15.12.2003 15:09
Anders Björler kirjoitti Moebius-foorumilla erääseen threadiin seuraavaa.
I read an interesting article about this phenomenon
by a swedish film columnist Anders Sjogren
(brother to one of the few professors in film theory here in Sweden).
He did an article about how his taste for cinema changed in
cycles during his review work, personal movie-going etc.
He had a pretty good point actually.
The article was called: "Jakten På Den Försvunna Kalkonen"
("The search for the lost turkey")- [publ. 1984]
His article centered around 7 stages of perception:
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[1] He started (of course) with the impact Hollywood films had
on him when he was a child. i.e – You see everything on screen
without any critical judgment.
[2] The viewer begins to separate good from bad.
[3] What Anders calls the "European Stage"
You start to get into Neo-realism, Nouvelle Vague,
Art house features etc.
You avoid Hollywood to full extent, and instead concentrate on
artistic and political features which makes you feel exclusive and more intellectual than the regular moviegoer.
[4] The "Everything Was Better In The Past" syndrome.
You grow tired of films in stage [3] in the same way
you grew tired of Hollywood films in [2].
"Have you seen ONE Bond movie – You have seen them all..."
is exchanged with:
"Have you seen ONE Bergman movie – You have seen them all.."
[5] Fed up with "talkoholics" and Dramas, the movie goer
seeks out the "thrills" by exploring stage [1] all over again,
where he sees everything without any critical position.
The viewer doesn't pay attention to the story to full extent,
but is rather focused with camera work, decor, musical themes
and details. This stage is centered around abnormal and
psychotic fixations with details and with an irrational gaze.
[6] "The Recovery"
The moviegoer relives his interest for film with the help
of a new kind of film. The abnormal and the bizarre
(David Cronenberg, Larry Cohen, George Romero etc).
This stage will be especially tough for the wallet.
Hunting down rare cassettes (uncut versions) etc...
Also, the sense of being an "outlaw" that focuses on the
obscure and the forbidden fills the emptiness of the
earlier stages, and you feel reborn.
[7] After a while you feel that the films of
David Cronenberg, George Romero etc are too tame and too boring.
You start to explore the really violent and shocking,
(splatter, horror, gore, action etc)
and at the same time the lowest forms of B-flicks
like Plan 9 From Outer Space etc.
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This summary is very narrowed down, but I think you get the point
anyway. I thought the original post was very similar to
what this old article describes.