Updated Reaction Paper

Jennifer Thomas
Professor peter Hartnik
Understanding Media Studies
19 October 2009
Brakhage’s Inspiration: In His Own Words
In “Stan Brakhage and the Long beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of Film”, the author, John Pruitt, argues for the case that the visionary filmmaker’s immediate predecessor was the “mother” of avant-garde film, Maya Deren (1). His main argument does not have to do with comparing the content and techniques used in their films, but by the fact that unlike other contemporaries of the era, both Deren and Brakhage took to writing their own theoretical viewpoints on film. Pruitt seems to acknowledge the fact that Deren’s writings are actually contradictory to Brakhage’s films. Deren likens abstract films to have more of an aura of a painting, while realistic films that portray a story have the aura of a photograph ( Deren, 155). Brakhage’s essays on film and speeches on film, have to do more with art in general, and likens his films to music and painting (Rich).
According to Maya Deren’s viewpoint, “nothing can be achieved in film until its form is understood” (Pruitt). However, what is the point of experimental film? The very name means that it is experimental. Deren’s approach to filmmaking was one that was methodical, planned out, and her essays were often referred to as classical (Pruitt). Pruitt sites P. Adams Sitney, the first scholar to analyze Deren’s work after her death. In Sitney’s Visionary Film, he breaks down the avant-garde film, and its filmmakers into various categories. (5) Deren is placed in the poetic film category and Brakhage in the lyrical film category. Pruitt claims that this should be treated as evidence that Deren is Brakhage’s predecessor, because for him, Brakhage is thought of as choosing this particular classification, and thus rejecting Deren’s “insistence that filmmaking must begin with a respect for the conventional means of the photographic image.” However, although Deren was a friend, Brakhage sites many other influences that seem to take precedence over Deren’s theoretical writings.
If one actually listens to Brakhage’s own writings and words; ideas and influences, to see where his films originate from he does not mention Deren as an influence or predecessor (Rich). However, he does name many other artists as influential to him such as, Orson Welles, Jean Cocteau, Rossellini, and Kurosawa. But these directors do not tell the whole story of the influences to Brakhage’s films. Brakhage was also very much influenced by painting, music, and poetry. Deren was also seen to be influenced by poetry, which becomes a sore spot for Brakhage as he has been fighting off this very notion the two are linked through their own writing and poetry.
Pruitt also seems to take the stance that because Deren and Brakhage’s films are so different, and the fact that the two both had these opposing theoretical viewpoints that Brakhage’s films are a denial of Maya Deren’s writings, thus he has been influenced by her and therefore he is her student. In a sense Pruitt is saying that his films are based on a need to prove Deren wrong. Brakhage’s first film, Anticipation of the Night was seen as a combination of both the trance film and the “graphic” film (Faller). As time has gone on Brakhage’s later works move even further from the aesthetics and psycho-drama of the trance film, and move further into the category of the graphic approach, which” featured animated, abstract images often hand-applied directly onto the film”(Sitney).
Not only were their theoretical viewpoints often in contrast but also so were the way they went about filmmaking. For Maya, filmmaking was vey much a collaborative art. She worked with her friends, husbands and lovers. Brakhage on the other hand saw filmmaking and art in general as either borrowing from other sources and influences, or being one’s own complete creation. In an interview with B. Ruby, Brakhage sees his work as the work of a singular artist, more along the lines of certain Renaissance artists, such as Michelangelo, who single handedly constructed the sithstene Chapel . Brakhage even went so far as to call Meshes of the Afternoon, “Hammid’s film”, Deren’s husband and cinematographer at the time. In her dissertation, Sullivan quotes Brakhage directly from Brakhage Scrapbook :
When I was young, the then director of the MOMA film department, Richard Griffith, said my films were “imitative of Maya Deren.” I had, at the time, only seen Meshes of the Afternoon once; but he was picking up on the tilt-wall sequence (a conscious steal) and dismissing not only In Between , Desistfilm (made before any knowledge of Deren) The Way to Shadow Garden, and even Interim…and…me because that slight use of Deren’s effect gave him the excuse to do so.
Although the argument that Deren is the mother of avant-garde filmmaking, to then call Brakhage her son does not make sense since their art is theoretically and visually unrelated. Avant-garde filmmaking is in its very essence experimental, and Brakhage strove to define a new type of film that had the rhythm of music and the aesthetics of a painting. Deren has been seen as a classical avant-garde filmmaker, while Brakhage has stated that each film comes out of not knowing what he will do next. Brakhage and Deren is both visionary filmmaker in their own respect, and even though they were part of the same movement, their visions are diametrically different.

