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  • 8/10/2019 Cinema/Ideologi/Criticism 1

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    CINEMA/IDEOLOGY/CRITICISM

    683

    JEAN LUC COMOLLIND JEAN

    N R ONI

    CINEMA IDEOLOGY CRITICISM

    Scientific criticism has an obligation to defineits field

    and

    methods. This implies

    awareness of its own historical and social situation, a rigorous analysis of the pro

    posed field

    of

    study,

    theconditions

    which

    make the

    work necessary

    and

    thosewhich

    make it possible,

    and

    the special function it intends to fulfill.

    It is essential that we at

    ahiers du inema should

    now undertake

    just

    s uc h a

    globalanalysis of

    ou r

    position and

    aims

    . Not

    that

    weare startingentirely from zero.

    Fragments

    of

    such an analysishave beencoming ou t

    of

    material wehave published

    recently articles, editorials, debates, answersto readers letters) bu t in an imprecise

    form and as if by accident.

    They

    are

    an

    indication

    that

    ou r readers,

    just

    as

    much

    as

    we ourselves, feel the ne ed f or a c lea r the ore tic al ba se to w hich to r elate ou r critical

    practice

    and

    i ts f ie ld, ta king the two to be indivisible. Programmes and revolu

    tionaryplans

    and

    declarations tend to become an end in themselves. This i s a t ra p

    we intend to a void. Ou r objectiveis no t to reflect upon what we

    want

    would like)

    to do, bu t

    upon

    what we aredoing and what we cando , and this is impossiblewith

    ou t

    an analysis

    of

    the present situation.

    WHERE?

    a) First, ou r situation. ahiersis a group of people working together,

    one

    of the

    results of ou rworkappearing asa magazine.

    A magazine,

    that

    isto say,a particular

    product, involving a particular amount of work on the part of those who write it,

    those who produce it and, indeed, those who r e ad it) . We do no t close our eyes to

    the fact

    that

    a product

    of

    this nature is situated fairly

    and

    squarely inside the eco-

    nomic system of capitalistpublis hing modesof production, spheresof circulation,

    etc.). In any c ase it isdiff ic ult to see how it could be othe rw ise toda y, unle ss one is

    .Others includedistribution,screening, and discussion offilms inthe provinces and thesuburbs,

    sessions of theoretical work .

    682

    led astray by Utopian ideas

    of

    working parallel to the system.

    The

    first step in the

    latter approach is always the paradoxical

    one of

    setting up a f alse f ront, a neo-sys

    tern alongside the system from which one is attempting to escape, inthe f ond be lief

    it w illbe a ble to negate

    the

    syste m. I n f ac ta ll i t

    can

    do isreject it idealist pur

    Ism) and consequentlyit isvery soon jeopardizedby the enemy upon whichit mod

    e ~ e d

    itself.

    This

    parallelism works from

    one

    direction only. t touches only one

    Sideof thewound, whereaswe believe thatboth side sha ve to be w or ke d upon. And

    the danger

    of

    the parallels meeting all too speedilyin infinityseems to us sufficient

    to argue

    that

    we

    had

    betterstay in

    the

    finite

    and

    allow

    them

    to

    remain

    apart.

    This assumed, the question is: what is our attitude to our situation?In France the

    majority of films, like the majority of books

    and

    magazines, are produced

    and

    dis

    tr ibute d by the c apita list economic system

    and

    w ithin the

    dominant

    ideology.

    I ndee d. , strictly spea king a ll a re , w hate ve r e xpe die nt the y adopt to try and get

    around

    it. This being so, the question we have to ask is: which films, books, and

    magazines allow the ideology a free, unhampered passage, transmit it with crystal

    clarity, serve as its chosen language? And which

    attempt

    to make it turn back

    and

    reflect itself, intercept it, make it visible by revealing its mechanisms, by blocking

    them?

    b) For t he s it ua ti on in w hi ch we are

    acting

    is the f ie ld of

    cinema ahiers

    is a

    film magazine), and the precise object of our study is the history of a f ilm: how it

    isproduced, manufactured ,

    distributed,

    understood .

