In Response (Beyond Filmic Analysis)

To my previous post, I brought up the challenges I was facing with a colleague, and then, in class, with my professor – it reminded me why I should always speak up in times of confusion. In the end, she explained that she has been trying to work her way away from (strict) filmic analysis – the films she has been showing were never intended to follow the “look, see” formula that I have ruthlessly attached to a particular method of film studies. Essentially, the films are shown to give us an idea of how the figural is represented in film. There is no hard and fast analysis, no direct link between A and B. And much to my happiness, she explained that the readings were there not to force me (or the other students) into a box, but rather, to take out of it what we can and address our own work. For this I am grateful, and it definitly lifts off a bit of weight heading into my turn to present the reading discussion next week.