trap of being affected and inspired.

Perhaps one of the most powerful methods of inspiration is music -- or, for our context, the movie musical. And since we're talking about reality here, I'm going to talk about the 2016 film La La Land. I think it's a film that represents reality in a very convincing way, through the emotional appeals of its songs and dances and harkening to a more nostalgic era of art. But I also believe that it is trying to convince us of a capitalist falsehood: that belief and hard work in your dream will one day be enough for you to actually achieve it.

This scene, like many others in the film, is one long, deep take (an important element of Bazinian realism), in which we are actually experiencing time at the characters do -- pay attention to how the camera moves, and who the camera is focused on. Listen to the lyrics of the song.

Without looking at it too closely, this just looks like the opening number to a feel-good musical (which on some level, it really is, and it's ok to take pleasure in it). But let's look a little deeper. I believe this clip employs some method of subversive realism, in the sense that we're not following the story of any one character for too long: it's what MacCabe refers to as "a systematic refusal of any such dominant discourse", like in Van Sant's Elephant. We're seeing a very mobile camera, and even the cars are blessedly normal (Pontiac Aztek amirite). So in this sense La La Land is shaping up to be a bit of a subversive realist film. The rest of the movie also contains elements of it -- we see people dancing in the air among the stars, we see alternate realities, we see reflexivity in a scene where all but one of the actors are frozen in a tableau.

Personally, however, I think that these elements produce the opposite effect of subversive realism. Within the context of this particular film, they actually draw us deeper into the narrative, and this opening number "hooks the eye, the heart, and the mind. And once it snags you, it keeps getting better" (Variety.com).

This opening scene is so compelling because of its ensemble nature, where there seems to be no dominant discourse. But that's where it gets you! Because while we're introduced to different characters, distracted by the bright colors, we simply accept, and even delight in, the fact that they're all singing the same song: therefore, perpetuating a unified discourse or IDEOLOGY. This is where it gets fascinating. We're in horrible Los Angeles traffic. It's hot. It's boring. Yet everyone breaks into song and dance, glorifying life in traffic under the hot California sun, the endless dance of sacrificing everything to chase a dream that probably won't come true. One could even say it's glorifying the American dream, this idea that if you just work hard enough, if you want something enough, you will succeed.

In this manner, we are swept into a romantic notion of hard work, one that keeps us working and working and running this Pontiac Aztek of a country steered by the bourgeois class. This is the ideological capitalist falsehood of La La Land. The main characters achieve their ultimate goals -- albeit with the sacrifice of the life that could have been -- but we don't ever see those hundreds of dancers again, people that didn't achieve those goals. We don't get to see the reality of sky-high rent and working three jobs to make ends meet while you're waiting for the big break that never comes.

This is not a love letter to the life of the struggling artist, it is a romanticism of that life. Our main character, an aspiring actress, only has to work her one job at the coffee shop to afford her gorgeously decorated 791-square-foot apartment, and eventually shows up to the one-in-a-million audition for a role she's already been cast in. it's the dream of every person dancing on their car in gridlock. It's the reality for almost no one.

But damn if that scene isn't inspiring. And it's made more so by the fact that our main character does make it. The trap of inspiration can be a comfortable one. I know it is for me -- I'm someone who's deeply affected by ideological state apparatuses like film and theater and music, and there isn't any shame in that. Because even though they are perpetuating ideologies I may not subscribe to, i find there is some grain of truth to them.

they are art, after all.

[punctuation-completionist]

since today is punctuation day, i figured i'd talk with you about my favorite punctuation that is sadly not in unicode

(my apologies if these crop weird)

these six marks were invented by french writer hervé bazin in his essay plumons l'oiseau (or 'let's pluck the bird')

while the essay also had aim to switch the french language to a more phonetic writing system, it also gave us six new punctuation marks!

from left to right and top to bottom these are, the acclamation point, the authority mark, the conviction point, the doubt point, the irony mark, and the love point. so let's go over what these all were supposed to convey! (or at least what i expect they were supposed to)

the acclamation point was meant for praise, goodwill, and enthusiasm (ie "Well done [acclamation point]")

the authority mark was meant to be used in situations where the exclamation was serious and involved a degree of command or urgency (ie "Get in my office right now [authority mark]") i think this— along with the love point and irony mark— shows how a lot of these punctuation marks were a bit like early examples of tone tags, i'll get into it more later

the certitude point was used to show sureness in a fact. (ie "It's absolutely positively true [certitude point]") i think this might be the most useless of the bunch but whatever. i digress.

the doubt point is kind of the opposite of the certitude point, used when you aren't sure of something (ie "It should be done tomorrow [doubt point]") also it should be noted that the example used above is not the only way you'll see the doubt point, some also have it looking like this

the idea of irony marks has been widely suggested, for example the poet/art critic/song writer (i think, this guy's only wiki page is in french and i am guessing a bit on the word 'chansonnier') alcanter de brahm suggested an irony mark that resembled a backwards question mark (not to be confused with the percontation point which indicated a rhetorical question) and belgian inventor (among other things) marcellin jobard suggested a point that looked like an upwards arrow (this �� on top of this |, i can't paste it)

^ de brahm's mark

all that to say, bazin's mark was based off of the greek letter psi (Ψ) which some of you may recognize if you are familiar with the greek language or comics that shall not be named. it's used in situations of irony (ie saying "Wow, that sure was brilliant [irony mark]" if someone did something stupid)

and our last point is the love point, known for being so adorable, and indicating love or affection after a sentence (ie "Thanks a lot bud [love point]")

now we can obviously see that some of these are very similar to tone tags! the love point could be like a /pos, the irony mark is kinda like a /sarc, the authority mark could be like a /srs . i just thought it was interesting i guess. i don't have a point (heh) here exactly except that i guess people might actually need these punctuation marks ? so unicode? give me the love point or give me death

anyways so that's some fun niche history for y'all! hope you enjoyed

[5starcartel]

ph. Bobbile Ndiaye

[mcpirita]

Anna Karina. Muse of the cult director of the new wave Jean-Luc Godard.