    What is the film today? This is the relevantquestion ; not, as it possibly once was:

    whatis thecinema?We shall not be a ble toa sk that a ga in untila body of knowledge,

    of theor y, has be en e volved a proce ss to w hic h w e c e r tainly

    intend

    to contribute)

    to inform what i s a t p re se nt an

    empty term

    , w ith a c onc e pt.

    For

    a f ilm ma ga z ine

    the question isalso: what w or k i s t o b e

    done

    in the f ie ld c onstituted by f ilms?

    And

    for

    ahiers

    in particular. what is our specific function in this field?

    What

    isto dis

    tinguish us from

    other

    film magazines?

    THE FILMS

    What isa film? On the

    one

    hand i t isa pa rticular product, manufactured within

    a g i ~ e ~ system

    of

    economic relations,

    and

    involving labour w hich a ppe a rs to the

    capitalist as money) to produce-a condition to w hic h e ve n independent film

    makers

    and

    the newcinema are

    subject-assembling

    a certain

    number of

    workers

    for this

    purpose

    even

    the

    director,

    whether

    h e i s M ou ll et

    or

    O ur y, is in the last

    . Or

    to.leraled, and jeopardized by this very toleration . I s ther e a ny nee d to s tr es s that it is the

    tned tactic of covertly repressive.systemsnot to harass the protestingfringe? T he y goout of their

    w ayto take n.o

    n ~ l c e

    of them,

    th

    the double effectof making one halfof theopposition careful

    notto try theirpauencetoo farand theotherhalfcomplacent inthe knowledge that theiractivities

    are unobserved .

    2Wedo not to s ~ s t by this tha t w e w a nt toe r ec t a c or pora tis t f ence r ound our own

    field, and neglect infinitely l r g ~ r field.where so much is obviously at stake politically.Simply,

    w e a re c onc entra ting on tha t pre cise point of the s pe c tr um of s oc ia l a ctivity in this a rtic le in

    I eSf.lnse to precise operational needs.

    . A mor,eand more pressing problem. t would

    be

    inviting confusion to allowit to

    be

    tackled in

    bitsand pieces and obviously we have to make a unified attempt to pose it theoretically later on

    Forthe

    moment

    weleaveit aside. .

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    .Capitalist ideology. This term expresses our meaning perfectly. but aswe are going t? use it

    withoutfurtherdefinitionin this article, weshould pointout that weare not u.nder any I I I ~ s l o n that

    it has some kind of abstract essence. We know that it is historically an.dsocially determmed,

    that it hasmultiple forms at anygiven placeand time, and variesfrom nistoricai penod to historical

    period. Like the whole category of militant c i n e ~ a whichis

    tota,JIY

    vagueand undefined at pres

    ent . Wemust a)rigorously definethe function attnbutedto It,Itsalms, Itssideeffects information,

    arousal. critical reflection, provocation which always has so effect . : .); ?efine the exact

    political line governing the makingand screening of these films- revolutlonary

    IS

    too .much

    ofa

    blanket term to serve any useful purpose here; and c)Slatewhetherthe supportersof mlhtantem

    ema are in fact proposinga lineof action in which the cinemawould become the poor r e l a t l ~ n , in

    the illusion that the lessthe cinematicaspect isworked on, the greater the strength and clarity of

    the militant effectwillbe . This would bea wayof avoiding thecontradictions of paralleP cinema

    and getting embroiled in the problem ofdeciding whether underground f i l ~ s should bel.ncluded

    in the category, on the pretext that their relationship to drugs and s e ~ their preoccupatIOn it

    form , might possiblyestablish newrelationships between film and audIence .

    analysis only a film worker).

    t

    becomes

    transformed into

    a

    commodity,

    possessing

    exchange value, whichis realized by the sale

    of

    tickets and contracts, and governed

    by the laws of the market. On the other hand, asa result o f b eing a ~ a t e r i a l product

    of

    the system, it isalso an ideological

    productof

    the system,which In Francemeans

    capitalism.* . .

