PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND
PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND (dir. John Gianvito, 2007):
I feel like I've turned to the dark side. I saw an avant garde film (and one with what they call deliberate pacing) and liked it. Of course it was in class, and was properly contextualized as an avant garde experience, a cinema designed to engage in the processes more taxing than entertainment. What's odd for me is that, I've been familiar with the idea and flirting with the avant garde for the past couple of years (my first film teacher was an avant garde filmmaker, that was roughly 4 years ago). But something about the pre-film discussion (an intro to the class: International Avant Garde Cinema), really cut me loose from my pre-existing attitude toward the avant garde. Or maybe it was just this film. It's accessible enough that I was able to actually start thinking and drawing connections, feeling out metaphors and catching on to the path it followed. And even though I may not be drawing as much as others, I'm still proud of the fact that I didn't miss the mark completely or lose interest.
So now to Profit Motive. I'll go through the thoughts roughly in the order that I had them (I had notes, for a change). PMATWW starts with a series of decayed stones, which I didn't realize were actually native american tombstones, decayed over time. What interested me most about the stones (before I knew what they were) was the texture, which I've begun to notice is something that certain films that certain critics (the ones who lean toward the avant garde) happen to have in common. Or maybe I'm just pulling stuff out of thin air.
An old recording of a native american song came with these images, and then statues showed up, and the meaning of the stones to start with became much clearer. We're being led through American history, beginning with the most minor of minorities. So it's probably coming from the left.
And that it does. The rest of PMATWW cuts between images of cemeteries, monuments, and memorials of progressive history. We get it all, from the native americans to the labor movement to abolitionists and women suffragists, coming roughly to the present. The images between these are of nature, the wind calmly blowing, trees rustling and so on.
About halfway through the significance of the title kicked in. The images of the wind and the memorials were broken up by these short animations. It wasn't until a bunch of stock brokers showed up that I realized the whole time we were seeing the profit motive. Hands panning for gold, brokers shouting, and so on.
It's interesting the way this works. Gianvito, as I mentioned earlier, uses a deliberate pace. What's even more interesting is that it didn't bother me. It calls attention to time, which is an important element of the work at large. The wind slowly but surely causing a change over time. Reading the inscriptions and the names of those who died and why makes you realize how far we've come as a nation and how long it's taken. It almost gives you hope.
Gianvito's source material/inspiration was the book A People's History of the United States. Which also helps key you in to the ideas behind it all. There was no statue of liberty, or grand canyon. Just the small, overlooked memorials to the people who changed America. And of course, it's relevant to today. Even though it isn't mentioned, there's still the looming presence of Iraq. And that's where the hope comes in. As grim as it looks and as long as it takes, it will get better. All we have to do is look back.
Final Grade: A
I feel like I've turned to the dark side. I saw an avant garde film (and one with what they call deliberate pacing) and liked it. Of course it was in class, and was properly contextualized as an avant garde experience, a cinema designed to engage in the processes more taxing than entertainment. What's odd for me is that, I've been familiar with the idea and flirting with the avant garde for the past couple of years (my first film teacher was an avant garde filmmaker, that was roughly 4 years ago). But something about the pre-film discussion (an intro to the class: International Avant Garde Cinema), really cut me loose from my pre-existing attitude toward the avant garde. Or maybe it was just this film. It's accessible enough that I was able to actually start thinking and drawing connections, feeling out metaphors and catching on to the path it followed. And even though I may not be drawing as much as others, I'm still proud of the fact that I didn't miss the mark completely or lose interest.
So now to Profit Motive. I'll go through the thoughts roughly in the order that I had them (I had notes, for a change). PMATWW starts with a series of decayed stones, which I didn't realize were actually native american tombstones, decayed over time. What interested me most about the stones (before I knew what they were) was the texture, which I've begun to notice is something that certain films that certain critics (the ones who lean toward the avant garde) happen to have in common. Or maybe I'm just pulling stuff out of thin air.
An old recording of a native american song came with these images, and then statues showed up, and the meaning of the stones to start with became much clearer. We're being led through American history, beginning with the most minor of minorities. So it's probably coming from the left.
And that it does. The rest of PMATWW cuts between images of cemeteries, monuments, and memorials of progressive history. We get it all, from the native americans to the labor movement to abolitionists and women suffragists, coming roughly to the present. The images between these are of nature, the wind calmly blowing, trees rustling and so on.
About halfway through the significance of the title kicked in. The images of the wind and the memorials were broken up by these short animations. It wasn't until a bunch of stock brokers showed up that I realized the whole time we were seeing the profit motive. Hands panning for gold, brokers shouting, and so on.
It's interesting the way this works. Gianvito, as I mentioned earlier, uses a deliberate pace. What's even more interesting is that it didn't bother me. It calls attention to time, which is an important element of the work at large. The wind slowly but surely causing a change over time. Reading the inscriptions and the names of those who died and why makes you realize how far we've come as a nation and how long it's taken. It almost gives you hope.
Gianvito's source material/inspiration was the book A People's History of the United States. Which also helps key you in to the ideas behind it all. There was no statue of liberty, or grand canyon. Just the small, overlooked memorials to the people who changed America. And of course, it's relevant to today. Even though it isn't mentioned, there's still the looming presence of Iraq. And that's where the hope comes in. As grim as it looks and as long as it takes, it will get better. All we have to do is look back.
Final Grade: A
posted by js munoz at
11:10 AM
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