Works Cited
Brakhage, Stan. Brakhage Scrapbook. New York: Documentext, 1982. Print.
Deren, Maya. “Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality”. The Art of Cinema: Selected Essays. Ed. Gyorgy Kepes. New York: Arno Press, 1972. 154-171. Print.
Faller, George C. “Anticipation of the Night”. Filmreference.com. Film Reference, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2009.
In the Mirror of Maya Deren. Dir. Martina Kudlacek. Zeitgeist Video, 2002. DVD.
Pruitt, John. "Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of Film." Chicago Review 47/48.4/1 (2001): 116-20. Print.
Rich, B. Ruby. Stan Brakhage: The Appreciation of the Art. Video Data Bank on Art and Artists. Chicago: Video Data Bank, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997. VHS.
Sitney, P. Adams. Visionary Film, The American Avant Garde 1943-1978. New York: Oxford University press, 1974. Print.
Sullivan, Moira. “An Anagram of the Ideas of Filmmaker Maya Deren”. Diss. Stockholm University, 1997. Print.

Updated Abstracts

Article: Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of film
Pruitt, John. "Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s Poetics of Film." Chicago Review 47/48.4/1 (2001): 116-20. Print.
Abstract:
Maya Deren is argued to be the direct predecessor of Stan Brakhage, one of the most influential avant-garde filmmakers of the 20th century. However, there are also notable differences described. These differences are highlighted through the theoretical writings of Maya Deren when contrasted with Brakhage’s films. Through analyzing Maya Deren’s writings and poems on film, reality, and photography, we are better able to understand the themes, and concepts presented in Brakhage’s films.

Article: Performance and Persona in the U.S. Avant-Garde: The Case of Maya Deren
Pramaggiore, Maria. “Performance and Persona in the U.S. Avant-Garde: The Case of Maya Deren”. Cinema Journal 36/2 (1997): 17-40. Print.
Abstract:
The symbol of a Hollywood movie star is usually not related to avant-garde film-making, but the theory of persona production is not regulated just to Hollywood, and is exemplified in the persona that avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren created for herself. The theory of persona production deals in avant-garde filmmaking deals with how closely the filmmaker’s life is related to her films. Within the three films of hers in which she appears, Maya Deren created a persona that mirrored her off camera life. Her persona, however, is full of contradictions from that of the stereotype of a bohemian artist, and one that is highly individualized as the mother of avant-garde film.

Article: Maya Deren’s Fatal Attraction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Meshes of the Afternoon with a Psycho-Biographical Afterword
Fabe, Marilyn. “Maya Deren’s Fatal Attraction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Meshes of the Afternoon with a Psycho-Biographical Afterword.” Women’s Studies 25/1 (1996): 137-141. Print.

Abstract:
In this paper, Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” is broken down into a reading of the film as an expression of a woman’s fatal desire for her lover. The film is also looked at from a feminist perspective. And lastly, to better understand the film, the author also presents evidence that “Meshes” grew out of the circumstances of Deren’s life and psychological state at the time the film was made particularly that of her father’s death, and the need to distance herself from her mother.