    No filmmaker can, b y h is own individual efforts, change the economic relatIOns

    governing the manufacture

    and distribution

    of his films. t cannot be pointedout

    tOO

    often

    that

    even

    filmmakerswho set

    out

    t o b e

    revolutionary

    on the level of mes

    sage

    and

    form

    cannot

    effect

    any

    swift

    or

    radical change in

    the economic

    system

    deform it, yes, deflect it, but not negate it or seriously upset itsstructure. Godard s

    recent statement to the effect that he wants to stop workingin the system takesno

    account of the fact that any other system is bound to b e a reflectio n

    of

    the

    one

    he

    wishes to av oid .

    The

    money n o lo ng er comes from the Champs-Elysees bu t from

    London, Rome, or New York.

    The

    film may not be marketed by the distribution

    monopolies

    but

    i t i s shot o n film stock from another monopoly-Kodak.) Because

    every film is part of the economic s ys te m i t i s a ls o a part of the ideological syste.m,

    for cinema

    and

    art are

    branches

    of ideology. None can escape, somewhere, like

    p ieces in a jig saw, all h av e their

    own

    allotted place. The system is

    b ~ i n d

    t o i ts ow n

    nature, bu t i n s pi te of that, indeed because of t ha t , w he n a ll the pieces are fitted

    together

    th ey g iv ea v ery clearp ictu re. B ut th is d oes n ot meanthat everyfilmmaker

    plays a similar role. Reactions differ.

    t isthe

    job of

    criticism to see wherethey differ,

    and

    slowly , patiently,

    not

    expect-

    ing any magical transformations to take p lace atth e wav eof a slogan,to help change

    the ideology which conditionsthem. . . .

    A few p o in ts, wh ich wesh all return to ingreaterdetaillater:

    ~ v e r y

    f i l ~ p o l J ~ l c a ~

    inasmuch as i t i s determined by the ideology which produces It or WIthinwhich It

    is produced , which stems from the same thing) .

    The cinema

    is. all the.more thor

    oughly and completely determined because unlike other arts or IdeolOgical systems

    its very manufacture mobilizes powerful economic forces in a way thatthe produc

    tion of literature which becomesthe commodity books , does not-though once

    we reach the lev el of distribution, publicity ,

    and

    sale, the two are in rath er the same

    position).

    . Clearly, thecinema reproduces reality : this iswh at a c a m ~ r a ~ l fJ I TI ~ ~ C k ~ ..

    ~ ~ - : - ~ says the

    i< eol()gy .

    B ut the to ols

    and

    techniques of filmmak ing are a p art

    of

    r r a l l t ~

    t h ~ m s e l v e s ,

    and furthermore reality is nothing but an expression of the

    ~ e v ~ l m g Id.eology. Seen in th is lig ht, the classic theory of cinemathat the camera

    I m p a r t l a l l ~ s ~ m e n t w?ich grasps, or rather is impregn ated b y, the wo rld in

    c o ~ c r e t e reality ISan eminently reactionary one . What the camera in fact reg

    Isters ISthe vague, unformulated, untheorized, unthought-out world of the dorni

    i d ~ o l o g y .

    ~ i n e m a

    is

    one of

    the languages through which the world cornmu

    ~ f a t e s

    t.tselfto Itself.They constitute its ideology for they reproduce the world as it

    islexperienced when filtered through the ideology. As Althusser defines it more

    pfecisely: Ideologies are perceived-accepted-suffered cultural objects, which work

    f ~ n ~ ~ m e n t a l y men b y a p ro cess they do not understand. What men express in

    tqelr ideologies

    IS

    not their true relatio n to th eir conditions

    of

    existence, but how

    r e a ~ t to their

    conditions

    of existence;which presupposesa real relationshipand

    Imaginary relationship.) So, when we set ou t to make a film, fro m the v ery first

    ~ o t we are encumbered by the necessity

    of

    reproducing things

    no t

    as they really

    f a s t he y appear when refracted through the ideology. This includes every

    s t t t g ~ .In the process of p rod u ctio n: su bjects, styles , forms, mean ing s, n arrative

    t 1 d ~ t l O ~ s ; all u ~ d e r l i n e the general ideological discourse.

