Andre Bazin's "Ontology of the Photographic Image"

Film & Media Studies

27 Jan 202122:16

EducationalLearning

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TLDRThis video analyzes Andre Bazin's influential essay 'The Ontology of the Photographic Image,' explaining Bazin's key ideas about photography. It examines how photography satisfies the human desire to preserve things against decay, freeing painting to pursue more abstract aims. Bazin argues photos have a special 'objectivity' and magical power to transfer the being of objects onto film. Even distorted photos retain the 'ontology' of their subjects. The video analyzes Bazin's bold claim that a photo 'is' its subject, relating it to concepts like the index. It asks how we should understand photography’s complex relationship to reality when viewing fictional films.

Takeaways

😀 Bazin sees a psychological desire in visual arts to preserve bodies against decay, like embalming mummies
😮 He argues photos satisfy our appetite for illusion via mechanical reproduction with no human agency
📷 Bazin claims photos have an automatic objectivity lacking in painting
🔍 The ontology or essence of a photo is it captures the model's existence like a fingerprint
👀 Photos unite iconic resemblance with indexical evidence of what was photographed
🖼️ Bazin believes the arrival of photography freed painting from having to achieve visual realism
💡 He asserts photos transfer the reality of objects depicted to reproductions of them
🤔 Bazin provocatively states photos are created out of and actually are the model itself
🎥 Understanding the indexicality of photos helps explain their power in fiction films
🕵️‍♂️ Waltz with Bashir uses photos in complex ways not reducible to simple truth or reality

Q & A

What is Bazin's main argument about photography in the essay?
-Bazin argues that photography satisfies our psychological need to preserve things from decay. He says photography does this better than painting because of its mechanical, automatic process which seems to directly capture the ontology or 'being' of the subject.
How does Bazin define 'ontology' in referring to photographic images?
-For Bazin, the 'ontology' of a photographic image refers to its essence or nature. Specifically, he argues a photo contains the 'being' of the subject even if the image is blurry or lacks visual detail. This is because of photography's indexical relation to the subject.
What is the difference between iconic and indexical signs?
-An iconic sign resembles its subject, like a painting. An indexical sign has a direct connection to its subject, like a footprint. Bazin argues photos uniquely combine the two - they resemble their subject (iconic) while also showing evidence the subject existed (indexical).
How did the invention of photography transform painting, according to Bazin?
-Bazin argues painting historically tried to satisfy the need to preserve subjects from time's decay through visual resemblance. But photography does this automatically. So painting was freed to pursue more abstract, aesthetic aims not focused on strict verisimilitude.
What does Bazin mean when he says a photograph 'transfers the model's reality' to the image?
-This confusing quote suggests Bazin believes a photo doesn't just represent reality, but actually contains the essence or 'reality' of the original subject within the image itself. The photo transfers that to the reproduction.
Why does Bazin claim a photograph possesses the 'irrational power' of the model?
-Even a fuzzy, unclear photo retains indexical power - evidence of the subject's existence. Our mind irrationally connects that indexical power to the 'essence' of the actual subject. So we perceive the power of the subject's reality within the photo.
How is the photographer's agency limited in Bazin's view?
-The photographer chooses the subject framing, etc. But Bazin stresses the mechanical automatic process where light itself creates the image. So there is an 'objectivity' from light's agency, not just the photographer's.
What does Bazin mean when he says the photograph 'is the model'?
-This confusing quote tries to argue the photo contains the model's essence so fully that they are identical. A more charitable reading may be the model's being is constituted by the light it reflects, which the photo captures.
How might we relate Bazin's ideas to the animated film Waltz With Bashir?
-Waltz With Bashir uses animation rather than live footage, questioning photography's 'truth.' But its animated images still contain indexical traces of past events. The film explores tensions between subjective memory and photographic truth.
How can fiction films harness photography's indexical power?
-Fiction films are constructed realities, not documents. But by filming actual people and places, they gain indexical traces - evidence of existed things. Films can aestheticize this to heighten a sense of realism and presence.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introducing Andre Bazin and his essay

This paragraph introduces Andre Bazin as an influential French film theorist and critic. It provides background on Bazin and contextualizes his 1945 essay "The Ontology of the Photographic Image." The paragraph summarizes Bazin's view that visual arts share a psychological motivation with embalming to preserve human bodies against decay. It also explains Bazin's argument that photography freed painting from the pressure to achieve visual realism.

