Here’s a link to our timeline
Movie Theater Ethnography
Over the break me and a friend binged watch a show on Netflix. I think this experiences was better than my last few movie theater experiences. Usually, I end up going to the local AMC because it’s the closest to where I live. And pretty much everything about my last few experiences were awful. Th AMC shares a parking lot with several restaurants and a target, meaning you’ll have to fight to find parking. Once your inside you’ll find that there might not be anyone at the main counter so you’ll have to use one of the machines that only accept card. Scrolling through the selection you’ll find the same handful of movies and at inconvenient run times. Miss the 4pm showing? Too bad the next showing is at 12 am. That doesn’t work with you? It’s ok we have another showing at 2am. And of course the tickets are too expensive, last time I went they were around $14. For less money you can pay a monthly subscription to Netflix and have money to spare to buy at least one avocado. You can have access to a wider selection of films at watch at whatever time you want. Me and my friend were able to randomly watch a foreign show we never heard of. With the comforts of home viewing you also don’t have to sit through 20+ minutes of commercials, you have no commercials at all. You also don’t have to sit in cold popcorn covered theater. You can be completely comfy on a couch and eat dinner and petting your friend’s dog. Now most people would argue against home screenings because the quality of the viewing experience is lower . While agree a large screen and surround sound is nicer than a lap top, my experience hasn’t always been great. For example there were multiple times when the audio levels seem off and once they projected a portion of the film in square and it was cut off. I think Netflix makes up for some of that because you can always rewind if you miss something. Subtitles options are also widely available if you can’t hear or have access to good sound systems. I think ultimately in terms of price, comfort, and accessibility Netflix wins. I think perhaps the only advantage the theater has is the ability to show you a film on it’s release date. So that being said I will probably drag myself over to watch The Shape of Water over winter break because I really want to see it.
Research Paper Option B: Maya Deren and David Lynch
Throughout the semester we’ve seen how various movements or directors influence others, including how the past connects to contemporary films. For this paper I would like to look at how David Lynch’s work has been influenced by Maya Deren’s theories and practice in avant-garde filmmaking. I think David Lynch’s work is interesting because it falls in between commercial filmmaking and experimental/art film. It embodies elements of both. If we take a look at one of his works such as Mulholland Drive and compare to one of Maya Deren’s such as Meshes of the Afternoon, we can see many parallels. For example, there are some visual motifs they have in common, such as panning and floating through interior spaces, the mysterious and symbolic appearance of a key, a horrific discovery of (SPOILER) the protagonist’s corpse. Mulholland Drive also shares more thematic elements such as a suspension of reality, manipulation of time and space, creation of parallel realities, and an exploration of female identity in society. I’m curious in how these elements compare and contrast between directors, but also how these elements work to support an overall message the film might be presenting.