    The

    film is ideology pre

    Itselfto Itself, talking to itself, learning about itself. Once we realize that it

    .__ . t h e nature ofth.e

    s y s t e ~

    to t.urn cinemainto an instru.ment. of ideology, we

    n

    s that

    the filmmaker s first task IS to sho w u p thecinema s so-called depiction

    .?

    /eallty :lfhe can d o s o t he re i s a

    chance

    that wewillbe able to

    disrupt or

    possibly

    e {ensever

    the connection

    between the

    cinema

    and

    its ideological function.

    The v ital d istinction b etween films to day iswh etherth ey d o th is or whether they

    dt not.

    a. The first a.nd largest ~ t e g 0 I ? c o m p r i ~ those films w ~ i c ~ ,

    a:

    reimb u through

    t h ~ o u ~ With the ~ o m I n a n t IdeologyIn pure

    and

    unadulterated form,

    and

    give

    n ~ n d l c a t l O n

    t h ~ t

    their m ~ k ~ r s were even aware o f t h ~ fact .,We are not

    just

    talking

    a f - ut ~ commercial films. The

    m jor ty of

    films In all catego ries are the

    ~ f c o n s c l O u s Instruments of the ideology which produces them . Whether the film

    r c o m m e r ~ i a l or

    a m b i t i o ~ s

    or raditional , whether

    i t i s the type that

    g ~ t s shown In art houses, or In

    smart

    Cinemas, whether itbelongs to the old cinema

    the young c i n e m ~ is most likely to be are-hash of the

    same

    old ideology . For

    films arecommodities and thereforeobjects of trade, eventhose whose discourse

    I e ~ p ~ c i t l y

    ~ l i t i c a l - w h i c h why a rigorous definition of what constitutes polit

    ICfU

    ~ m e m ~

    I Sc al le d fo r a t t hi s

    moment

    w he n i t i s b ei ng w id el y

    promoted

    . This

    ~

    of Ideology

    and

    film is reflected in the first in stan ce b y

    the

    fact that audi

    e .cedema.nd and economic resp o nse h av e also b een redu ced to one

    and

    the same

    t ng. I.n di re ct continuity with political practice, ideological practice reformulates

    t e

    .SOClal

    need b ack s it u p with a d iscou rse, This is not a hypothesis, bu t a sci

    e tifically e s ~ b h s h e d fact. The ideolog y is talk ing to itself; it has all the answers

    r y before It a sks the questions. Certainlythere issuch a thing as publicdemand,

    b twhat the publicwants means what the dominant ideology wants . The notion

    o a PU?li can ? its tasteswas-created by the ideologytojustifyarid perpetuate itself.

    A d t his

    can

    only.exp,ress itselfvia the thought-patterns

    of

    the ideology.

    The

    W o le thing IS a closed circurt, endlessly repeating the same illusion .

    i

    684

    FILM : PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIETY, AND IDEOLOGY

    CINEMA/IDEOLOGY/CRITICISM 685

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    FILM: PSYCHOUX;Y SOCIETY, AND IDEOLOGY

    CINEM A/IDEOLOGY/CRITICISM

    687

    The situation isthe same at the level ofartistic form, These films totally accept

    the established system of depicting reality: bourgeois realism and the whole con

    servative box of tricks: blind faith in life , humanism, common sense , e tc. A

    blissful ignorance that there might be something wrong with this whole concept of

    depiction appears to have reigned at every stage in their production, so much so,

    thatto usit appears a more accurategauge ofpictures in the commercial category

    than box-office returns. Nothingin these filmsjars against the ideology or the audi

    ence s mystification byit. They are veryreassuring for audiencesforthere isno dif

    ference between the ideology they meet every day and the ideology on the screen.