Article: Stan Brakhage and the Long Beach of Maya Deren’s poetics of film

Abstract:
Although Maya Deren is often seen as a direct predecessor of Stan Brakhage, one of the most influential avant-garde filmmakers of the 20th century, there are also notable differences described. These differences are highlighted through the theoretical writings of Maya Deren when contrasted with Brakhage’s films. Through analyzing Maya Deren’s writings and poems on film, reality, and photography, we are better able to understand the themes, and concepts presented in Brakhage’s films.

Article: Performance and Persona in the U.S. Avant-Garde: The Case of Maya Deren
Abstract:
The symbol of a Hollywood movie star is usually not related to avant-garde film-making, but the theory of persona production is not regulated just to Hollywood, and is exemplified in the persona that avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren created for herself. The theory of persona production deals in avant-garde filmmaking deals with how closely the filmmaker’s life is related to her films. Within the three films of hers in which she appears, Maya Deren created a persona that mirrored her off camera life. Her persona, however, is full of contradictions from that of the stereotype of a bohemian artist, and one that is highly individualized as the mother of avant-garde film.

Article: Maya Deren’s Fatal Attraction: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Meshes of the Afternoon with a Psycho-Biographical Afterword
Abstract:
In this paper, Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” is broken down into a reading of the film as an expression of a woman’s fatal desire for her lover. The film is also looked at from a feminist perspective. And lastly, to better understand the film, the author also presents evidence that “Meshes” grew out of the circumstances of Deren’s life and psychological state at the time the film was made particularly that of her father’s death, and the need to distance herself from her mother.

Intellectual Autobiography

Jennifer Thomas

Professor Peter Hartnik

Understanding Media Studies

7 September 2009

Jennifer Thomas’s Intellectual Autobiography

I have waivered between the practical and unpractical all my life, trying to find a balance between who I want to be and who I am. In reality, I know that I am a generalist by nature, and even though I explore many topics deeply, I have too many wide-ranging interests to ever fully commit. I am an interdisciplinary student, and never want to be confined to studying just one subject. This is one reason that I am getting my Masters in Media Studies. As an undergraduate, I majored in Psychology, and have an interdisciplinary minor in Humanities. When I think of education and what I want to get out of it, one of my greatest sources of pleasure from learning is how I can connect various the dots between many varying subjects.

During the course of my academic undergraduate career, film was the great unifier between everything that I had been learning. The medium of film greatly enhanced all aspects of my studies. I continually asked myself how could film be used to increase social change. I saw the Nazi propaganda films to social commentary documentaries such as Super Size Me. So, I changed my major and began to fully immerse myself at Central Michigan University’s Broadcast and Cinematic Arts program. However, I realized that this was not the program for me, as it was mostly focused on television broadcasting and I only studied film and did not create it. However, one class will always stay with me and that was a class entitled Literature Dimensions of Films, where I first saw Carl Theoder Dryer’s Passion of Joan of Arc. This film very much impacted how I started to think of films, and what can be done with a camera.

Going back to practicality, I decided to change my major back to Psychology, and decided to further explore the field of humanistic psychology, and eastern philosophies on western psychology. After taking a Buddhism course, I wanted to learn more on how mental health practitioners, as well as alternative health organizations such as, non-profits were utilizing eastern medicine to not only treat patients but also prevent illnesses. During my research I came across the non-profit HealthCorps. HealthCorps works with high schools to set up an alternative health education program within that high school. Although HealthCorps employed me full-time, the majority of my work was done at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. Here, I had a leadership role in motivating youth to take an active role in their health. As a guest speaker, once a week in classes, I never wanted to just lecture to them. One of the ways I made health and nutrition relevant to them was through the use of media. I had the kids analyze advertising campaigns, make commercials for fruits and vegetables, and watch informative documentaries they would not usually watch on their own. Working with youth was an empowering experience and one that I hope to continue and connect with kids teaching media production.

