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André Bazin / University of California Press / 2004年12月13日
"What Is Cinema?" by André Bazin is a landmark work in film theory and criticism. In Volume I, Bazin delves into the essence of cinema, exploring its unique capabilities and limitations as an art form. He argues that cinema's true power lies in its ability to capture reality and present it to the viewer in a way that is both immediate and deeply affecting. Bazin's writing is dense and philosophical, yet accessible to readers with a serious interest in film. His ideas about cinema's relationship to reality, as well as its potential for artistic expression, have had a profound influence on generations of filmmakers and film scholars. "What Is Cinema?" is essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the medium.
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Summary
Chapters and Subsections
Chapter 1: The Ontology of the Photographic Image
**Ontology**: Bazin defines cinema as a recording process, different from traditional arts such as painting, where the image is a representation made by an artist. Photography and film capture reality directly, preserving and reproducing physical reality "without any visible human intervention."
**Reality's Presence**: The photographic image embodies a unique authenticity that comes from its indexical nature: it is a direct imprint or trace of the object it represents.
**Past Reality's Resurrection**: Cinema has the power to revive a past moment in time by freezing the image of history, making it both "a photograph of the past and a re-creation of a past life."
Chapter 2: The Myth of Total Cinema
**Total Cinema Dream**: The idea of total cinema is about realizing the perfect representation of reality, a dream that has driven the evolution of cinematic techniques from silent films to talkies and color films.
**Deficiencies of Sound and Color**: Bazin critiques the addition of sound and color for distorting the purity of cinema as an indexical art form by introducing elements that are not native to photography, thus challenging the idea of total cinema.
Chapter 3: A Bergsonian Film: The Cinema of Duration
**Bergsonism**: Henri Bergson's philosophy of duration (la durée) is applied to cinema, viewing the film experience as non-chronological and non-spatial, a continuity that is experienced rather than watched.
**Directors as Authors**: Bazin starts discussing the concept of the authorial cinema, where directors like Alain Resnais bring a personal style that complements but does not overshadow the reality they capture.
Chapter 4: Montage Interrogated
**Traditional Montage**: The chapter questions the then-dominant Soviet montage theory, particularly Sergei Eisenstein's ideas, suggesting that montage breaks the continuity of reality and forces meaning upon the spectator.
**Long Take**: In contrast, Bazin proposes that long takes, especially deep focus cinematography, maintain the integrity of real time and space. It allows the audience to engage more freely with the filmic world without being dictated by the editor's cuts.
Chapter 5: The Evolution of the Language of Cinema
**Language and Grammar**: Cinema is described as developing its own language and grammar, which evolves through technological advancements and experimentation. However, Bazin emphasizes that this language should serve to express reality rather than abstract ideas.
**Cinematic Realism**: He further explains how the language of cinema, in its attempt to approximate reality more closely, has moved away from symbolism and towards a more literal representation.
Chapter 6: Cinema as Art
**Artificiality and Authenticity**: Although cinema can be considered an art form due to its creative and technical aspects, Bazin stresses its difference from other arts—its realism and reliance on capturing an original reality.
**Mimetic Rivalry**: Cinema competes with painting and literature, as it could potentially become the most complete and authentic mimetic art, capable of rivaling their power.
Conclusion