    would be a useful complementary task for film critics to look into the way the

    ideological system and its products merge at all levels: to study the phenomenon

    whereby a film being shown to an audience becomes a monologue, in which the

    ideology talks to itself, by examining the success of filmsby, for instance, Melville,

    Oury, and Lelouch.

    b) A second category isthat offilms which attack their ideological assimilation

    on two fronts. Firstly, by direct political action, on the level of the signified, that

    is, they deal with a directlypolitical subject. Dealwith ishere intended in an active

    sense:they do not just discuss an issue, reiterate it, paraphrase it, but use itto attack

    the ideology this presupposes a theoretical activity which is the directopposite of

    the ideological one). This act only becomes politically effectiveifit islinked with a

    breaking down of the traditional way of depicting reality. On the level of form,

    Unreconciled, h Edge and Earth inRevolt allchallenge the concept of depiction

    and mark a break with the tradition embodyingit.

    We would stress that only action on both fronts, signified and signifiers has

    any hope of operating against the prevailing ideology. Economic/political and for

    mal action have to be indissolubly wedded.

    c) There is another category in which the same double action operates, but

    against the grain . The content isnot explicitly political, but in some waybecomes

    so through the criticism practised on it through its form. To this category belong

    We are not shutting our e ye st o t h e f a ct t ha t i t i san oversimplification employed herebecause

    operationally easier) to make such a sharp distinction between the two term s, This is particularly

    so i n t he case of the cinema, where the signified ismore often than not a product ofthe pennuta

    tions of the signifiers,and thes ign hasdominanceover the meaning.

    2This isnot a magical doorway out ofthe system of depiction which isparticularly dom inant

    i n t he c in em a) b ut r at he r a r ig or ou s, detailed, large-scale wor k o n t hi ssystem-what conditions

    make it possible, what mechanisms render it innocuous.The method isto draw attentionto the

    system sothat itcan be seen for what it is,to make itserveone s own ends, condemnitselfout of

    itsown mouth.Tactics employed may include turning cinematicsyntax upside-down but itcan

    not bejust that. Any old film nowadays can upset the normal chronological order in the interests

    of looking vaguely

    modern

    . But

    The Exterminating Angel

    and

    The Diary

    of

    Anna Magdalena

    Bach though wewould not wishto set them upas a model) are rigorously chronological without

    ceasing to besubversive in the waywe have been describing, whereas in many a filmthe mixed-up

    time sequence simply covers up a basically naturalisticconception. In the same way, perceptual

    confusion avowed intentto act on the unconscious mind, changes in the texture ofthe film,etc.)

    are not sufficient in themselvesto get beyond the traditional way

    of

    depicting reality . To realize

    this, o ne h as on ly to remember the unsuccessful attempts there have been of the Iettriste or

    zacurn t yp e t o g iv e b ack its infinity to language by using nonsense words or new kinds of ono

    matopoeia. In the one and the other case only the most superficial level of language istouched.

    They create a new code, which operates on the level ofthe impossible, and has to be rejected on

    any other, a nd is thereforenot in a position to transgress the normal .

    Mediterranee, The Bellboy, 2 t l l . . . For Cahiers these films b and c)consti

    .

    tuiethe

    e s s e n t i a l - i ~ t h ~ - d n e ~ ~ and shouldbe the chiefsubject ofthe magazine.

    d) Fourth case: those films, increasingly numeroustoday , which have an explic

    itly political content Z is notthe best exampleas itspresentationof politics isunre

    mittingl y ideological from first to last; a betterexample would be Le

    Temps de

    Vivre

    but which do not effectivelycriticize the ideological system in which they are

    embedded because they unquestioningly adopt itslanguage and its imagery.

