Reading Response 6: Due Nov. 3 @ 5 p.m.
Michael Zryd, "The Academy of the Avant-Garde : A Relationship of Dependence and Resistance"
1. What changes in the American avant-garde are associated with the rise of structural film and the creation of Anthology Film Archives in 1970?
1. What changes in the American avant-garde are associated with the rise of structural film and the creation of Anthology Film Archives in 1970?
The American avant-garde takes a sharp turn from exuberant anarchy to institutionalized legitimacy.
How does these changes affect:
a. The participants (filmmakers, critics) in the avant-garde community?
a. The participants (filmmakers, critics) in the avant-garde community?
The artists clash with the pretentiousness of critics and cademics
b. Canon formation (which films are considered “important,” and taught in classes).
b. Canon formation (which films are considered “important,” and taught in classes).
There was a scarcity in resources that led to cutbacks in arts and arts education
c. Distribution and exhibition practices.
You were able to see films and rent them more in a academic field than in a nonacademic field.
2. Briefly explain the debate between autonomy and engagement within the avant-garde. How does this debate play out in the 1980s?
On one hand if the films are autonomous forms of individualistic artistic expression, their authenticity and personal urgency may be compromised by an academic establishment. On the other hand, this desire for purity and autonomy may be seen as a feature of modernism, which needs to be distinguished from an activist political avant-garde's engagement with society.
c. Distribution and exhibition practices.
You were able to see films and rent them more in a academic field than in a nonacademic field.
2. Briefly explain the debate between autonomy and engagement within the avant-garde. How does this debate play out in the 1980s?
On one hand if the films are autonomous forms of individualistic artistic expression, their authenticity and personal urgency may be compromised by an academic establishment. On the other hand, this desire for purity and autonomy may be seen as a feature of modernism, which needs to be distinguished from an activist political avant-garde's engagement with society.
3. What are the negative aesthetic connotations of the “academic avant-garde film”? What is the major critique from new filmmakers who emerged in the 1980s?
It is idealistically critiquing borgeious capitalism while seeking to remain separate and autonomous from and, lso disavowing it's status as a commodity.
4. What are the five legacies of the academicization of the avant-garde?
1) Sustaining the Co-ops, 2)Regonalizing the Avant-Garde, 3) Academic Publishing as publicity, 4)Employment,-gave people jobs and heathcare, creative resources, 5)Future Generations- Taught people to become critics, teachers, filmmakers
Marc Masters, “The Offenders: No Wave Cinema”
5. Name at least three similarities between the punk music scene and the punk/no-wave filmmaking scene, in terms of technology, style, and community.
Both artists showed their work in the same spaces like CBGB's connecting with the same community of people and using the artists in their movies. Both the music and the films were times when people would drink and smoke and interact. The audience were both participants in the music scene and the film. As the new musicians were grabbing guitars the filmmakers were grabbing cameras and the filmmakers would rotate positions just like people in a band would. One day a person mihght be acting, the next day doing sound and so on.
6. What were the exhibition venues for punk/no-wave films such as those by Beth B. and Scott B., and how did the venues affect film content and style? The venues were clubs as mentioned before like the now closed CBGB's. These venues affected the content and style because the filmmakers were trying to connect to people outside the art world they would know immediately what worked and what didn't because the audience was a raunchy one and did not hold back. It was like instant feedback or how a comic might immediately know if his/her material is working right away.
7. What are some similarities and differences between the American avant-garde we have studied so far and the Punk or No Wave filmmaking in the late 1970s? Address the following areas:
a. Aesthetic similarities and differences (which filmmakers do the cite as influences, which filmmakers do they reject?)The filmmakers make the films for little money and doesn't really say that much all the time. They say some of their influence were Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, Warhol
b. Technological similarities and differences
The filmmakers of the punk scene picked up and shot much like we saw with Warhol. Many people were not trained actors.
c. Economic similarities and differences
The filmmakers were poor and did not have money
d. Social similarities and differences
Janet Cutler, “Su Friedrich, Breaking the Rules”
8. In what ways does Friedrich “break the rules” in terms of mixing filmmaking practices?
She mixes in found footage, film leader, scratching, black and white, color, etc. Juxtaposing it all together to create rich powerful imagery and reactions.
How have different critics approached her different films?
Different critics are saying her works are "autobiographical" or an "enthonography". Some say they are a "remake" or a "makeover". THere seem to be different and interesting interpretations.
What kinds of avant-garde sub-genres has she explored?
9. What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of “Sink or Swim”?
9. What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of “Sink or Swim”?
It establishes a rigorous structure. It is 26 scenes ach corresponding to a letter of the reversed alphabet Z-Ato address painful but liberating childhood memories.
