Andre Bazin's "The Ontology of the Photographic Image," Part 2: Waltz with Bashir
TLDRThis video analyzes the animated documentary Waltz with Bashir through the lens of theorist Andre Bazin's views on photography and film. It explores the tension between film as an objective document versus a subjective aesthetic experience. Scenes from Waltz with Bashir are analyzed regarding how they play with this dichotomy, like manipulating memories and photographs. The video questions Bazin’s belief in photographic truth, using the film’s animation and live-action blending to complicate notions of medium realism and fact versus fiction.
Takeaways
- 😀 The video discusses Bazin's views on photography/film as objective media vs painting as subjective
- 😟 It notes Bazin may be too naive about photographic objectivity
- 🎥 It relates these ideas to the animated documentary Waltz With Bashir
- 🤔 WWB uses animation to depict subjective experiences like dreams/memories
- 👀 WWB visually questions photography's truth claims at times
- 📜 It defines documentary as factual info, not the same as photographic index
- 🎨 WWB shows tension between objective documentary and subjective animation
- 😮 An ending scene shockingly switches to live footage
- 🤨 A critic argues this seems to contradict WWB's message
- ❓ But the tension between media may resist clear conclusions
Q & A
What is the main tension that the film Waltz With Bashir presents regarding animation and photography?
-The main tension is between animation's aesthetic freedoms versus photography's indexical, documentary qualities. The film uses animation to depict subjective experiences like dreams and memories, yet it also wants to present factual information about real historical events.
How does the film question ideas about photography's relationship to truth and reality?
-It questions these ideas in a few ways - through the story about manipulated childhood photos, by showing the main character unable to recognize himself in a photo, by visually mixing real and imagined elements, and by using animation to aestheticize traumatic events.
What is Bazin's view about photography's objectivity versus painting's subjectivity?
-Bazin argued that photography has an objectivity and credibility that painting lacks due to its mechanical photographic process. He saw photography as a more objective documentation of reality.
How might the film's ending visualize the tension between animation and photography?
-The ending suddenly switches to original documentary footage, creating a stark contrast after 90 minutes of animated depiction. The use of lens flares and prominent sounds also highlight differences between animation and photographic media.
What is the purpose of the sequence describing manipulated childhood photos?
-This sequence questions ideas about photography's faithfulness in capturing truth/reality. It also shows how memories can be manipulated much like photos, connecting subjective experience and objective documentation.
How does the film play with mixing real and fabricated elements?
-Some examples are: inserting imagined carnival images into the background of a real conversation, adding unscripted background action that would not happen in animation, using photographic artifacts like lens flares in animated sequences.
What does the film's hybrid animated/documentary form allow it to do?
-The unique form allows the film to visually depict subjective experiences and memories more freely through animation, while still conveying factual information from the real interviews and conversations that were filmed.
Why might Bazin and Fulman both be interested in what photography can do psychologically to viewers?
-They both seem to recognize photography's unique power to make us believe or emotionally affect us in ways distinct from other media. The film explores how this power relates to memory and witnessing trauma.
How are ideas of animation, photography, and cinema connected in the analysis?
-Bazin links cinema and photography through ideas of objectivity, indexicality, and documenting reality over time. The film then puts animation in contrast to explore differences in subjectivity, aesthetics, and relationship to truth.
What techniques does the film use to subtly question notions of photography as objective truth?
-Some examples are: the main character not recognizing himself in a photo, showing the camera fall off a tank, inserting fictional images into real conversations, adding unscripted background action in animated scenes.
Outlines
👁️ Introduction to Bazin's theory of photography in film
The paragraph introduces Bazin's arguments about photography's objectivity and cinema's relation to photography. It cautions against conflating cinema's power to make us believe with objective truth. The film Waltz with Bashir creates a dialogue with Bazin's theory by using animation to depict subjective experiences.
📜 Defining documentary cinema by factual information
The paragraph distinguishes between photographic index and factual information in defining documentary cinema. It cites Bordwell and Thompson's definition focused on factual information rather than indexical documentation. Waltz with Bashir stretches the link between index and fact by using animation to depict subjective experiences.
😯 Questioning photography's truth claims
The paragraph analyzes how the film questions photography's faithfulness and truth claims. Examples given include: the protagonist not recognizing himself in a photo, the slipping camera, and the manipulated childhood photos study. The film confirms some of Bazin's claims about photography while challenging others.
👀 Comparing animation and photographic media
The paragraph compares the depicted conversation sequence with how it might have looked filmed documentary-style. It analyzes differences in: malleable images, blending real and unreal, and lack of unscripted background action in animation vs. film. This questions indexical qualities of film vs. animation.
🎥 Tension between animation and photography
The paragraph analyzes the powerful ending scene with real filmed footage. It questions simplistic dichotomies between animation/film and acknowledges complex tensions the film evokes between indexicality and aesthetics. The goal is raising questions rather than definitive conclusions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡documentary
💡animation
💡photography
💡index
💡subjective
💡objective
💡truth
💡reality
💡fact
💡evidence
Highlights
Bazan argues photography and film have a degree of objectivity and credibility absent from painting
Bazan says cinema completes photography's objectivity by capturing change over time
Bazan conflates cinema's power to make us believe without reservation and its objective recording of facts
Documentaries present factual information about the world in varied ways like fiction films
Waltz with Bashir uses animation to depict subjective experiences like dreams and memories
The film questions photography's faithfulness and tensions between subjective experience and objective documents of facts
The film reminds us photos can be manipulated to make us believe things that never occurred
The film confirms some of Bazan's claims about photography but challenges others
The film explores photography's indexical qualities by using the non-indexical medium of animation
The film highlights unique aspects of cinematographic capture versus animation through subtle details
The ending scene creates a tension between animation's aesthetic freedom and film's indexical documentation
The lens flare introduces a photographic artifact into the animated medium
The sound has an indexical quality that feels like a documentary recording
The film resonates with Bazan's theories but is difficult to draw conclusions about
The ending invites questions about the line between animation and photographic media
Transcripts
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