Having recently returned from backpacking South America alone, I have come to have an even greater appreciation for the impact that travel can have on an individual’s worldview. Being in the media field, I think cross-cultural communication is very important. Very rarely does our media cover the voices of other cultures, both in our own society as well as others. Usually if the mainstream media does, it is to report about a war in a distant country, or other natural disaster. I would like to work on projects that involve a cross-cultural dialogue in our ever increasingly global society. Not to diminish the lines of culture, but to help facilitate a greater understanding of the “other” that many youth in our society do not get to experience. One organization that is truly inspiring is the non-profit BYKids. BYkids pairs experienced and influential filmmakers like Albert Maysles with children from around the world to tell their stories through short documentaries. I would like to contribute to the youth media field both through media education, documentary film, and narrative film. To gain greater international experience, I will also be applying, this fall to the Internal Affairs’ field placement program at The New School. I would like to travel to Nepal and combine my interests in health and society, and art and media. Nepal is particularly interesting to me, due to the political climate there. I think that as a representative of The New School in Nepal, there will be opportunities there that can facilitate real social change within the community.

My path here at The New School, is one that will represent who I am as an artist, activist, and educator. I plan on concentrating on film and taking as many film production courses as I can. Courses I look forward to taking include Avant Garde and The Moving Image, an Advocacy Media, and Cinematography: Art and technique. While studying and producing film, and working on advocacy projects, I plan to include diverse internships into my curriculum. This semester I am interning at The Weinstein Company, a major independent film production company. The business side of the film industry is highlighted here, and I am now involved in the early stages of film production. It is interesting to see first-hand, the non-creative aspect of the film industry. As we talk about capitalism and the film business in my courses here at The New School, it is also interesting to learn how much a films profitability is analyzed in considering whether it will be made or not.

However, my primary goal and reason for pursuing film is not to be in the film business, per say but more as a means of expression. Like influential psychologist Abraham Maslow once said,” the key question isn’t what fosters creativity? But why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative?” (Lewis). I also believe by learning about youth media, and becoming a practioner, I will also discover my own voice and hopefully be on the path to directing my own films. I plan on making a short film for the Media Studies: Concepts course, that explores the feelings one has about what it’s like to come home after traveling, which will be somewhat autobiographical in nature.

As a culmination to my studies at The New School, I would like to write a thesis, both as an end product and possibly a beginning to further my studies as a doctoral candidate. Although I am still very much exploring ideas, one of the artists that have influenced me thus far is the fascinating, early practioner of the essay film, Chris Marker. I like the idea of playing with multi media genres to explore a concept, such as memory, as he does in Immemory. It reminds me also of the mind mapping software discussed by Shannon Matern. Learning so much software at once has truly inspired me to explore these different platforms, however, and not merely focus on video filmmaking. I think an interactive, multi-media thesis project, accompanied by a written thesis, is an idea I will continue to think deeper about as I continue my graduate studies at The New School.

After receiving my Masters degree from The New School, I see myself following different paths that continuously intersect and weave around each other. This is how I would like my life to look like; definitely not on the straight and narrow path. As a new student here I have already learned, and subsequently taught myself so much in this exciting field. I believe my life will be enriched with a greater appreciation for art, as well as society. I am still not entirely sure what I would like my thesis t be on. Yet, I know there are key topics within the field of media that I am interested in. These include the wide-ranging fields of youth media education, new media technologies, avant garde filmmaking in the 21^st century, and human rights and photography. Like The New School’s perspective on interdispilinary studies, I do not view these subjects as separate entities, but as paths weaving in and out. My goal is to practice these subjects in everyday life.

Works Cited

C&G Partners. ByKids. ByKids, Ford Foundation, Henry Nias Foundation, and UNICEF, 2009. Web. 7 October 2009.

Dreyer, Carl Theodor, dir. The Passion of Joan of Arc. The Criterion Collection, 1928. Film.

Immemory. Dir. Chris Marker. Exact Change, 2008. CD-Rom.

Lewis, Jone Johnson. Wisdom Qoutes.: Abraham Maslow. Wisdom Quotes, n.d. Web.