    This makes it important for critics to examine the effectiveness of the political

    criticism intended by these films. Do they express, reinforce, strengthen the very

    thing they set

    out

    to denounce? Are they caught in the system they wish to break

    down . . .? see a)

    e)Five: films which seem at first sight to belong firmly within the ideologyand

    to be completely under its sway,but which turn out to beso only in an ambiguous

    manner. For though they startfrom a nonprogressive standpoint, ranging from the

    frankly reactionary through the conciliatory to the mildly critical, they have been

    worked upon, and work, in such a real way that there isa noticeable gap, a dislo

    cation, between the starting point and the finished product. We disregard here the

    inconsistent-and unimportant-sectorof filmsin which thedirectormakesa con-

    scious useof the prevailingideology, but leavesit absolutely straight. The filmswe

    are talking aboutthrowup obstacles in the way ofthe ideology, causing itto swerve

    and getoffcourse. The cinematic framework letsus see it, but also shows it upand

    denouncesit. Lookingat the framework one can seetwo momentsin it: one holding

    it back within certain limits, one transgressingthem . An internal criticism istaking

    place which cracks the filmapartat the seams . Ifone reads the film obliquely, look

    ing forsymptoms; ifone looks beyond its apparent formal coherence, one can see

    that itis riddled with cracks: itis splitting underan internal tension which issimply

    not there in an ideologically innocuous film. The ideology thus becomes subordi

    .nate to the text.

    no longer has an independent existence:

    is presented by the

    film. This is the case in many Hollywood films, for example , which while being

    completelyintegrated in the system and the ideology end up by partially disman

    tling the system from within. We must find out what makes it possible for a film

    maker to corrode the ideology byrestatingit in the terms ofhis film: ifhe seeshis

    filmsimply asa blow in favourof liberalism, it willbe recuperated instantlyby the

    ideology; ifon the other hand, he conceives and realizes it on the deeper level of

    imagery, there isa chancethat itwillturn out to bemore disruptive. Not. of course,

    that hewillbe able to break the ideology itself, but simply its reflection in his film.

    The filmsof Ford, Dreyer, Rossellini, for example.)

    Our

    position with regard to this category

    of

    films is: that we have absolutely no

    intention ofjoining the current witch-hunt against them. T he y a re t he mythology

    oftheir own myths . They criticize themselves, even

    if

    no such intention is written

    into the script, and itis irrelevantand impertinentto do so for them. Allwe want

    todo isto show the process inaction.

    f) Films ofthe live cinema cinema direct variety, group one the largerof the

    twogroups). These are films arising out of political or, it would probably be more

    exact to say: social) events or reflections, but which make no clear differentiation

    between themselves and the nonpolitical cinemabecause they do not challengethe

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    688

    FILM : PSYCHOLOGY. SOCIETY, AND IDEOLOGY

    CINEMA/IDEOLOGYjCRITICISM

    689

    cinema straditional, ideologically conditioned method of depiction . For instance

    a miner s strike willbe filmed in the same style as Les randesFamiliesThe

    mak

    ersof these filmssufferun der the primary and fundamental illusion that iftheyonce

    break off the ideological filter of narrative traditions dramaturgy, construction,

    domination

    of

    the component

    parts

    bya central idea, emphasis on formal beauty)

    reality willthen yield itselfup in its true form. The fact isthat bydoing sotheyonly

    break offone filter, and not the most importantone at that. For reality holds within

    itselfno hidden kernel of self-understanding, of theory, oftruth, like a stone inside

    a fruit. We have to manufacture those. Marxism isvery clear on this point, in its

    distinction between real and perceived objects.) Compare

    hiefs

    Leacock) and

    a good numberof the May films.

