James Monaco - How To Read A Film PDF

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HOW TO READ A FILM T h e World of Movies, Media, a n d Multimedia L a n g u a g e , History, T h e o r y Third Edition, Completely Revised and E x p a n d e d James Monaco with diagrams by David Lindroth New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2000 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auc...

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HOW TO READ A FILM T h e World of Movies, Media, a n d Multimedia L a n g u a g e , History , T h e o r y

Third Edition, Completely Revised and E x p a n d e d

James Monaco with diagrams by David Lindroth

New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2000

Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1977,1981,2000 by James Monaco First published in 2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. N o part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Monaco.James. How to read a film: the world of movies, media, and multimedia: art, technology, language, history, theory / James Monaco: with diagrams by David Lindroth.—3rd ed., completely rev. and expanded. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-513981-X (Cloth) ISBN 0-19-503869-X (Pbk.) 1. Motion pictures. PN1994.M59 1997 97-1832 791.43'01'5—dc21

Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all necessary credits, the following page is regarded as an extension of the copyright page.

9 87 6 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

The passage from Denise Levertov's "The Rights" © Denise Levertov, 1957, reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. The page from Donald Barthelme's Sadness © Donald Barthelme, 1970, 1971, 1972, reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus fr Giroux, Inc. The still from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho courtesy Universal Pictures, from the book Psycho, © Darien House, Inc., 1974, edited by Richard J. Anobile, and distributed by Avon Books and Universe Books, New York City, is used by special arrangement with the publisher, Darien House, Inc. Christian Metz's "General Table of the Large Syntagmatic Category of the Image-Track" from Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema by Christian Metz, translated by Michael Taylor, © 1974 by Oxford University Press, Inc., reprinted by permission. Photographs so credited are reproduced from the "Avant-Scene Collection" of slide albums: Eisenstein, Welles, Renoir, Godard, Fellini, and Bergman, © I'Avant-Scene du Cinema, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975.

CREDITS Design Director: David Lindroth. General Editor English Edition: Curtis Church. General Editor German Edition: Hans-Michael Bock. Editorial Assistance: Richard Allen, Joellyn Ausanka, William D. Drennan, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Joe Medjuck, James Pallot, Leonard Quart, Roger Rawlings, Anne Sanow, Jerrold Spiegel, Dan Streible, John Wright, Robert Wohlleben. Production Assistance: Kate Collins, Nick Drjuchin, Suzanne Goodwin, Jo Imeson, Susan Jacobson, Charles Monaco, Margaret Monaco, Andrew Monaco, Greg Parker, Stephen Plumlee, Susan Schenker.

A NOTE ON THE TYPE This edition of How To Read a Film is set in Adobe's release of Meridien. Designed in 1957 by Swiss typographer Adrian Frutiger for the French foundry Deberny & Peignot, Meridien's large x-height enhances legibility while its Latinesque serifs and flared stems give it a classical Roman elegance. One of the pioneers of "cold type" design, Frutiger is perhaps best-known for the influential Univers family. The display types are Bodoni and Trade Gothic. The captions are set in Trade Gothic Light. The book was set by UNET 2 Corporation. Prepress by Jay's Publishers Services, Inc..

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

12

Preface to t h e Second Edition FILM AS AN ART

17 22

The N a t u r e of Art

22

Ways of Looking at Art

28

The Spectrum of Abstraction The Modes of Discourse The "Rapports de Production" Film, Recording, a n d t h e O t h e r Arts

38

Film, Photography, and Painting Film and the Novel Film and Theater Film and Music Film and the Environmental

Arts

The Structure of Art TECHNOLOGY: fMAGE AND SOUND Art a n d Technology

62 68 68

Image Technology Sound Technology The Lens

78

The Camera

86

The Filmstock

100

Negatives, Prints, and Generations Aspect Ratio Grain, Gauge, and Speed Color, Contrast, and Tone The S o u n d t r a c k

1

124

Postproduction Editing Mixing and Looping Special Effects Opticals, the Lab, and the Post House Video a n d Film Projection THE LANGUAGE OF FILM: SIGNS AND SYNTAX Signs The Physiology of Perception Denotative and Connotative Meaning Syntax Codes Mise-en-Scene The Framed Image The Diachronic Shot Sound Montage

