Thoughts and Commentary about Astruc and the Movement of Intentionality within Cinema

This week’s readings in particular were enjoyable. What was notable was Astuc’s theories around The Birth of the New Avant-Garde and the “camera-stylo” where the camera is seen to have mobility and flexibility like a pen. In specific, more like that of where cinema is increasingly recognized as a form of art rather than what we were talking about a few weeks ago from Arnheim and Kracauer’s conversations where theorists of that time viewed it more as a form of either leisure/enjoyment and or recording. Theorists for this week’s readings have effectively and almost entirely accepted cinema as a medium and an art. And in fact are now talking about how it is not only an art but also intentional. That it can go beyond the simple frames of art and into a sociopolitical aspect where it also is reflexive and could comment on or critique the movement of “present day” pushing spectators to reflect and think about the contents of the medium. Astruc in particular was fascinated by this that the spectator can break through the “tyranny of the visual” and into an almost meta level where there are subtleties as well as flexibilities in the so called “statements” brought forth by the medium. Cinema is now able to express thought. And this week other readings from the Chronicle of Higher Education and the article by Hottell further explore the intentionality of cinema in more detailed lens.