05:01

😊 Bazin's reductive history of Western painting

This paragraph acknowledges that Bazin provides a simplified history of Western painting becoming increasingly realistic over time. The purpose is to set up his argument about how the invention of photography in the 19th century freed painting to pursue other stylistic goals like abstraction. Bazin argues photographic technology satisfied the psychological desire to perfectly reproduce reality.

10:07

😲 Photography's special objectivity

This is the core paragraph summarizing Bazin's main point - the special "objectivity" of photography compared to other visual media. Bazin argues photos relieve our unconscious desire to substitute something more than an approximation of objects. They embalm objects freed from temporal decay. Even distorted photos retain the "ontology" of their subjects. Paintings cannot match the "irrational power" of photos to directly emanate from their subjects.

15:09

😕 Struggling to comprehend Bazin's meaning

This paragraph acknowledges the seeming irrationality of Bazin's claim that a photo "is" its subject, violating logic and identity. It explores charitable interpretations - maybe Bazin means a photo captures the light, which is the essence of an object. The paragraph emphasizes Bazin's attempts to defamiliarize assumptions about photography's nature.

20:16

😃 Understanding photos as icons and indexes

This concluding paragraph distinguishes photos as having both iconic resemblance and indexical connection to their subjects. It uses C.S. Peirce's philosophical categories to analyze this. It suggests Bazin privileges photographic indexicality over iconicity. The paragraph poses open questions about how indexicality functions in fiction films and animation.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡ontology

Ontology refers to the essence or fundamental nature of something. Bazin uses it in the title to ask what is the essential nature of a photographic image that distinguishes it from other types of images. He argues that photography has a special connection to reality and the objects it depicts that painting lacks.

💡indexicality

Indexicality refers to the direct physical relationship between a sign and the object or event it denotes. Bazin suggests photos have an indexical bond with their subjects similar to a fingerprint, as the image is created purely by light rays bouncing off the subject without human interpretation.

💡realism

Realism refers to art that represents subjects truthfully without idealization. Bazin argues the history of painting shows a trend toward increased realism as it tried to perfectly capture reality. But photography freed painting from this pursuit by easily achieving visual realism.

💡resemblance

Resemblance means how accurately an image captures the visible qualities of its real-world subject. Bazin argues the main psychological motivation for pre-modern images was preserving subjects through resemblance. But photography satisfies this so well it allowed new artistic styles like abstraction to emerge.

💡objectivity

Objectivity means representing the world without distortion from human perception/interpretation. Bazin argues photos have a degree of built-in objectivity since the camera mechanically records the image rather than an artist manually depicting each detail.

💡aesthetics

Aesthetics refers to the principles underlying the beauty and appreciation of art. Bazin contrasts photography's ability to satisfy people's psychological desire for realism with the separate aesthetic goals and styles of painting as an art form.

💡illusion

Illusion means an image that convincingly depicts its subject in a way that goes beyond just resemblance. Bazin argues photos completely satisfy people's desire for visual illusions of subjects through automated reproduction.

💡temporality

Temporality means existing within time. Bazin suggests photos depict subjects freed from temporal contingencies like decay and change over time. A photo preserves the subject as it existed in one specific moment.

💡iconicity

Iconicity refers to the visual similarity between an image/sign and the object it represents. Paintings have higher iconicity than photos in some cases by more accurately depicting colors, details etc. But photos compensate through their indexicality.

💡symbolic

A symbolic sign like a word has no inherent visual connection to its referent. Bazin contrasts symbolic signs with icons that directly resemble their subjects and indexes like photos that have a physical bond.

Highlights

Bazin was an influential French film theorist and critic who wrote about the ontology or essence of the photographic image

Bazin argues all visual arts have a psychological motivation to preserve bodies against decay, like embalming mummies

Photography satisfies our appetite for visual illusion via mechanical reproduction without human agency

Painting was freed to pursue more abstract aims once photography took over the function of realism and resemblance

A photograph seems produced by light itself bouncing off objects, making light an 'author' or 'artist'

Photography has a different claim to objectivity than painting due to its mechanical process

An out-of-focus photo still possesses the 'ontology' or being of the model depicted

Bazin shockingly claims a photo 'is' the model, conveying its reality or being

A photo may lack iconic resemblance but retains indexical value pointing to something real

An index like a footprint shows evidence of something, unlike an icon which just resembles

A photo yokes together icon and index - resemblance and physical testimony

How do filmmakers use photography's indexicality for aesthetic effects in fiction films?

Can photographic indexicality provide 'truth' or just an impression of past reality?

Bazin wants us to rethink assumptions about photographic images and what they capture

Highlighting photography's indexical testimony helps us appreciate it in new ways

Transcripts

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