128

143 145 152 152

172

THE SHAPE OF FILM HISTORY Movies/Film/Cinema "Movies": Economics "Film": Politics "Cinema": Esthetics Creating an Art: Lumiere Versus Melies The Silent Feature: Realism Versus Expressionism Hollywood: Genre Versus Auteur Neorealism and After: Hollywood Versus the World The New Wave and the Third World: Entertainment Versus Communication The Postmodern Sequel: Democracy, Technology, End of Cinema

228 228 232 261 284 285 288 29A 301

FILM THEORY: F O R M AND FUNCTION The Critic The Poet a n d t h e Philosopher: Lindsay a n d Mtinsterberg Expressionism a n d Realism: A r n h e i m a n d Kracauer M o n t a g e : Pudovkin, Eisenstein, Balazs, a n d Formalism Mise e n Scene: Neorealism, Bazin, a n d Godard Film Speaks a n d Acts: Metz a n d C o n t e m p o r a r y Theory

388 388 391 394 400 406 417

313 358

6

MEDIA: IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS Community Print a n d Electronic Media The Technology of Mechanical a n d Electronic Media Radio a n d Records Television a n d Video "Broadcasting": The Business "Television ": The Art "TV": The Virtual Family

428 428 430 440 460 465 469 480 505

7

MULTIMEDIA: THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION The Digital Revolution The M y t h of M u l t i m e d i a The M y t h of Virtual Reality The M y t h of Cyberspace " W h a t Is to be D o n e ? "

518 518 534 543 550 558

I

FILM AND MEDIA: A CHRONOLOGY To 1895: Prehistory 1 8 9 6 - 1 9 1 5 : The Birth of Film 1916-1930: Silent Film, The Births of Radio a n d Sound Film 1 9 3 1 - 1 9 4 5 : The Great Age of Hollywood a n d Radio 1 9 4 6 - 1 9 6 0 : The G r o w t h of Television 1 9 6 1 - 1 9 8 0 : The Media World 1981-Present: The Digital World

570 570 572 573 575 578 581 588

II

READING ABOUT FILM AND MEDIA Part O n e : A Basic Library Part Two: Information

604 605 637

INDEX Topics People Titles

644 652 663

INTRODUCTION

W h a t with one thing and another, almost twenty years have passed since the seco n d edition of How To Read a Film. I have excuses, mind you. We raised a family, bought a house, made a living. We founded two companies in the process. Moreover, sales of the second edition kept inCTeasing, year after year, thanks to a loyal group of readers a n d film professors. In the computer industry, there's a saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The timing h a d b e e n right for t h e book. The first edition w a s completed in 1977, just at t h e end of a n exciting period of film history. The past twenty years h a v e h a d their s h a r e of good films (and c o m p e t e n t scholarship); Hollywood thrived during the eighties a n d nineties, as n e w distribution media m a d e the economics of filmmaking m o r e flexible. And i n d e p e n d e n t filmmakers h a v e b o t h m o r e freedom a n d cheaper technology at their c o m m a n d . But there have b e e n n o m a j o r m o v e m e n t s since t h e seventies to alter radically o u r v i e w of t h e m e d i u m or its history. The movie generation of the sixties has h a d a longer reign n o w t h a n the generation of the thirties that preceded it. If you m a k e a list of the important filmmakers of the late 1970s, it will serve—with only a few additions a n d deletions—as a list of t h e d o m i n a n t personalities of t h e late 1990s. As t h e generation has, so the book has lasted. Yet, in the past twenty years, the whole world has changed. The n e w technology is pervasive, and its effect o n the way w e m a k e not only movies but all media is about to become profound. The microcomputer revolution, which was begirming just as the first edition of How To Read a Film appeared, has t h o r o u g h l y d o m i n a t e d t h e cultural a n d business history of t h e 1980s a n d 1990s. The w a y w e process text, images, a n d sounds today is radically different from w h a t it was twenty years ago. And the union of media, which the invention of movies foreshadowed a h u n d r e d years ago, is n o w nearly a reality. It's as if film,

