Re: Film Movement
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:08 pm
Oh, that's right, Barthes used the same terms! That would be confusing. No, I'm not using Barthes here. Totally different distinction. (I should say it's the text that is realized in a work rather than the other way around).denti alligator wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2026 4:14 pmI understand but was confused by your terminology, which I falsely assumed was a non-theoretical one (a work is conceived and then realized as text). The theoretical distinction I’m familiar with is from Barthes, but what you describe doesn’t entirely correspond to his conception, either, insofar as it can be pinned down (what with the slippage between object and methodology). Though it’s been a while since I read the essay in question.
I actually agree with your pushback. I suspect you and I aren't purists, and Kubelka's position seems essentially purist in its preference for an analog technology. Which is fine--but as to an actual audience experience, I'm not convinced the gap in the two technologies is substantial enough to give a noticeably different experience between them. My guess is that, in both practical and philosophical terms, you're right on this. I could be wrong, tho'.denti alligator wrote:I’m not so sure Kubelka wants to constrain the number of realizations. He believes the phenomenological experience of his films is not the same if they are not projected from a celluloid print. I’m trying to push back a little against that. On the one hand all films (not just his) appear differently when projected from a real print. On the other hand, digital technology has made incredible strides in minimizing these differences. No one who has seen a DCP of a restoration of a 35mm film in the theaters would claim the experience was dramatically different from a screening of a restored 35mm print. The main difference would be shutter blackout, and that, I was suggesting above, could actually be added to a DCP. Truthfully, even without it, I question whether the experience of Kubelka‘s films would be much different. I could be wrong. I just spent a weekend at a nitrate film festival and it sure felt like I was seeing films like I had never seen them before. Still, I suspect that I would not be able to tell the difference between a DCP and a 35mm print. It reminds me a little of the analog vs digital debates in the audio community. (And I’m a vinyl lover!)