Photos from different years

[catsofyore]

Renowned film critic André Bazin with cat friend. Source.

[come2coffin]

iwtv 2.02 ‘do you know what it means to be loved by death’ / andré bazin ‘ontology of the photographic image’

[dangermousie]

This broke my heart. This is honestly where I started ugly-crying. As you can probably tell by my viewing habits, an angst junkie like myself has a super high tolerance for this sort of thing, but I think what got me was that they gave up, they were out, they were finally going to be free and happy and then...

Jialuo has utterly lost it - when I commented that he was Qing Javert, I was more accurate than I thought. And the thing is, perhaps Bufan couldn't have won against the squad with guns, but if he wasn't badly wounded and had his weapon, maybe there was a small chance. But as is, there is none, and Jialuo's crowning achievement ends up being gunning down an unarmed, severely injured man and a woman whose only crime was refusing to leave his side.

Huo Qin tries to explain that Bufan didn't do any of the murders himself etc but Jialuo's has lost his marbles so much they are in Australia somewhere and is of course not listening.

When she kneels I about lost it and the way Bufan kneels to lift her up because he won't have her kneel and also he knows it's pointless (side note - it kills me that from the moment he gave up on the sect, he's been calling her by her name, the way he didn't do the entire drama because of their respective positions.)

The way he wants to save her! He's accepted he's dead but he wants her to live.

Except Jialuo is all "sure fine if she walks away, if not it's an executable offense so I am gonna kill her too." Man is Javerting to his full capacity.

Indeed.

But she won't leave him.

The way he just walks away and Bufan tries the last ditch effort to have her leave.

And he finally accepts...

But the way he still tries to cover her tho it's futile...

And we end on shots and birds flying...

The overlap between people who've watched this drama and read Herve Bazin's Un feu dévore un autre feu is solely me but this made me remember Manuel and Maria's execution scene that ends that novel - the woman refusing to leave the man about to be executed despite his pleas and the soldiers going oh well then we will kill them both and the birds. I don't read French and can't find the quote in French anyway, but this is how the novel ends in Russian translation:

— Нет! — кричит Мануэль.

Она подъезжает, соскакивает на ходу, велосипед ударяется о ствол дерева, и еще долго вертится вхолостую колесо и слышится заунывная песенка втулки. Я подарил тебе жизнь, ты даришь мне свою смерть — какая нелепица! Сделать все, чтобы этого избежать, и по странному стечению обстоятельств познать всю полноту счастья, познать минуту, ради которой стоило жить, и сознавать, что она последняя, — какая нелепица! Но это прекрасно! Мария лишь мимоходом бросила безразличный взгляд на машину. Она села на край скамейки, взяла руку Мануэля.

— Приподними меня, если можеш��, — шепчет он.

Ветер, воспользовавшись долгим молчанием людей, отгоняет подальше пыль. Сержант звонит еще раз, рапортует. Наконец, откашлявшись, говорит хрипло:

— Вы меня как следует поняли? Они пытаются бежать. Мы вынуждены применить оружие.

— А девчонка? — спрашивает шофер.

— Что поделать! Она его сообщница, а мертвые молчат. Даже женщины.

Мануэль поднялся. Мария плечом подпирает его, чтобы он снова не упал. Щека к щеке, они закрывают глаза: то, что происходит перед ними, обоих больше не интересует. Мария так и не произнесла ни слова, только губы ее шевелятся. Сейчас из конца в конец площади прокатится эхо, кое-где задребезжат оконные стекла, и птицы вновь взовьются в серое предрассветное небо, продырявленное чередой вспышек.

That novel was one of formative novels of my teen years so this scene in the drama just went straight to my id in the most eviscerating way.

[dragongutsixofficial]

Also I know this is probably not going to happen but I'd love the lackeys to exist in this universe. They're the best especially Planchet and Mousqueton

Thoughts on episode 2:

Milady : Imma lure in d'Artagnan by passing as an innocent victim 

Also Milady, 5 minutes later: Yeah I framed you for murder so what wanna hook up (she knows EXACTLY what's up)

Meanwhile Mme de Chevreuse disappeared as Aramis' love interest in favor of THE QUEEN which is gonna be a PROBLEM. If I were the queen i'd be in love too

I need Constance to slap more people

D'Artagnan needs a mustache. Give him a mustache 

Also, not enough Richelieu. I need more of Richelieu murdering people 

[aschenblumen]

Como la muerte, el amor se vive y no se representa –no sin razón se llama la pequeña muerte, o al menos no se representa sin violar si naturaleza–. Esta violación se llama obscenidad. La representación de la muerte real es también una obscenidad no ya moral, como en el amor, sino metafísica. No se muere dos veces.

—André Bazin, «Muerte todas partes» en ¿Qué es el cine? Traducción de José Luis López Muñoz.