INTRODUCTION t h e defining m e d i u m of t h e t w e n t i e t h century, w a s b u t prologue to t h e n e w media of t h e twenty-first. As the old technologies of chemistry and mechanics yield to digital electronics a n d photonics, filmmakers m a y rediscover the pioneer spirit. The m e d i u m is about to be reborn: now, if you can think it, you can film it. The w a y w e consume motion pictures has changed even more. In the 1970s, film buffs organized their lives a r o u n d repertory-house schedules, a n d might travel 50 miles to catch a screening of a rare film. Today, even the most out-oft h e - w a y t o w n has a video store with four or five thousand titles in stock, ready for viewing at a m o m e n t ' s notice, and if you can't find it there, you can get it o n the Internet. Twenty years ago, very few of us actually owned movies; today, even fewer of us do not. Films are a lot m o r e like books, n o w (and books are about to become m o r e cinematic). In the past twenty years our exposure to filmed entertainment has increased by a magnitude or more. While the n e w technology is exciting and promising, the art that it serves has yet to share t h e spirit of revolution. That's n o t surprising: art imitates life, n o t technology, a n d o u r political concerns are just a b o u t t h e s a m e as t h e y w e r e twenty years ago. The Cold War ended, not with a bang, but a series of whimpers, a n d ended too late to have the dramatic effect it should have had o n most people's lives (except for the victims of the Eastern European ethnic wars). The world of politics is as p o s t m o d e r n as o u r popular culture. We d o n ' t invent, w e don't react, w e don't create. We simply repeat, a n d repeat, a n d repeat. Ideas a n d feelings t h a t w e r e h e a d y , exciting, a n d full of p r o m i s e for a few brief s h i n i n g m o m e n t s in the 1960s are still with us, n o w nagging responsibilities, long in the tooth, often distorted ("politically correct"). I don't k n o w w h y this has happened (perhaps w e w e r e too b u s y trying to figure o u t h o w to get o u r c o m p u t e r s to work), but it has. It seems clear, now, that the generation of the 1960s will have to leave to our children the w o r k of reinventing social politics, restoring its humor, and rediscovering its joy. At least they have a fresh century at their disposal. This fourth edition of How To Read a Film was conceived from the beginning as a multimedia production.* The book seemed to welcome this approach not only because of its subject, but also for its architecture, which was global rather t h a n linear. The seven sections of the book stand independently; readers can use t h e m (or ignore them) as they see fit. Now the additional "parts" o n the disc are available for this do-it-yourself construction project. You can find out more about the multimedia edition at WWW.ReadFilm.com or by vmting or calling UNET 2 Corporation, 80 East 11th Street, New York NY 10003; 800 269 6422. W h e n I began w o r k o n the third edition, it looked like a six-month project. But the work stretched out for years as w e discovered more and more possibilities * The third edition appeared only in German as Film verstehen (1995).

INTRODUCTION verstehen has proceeded concurrently with the English-language edition.) Ludwig Moos of Rowohlt Verlag provided patient support during the process. To all, m u c h thanks. I'm also grateful to m y wife and children. While it is traditional in acknowledgements of this kind to t h a n k your family, in this case it is doubly appropriate. Not only did t h e y offer t h e support, e n c o u r a g e m e n t , a n d patience a n y writer needs, they also contributed directly. Their assistance in research, editing, production, and programming was invaluable. I hope they agree that this family project was more fun t h a n any yard sale. J. M. Sag Harbor August 1999

PREFACE to the Second Edition

PREFACE to the Second Edition

Is it necessary, really, to learn h o w to read a film?* Obviously, anyone of minimal intelligence over the age of four can—more or less—grasp the basic content of a film, record, radio, or television program without any special training. Yet precisely because the media so very closely mimic reality, w e apprehend t h e m m u c h more easily t h a n w e comprehend them. Film and the electronic media have drastically changed the w a y w e perceive the world—and ourselves—during the past eighty years, yet w e all too naturally accept the vast amounts of information they convey to us in massive doses without questioning h o w they tell us w h a t they tell. How To Read a Film is a n essay in understanding that crucial process—on several levels. In the first place, film and television are general mediums of communication. Certain basic interesting rules of perception operate: Chapter 3, "The Language of Film: Signs a n d Syntax," investigates a n u m b e r of these concepts. On a m o r e advanced level, film is clearly a sophisticated art—possibly the most important art of the twentieth century—with a rather complex history of theory and practice. Chapter 1, "Film as a n Art," suggests h o w film can be fit into the spectrum of the more traditional arts; Chapter 4, "The Shape of Film History," attempts a brief survey of the development of the art of movies; Chapter 5, "Film Theory: Form and Function," surveys some of the major theoretical developments of the past seventy-five years. Film is a m e d i u m and a n art, but it is also, uniquely, a very complex technological u n d e m k i n g . Chapter 2, "Technology: Image and Sound," is—I hope—a clear exposition of the intriguing science of cinema. Although film is dominant, the development of the electronic media—records, radio, tape, television, video—has proceeded in parallel with the growth of film during this century. The relationship between film and media becomes stronger with each passing year; Chapter 6 outlines a general theory of media (both print and electronic), discusses the equally complex technology of the electronic media, and concludes with a survey of the history of radio and television. As you can see from this outline, the structure of How To Read a Film is global rather t h a n linear. In each of t h e six chapters t h e intention has b e e n to try to explain a little of h o w film operates o n us psychologically, h o w it affects us politically. Yet these twin central dominant questions can be approached from a n u m ber of angles. Since most people think of film first as an art, I've begun with that * I have made no changes to this Preface. It was another time.