    This is why supporters

    of cinemadirect

    resort to the same idealist terminology

    to

    express itsroleand justify itssuccessesas others useabout productsof the greatest

    artifice: accuracy , a sense oflivedexperience ,flashesof intense truth , moments

    caught live , abolition of all sense that weare watching a film and finally: fasci

    nation. is that magical notion of seeing is understanding : ideology goes on dis

    play to prevent itselffrom being shown up for what itreally is, contemplates itself

    but does not criticize itself.

    g)The otherkind of live cinema . Here the director isnot satisfiedwith the idea

    ofthe camera seeing through appearances , but attacks the basic problem ofdepic

    tion by givingan active role to the concrete stuff of his film. then becomes pro

    ductive of meaning and is not just a passive receptacle for meaning produced out

    side it in the ideology):

    La Regnedu

    Jour

    La Rentreedes

    Usine

    s Wonder

    CRITICAL FUNCTION

    Such, then, isthe field

    of

    our critical activity: these films, within the ideology,and

    theirdifferent relationsto it. From this preciselydefined fieldspring four functions:

    I in the case ofthe films in category a): showwhat they are blind to; how they are

    totally determined, moulded, by the ideology; 2) in the case of those in categories

    b), c)and g),read them on two levels, showing howthe filmsoperatecritically on

    the level ofsignified and signifiers; 3)in the caseof those oftypes d)and

    f),

    show

    how the signified political subject matter) isalwaysweakened, rendered harmless,

    by the absence oftechnicaljtheoretical work on thesignifiers; 4)in the caseof those

    in group e)point out the gap produced between filmand ideology by the way the

    films work, and show how they work.

    There can be no room in our critical practice either for speculation commen

    tary, interpretation, de-coding even) or for specious raving of the film-columnist

    variety).

    must be a rigidly factual analysis of what governs the production

    of a

    film economiccircumstances, ideology,demand, and response) and the meanings

    and forms appearing in it, which are equally tangible.

    The tradition of frivolous and evanescent writing on the cinema isas tenacious

    as it isprolific, and film analysis today is still massively predeterminedby idealistic

    presuppositions. wanders farther abroad today, but its method is still basically

    empirical. has been through a necessary stage of going back to the material ele

    ments of a film, itssignifyingstructures, itsformal organization. The firststepshere

    were undeniably taken by Andre Bazin, despite the contradictions that can be

    picked out in his articles. Then followed the approach

    based

    on structurallinguis

    tics inwhich there are two basic traps, which wefell into-phenomenological pos

    itivism and mechanistic materialism). Assurely ascriticism had to gothrough this

    stage,it has to gobeyond . To us, the only possibleline of advanceseems to be to

    use the theoretical writing of the Russian filmmakers of the twenties Eisenstein

    above all) to elaborate and apply a critical theory ofthe cinema, a specific method

    ofapp rehending rigorously defined objects, indirect reference tothe methodof dia

    lectical materialism.

    is hardly necessary to point out that we know that the policy of a magazine

    cannot-indeed

    , should

    not-be

    corrected by magic overnight. We have to do it

    patiently , month by month, being careful in our own fieldto avoid thegeneral error

    of putting faith in spontaneous change, or attempting to rush into a revolution

    without the preparation to support it. To start proclaiming at this stage that the

    truth has been revealed to uswould beliketalking about miracles or conversion .

    Allwe should do is to state what work is already in progress and publish articles

    which relate to it, eitherexplicitly or implicitly.

    Weshould indicate briefly how the various elementsin the magazine fit into this

    perspective. The essential part of the work obviously takes place in the theoretical

    articlesand the criticisms. Thereis comingto be lessand lessof a differencebetween

    the two, because it isnot our concern to add up the merits and defects of current

    films in the interestsof topicality, nor, as one humorous article put it to crack up

    the product . The interviews, o n th e o th er h an d, a nd a ls o t h e diary columns and

    the list of films, with the dossiers and supplementary material for possiblediscus

    sion later, are often stronger on information than theory. i s u p t o t he re ad er t o

    decidewhether these piecestake up any critical stance, and ifso, what.

    1969