INTRODUCTION aspect of t h e p h e n o m e n o n . Since it's difficult to u n d e r s t a n d h o w t h e art has d e v e l o p e d w i t h o u t s o m e k n o w l e d g e of t h e technology, C h a p t e r 2 proceeds immediately to a discussion of the science of film. Understanciing technique, w e can begin to discover h o w film operates as a language (Chapter 3). Since practice does (or should) precede theory, the history of the industry a n d art (Chapter 4) precedes the intellectualization of it here (Chapter 5). We conclude by widening the focus to view movies in the larger context of media (Chapter 6). This order seems most logical to m e , b u t readers m i g h t very well prefer to begin w i t h history or theory, language or technology, a n d in fact the book has b e e n constructed in such a w a y that the sections can be read independently, in any order. (This has resulted in a small n u m b e r of repetitions, for which I ask your indulgence.) Please remember, too, that in any w o r k of this sort there is a tendency to prescribe rather t h a n simply describe the complex p h e n o m e n a u n d e r investigation. Hundreds of analytical concepts are discussed in the pages that follow, b u t I ask that readers consider t h e m just that—concepts, analytical tools— rather t h a n given laws. Film study is exciting because it is constantly in ferment. It's m y hope that How To Read a Film is a book that can be argued with, discussed, a n d used. In a n y a t t e m p t at u n d e r s t a n d i n g , t h e questions are usually m o r e important t h a n the answers. How To Read a Film is the result of ten years spent, mainly, thinking, writing, a n d talking about film a n d media. Having tried in the pages that follow to set d o w n a few ideas about movies and TV, I find I a m most impressed with the n u m ber of questions that are yet to be answered. Appendix n gives a fair sense of the considerable a m o u n t of work that has already been done (mainly in the past ten years); t h e r e is m u c h m o r e yet to do. Had How To Read a Film included all the material I originally wanted to cover it would have b e e n encyclopedic in length; as it is now, it is a n admittedly hefty, b u t nevertheless still sinewy, introduction. More and more it seems to m e movies must be considered in the context of media in general—in fact, I would go so far as to suggest that film is best considered simply as one stage in the ongoing history of communications. Chapter 6 introduces this concept. You will find some additional material on both print and electronic media in the Chronology. A few miscellaneous notes: Bibliographical information n o t included in footnotes will be found in the appropriate section of Appendix II. Film titles are in English, unless t h e original foreign language titles are commonly used. In cases w h e r e halftones are direct enlargements of film frames, this has b e e n noted in the captions; in most other cases, you can assume the halftones are publicity stills and m a y differ in slight respects from the actual images of the film. I o w e a very real debt to a n u m b e r of people w h o have helped in various ways. How To Read a Film never would have been written without my invaluable experience teaching film at the New School for Social Research. I thank Allen Austill for

PREFACE to the Second Edition allowing m e to do so, Reuben Abel for taking a chance on a young teacher in 1967, and Wallis Osterholz for her unflagging encouragement and necessary help, f a m especially grateful to m y students at the New School (and the City University of New York) w h o , although they m a y not k n o w it, gave at least as m u c h as they got. At Oxford University Press f h a v e b e e n particularly fortunate. Editor J o h n Wright, w i t h intelligence, savvy, and humor, has added immeasurably to w h a t ever success t h e book might enjoy. Ellen Royer helped to m a k e sense out of a manuscript that m a y have been lively, but was certainly sprawling and demanding. Dana Kasarsky designed the book w i t h care a n d dealt efficiently w i t h the myriad problems...