Canon Fodder

RMIT Media Studio 2019

The Story of Canon Fodder

Erin

Screened at the Backlot Studios in Southbank, Pamela B. Green’s 2018 documentary titled “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache” educated us on a female filmmaker who was so pivotal and significant in the art of filmmaking.

Green’s documentary was informative and engaging as we were taken on a journey throughout the film as Green uncovered more information about and work produced by Alice Guy-Blache.

Zac

Aside from watching various canonical films in class, the film Manifesto (2015; dir – Julian Rosefeldt) helped inform the class of how artistic movements and how art itself can be used to make change and bring about revolutionary action. On a personal level, the movie helped give focus to Assignment #4 and inspired me to start thinking about ways to incorporate performative and theatrical elements in my own manifesto when protesting the oppressive film canon. As more of an art film, this film directly influenced my group manifesto by highlighting how the film canon neglects to include obscure works of art like this, ironically denying artistic integrity and failing to truly celebrate it.

Ben

This is BFI’s Sight and Sound 2012 Top 50 Greatest Films of All-Time list. The list, updated and released every ten years, spans decades of work and is elected by a large group of directors, critics, and others within the film industry. We understood the list within the studio this semester as perhaps the central representation or manifestation of the film canon, demonstrating the advantage given to older films and the lack of diversity of both film form and the people making and appearing in them. We used the list as a primary example to base our discussion on whether the film canon, or any canon, is truly necessary.

Callum

A major part of Canon Fodder was coming to learn that the canon is not, in fact, unbiased and open to all, but a product of construction. In this hour-long short, Peter Jackson pokes fun at film history, and how it is heavily skewed to benefit those who came out on top, as opposed to telling a full, faithful history of the birth of film. Presented in week 2, Forgotten Silver was a fantastic way to frame the course, and teach our class the importance of not assuming that film is how it appears.

Luke E

The night itself went smoothly, however the sound on the night was a bit all over the place. We had to improvise with what we had in relation to not being able to connect to the speakers in the room. How ever we were able to have our pieces in their respective places and for them to look as good as the can be. Even with a small crowd because everyone was engaged and interested in the pieces being shown the overall night went without a hitch.

Jack

The video is edited by me, with the voice-over of Leah and material found by the group, as well as the expressive subtitles created by myself to present to manifesto. What this manifesto means to me is, the existence of canon  itself is a dishonor to art, canon does not define art. As it says in our manifesto, art is art, it has its own cycle from birth to death, and to birth again.

Leah

The “Art is Art” group (Zac, Callum, Jack and Leah) developed a surprise for both attendees on the night and the students of Canon Fodder; a delicious chocolate cake with the words “The Canon” on top in edible letters. This was an expression of our group’s key point that that the film canon must be consumed to make way to new and more informed art. However, it was also a celebratory end to the studio as a whole. We had all watched and consumed the canon over the course of the semester, and though it had a one-note flavour to it, it still tasted pretty good.

We also developed a printed zine with royalty-free images and the text of our poem. It was designed to accompany our video and reinforce our message to those who wished to take it home, as well as a visual reminder of the night.

Chloe

This is our groups final script for the manifesto “Kings of the Canon”.  I focused on creating the overall structure for the script with some key focal areas and Luke continued to write much of the script.

Script 

There are some films that are legendary, films that go down in history as being the greatest of all time. There is no denying that some films are remembered for years to come. But where are they? If you’re a student, a cinephile or even apart of the mass public. A lot of the time there is no way to get these films. These films get canonised and loved but why cant we access them? In a world of technological achievements like the internet, we have everything at our fingertips so why not these films. How can we have these films that can’t be seen be canonised? These Films are hidden away from the masses in old archives, there is no way for these  canons have legacy or relevancy without being watched. Being able to access them is the only way to validate a films greatness nostalgia can’t be the only reason why these films can be immortalised.

Nostalgia is a drug and can be used to deepen peoples opinions. Only stepping out of this mind set can we start to move forward. Most of the world has done this, as pop culture has caught up to the critics but they don’t seem like they want to change. In their minds pop culture films and media is viewed to be of  a lower class. a culture in their mind not worthy of holding a position in the canon. Why are the same films from decades ago stronger than any film today? Why has the canon not changed? Tell me why the audiences of today can’t be held responsible for voting about the canon. Films are made for the masses, we have opinions, especially when it comes to film. We watch, rewatch, share and fall in love with films old and new. But it seems like critics and filmmakers see films differently, we are the reason box office records get smashed, we are the audience that they make films for. We are capable of ruining careers. We want change We must give power to the masses

Hear the voices of the world that give cinema its meaning.

To the lords and ladies of the canon. Do you hear me?, this is the masses speaking to you. So shut up and listen. We have seen thought your deception and this has gone far enough. Your Elitist stigma is at and end, Films from 50 years ago may still hold weight in society. But they have had their run. The canon is a tool to evolve, not to stagnate. its going rotten and out dated after every new film is pushed aside to make way for these titans that are only  pumped by ego and nostalgia to meet your quota. To our brothers and sisters out there struggling to break through the elitist barrier, you are why we are here. These so called kings of canon shall rule no more. For it is us, this generation of creators who will forge a revolution forced by their neglect and arrogance. This lack of diversity must be overthrown A revolt is in the air. Evolution is what i  hear? this lack of opportunity and diversity is no more. You say you change but you never learn. Tradition has its place, we cannot deny. But when such tradition has stagnated. the academic tool of film canon as become bloated. how can we not demand reform? The rules of the game have changed, men with movie cameras have evolved. Down with the monarchy

This fixation on tradition is outdated and disruptive to perceptions of excellency in cinema and film

We demand a revolution 

A revolution is inevitable

The audience has the power

And we will succeed 

Bill

The last assignment being a group video essay, surprisingly worked very well for us all, since we all had a very similar approach to the work, all of our work had a nice even flow throughout the video.

The whole group worked well and i believe enjoyed collaborating on this assignment, which I believe is due to us being able to choose exactly how we wanted to do this assignment.

Caitlin

This manifesto was written by our group to contest the film canon on a variety of aspects. Our group posited that the film canon should have variety, and that all genres of film including documentaries, animation and foreign films should be valued. Similarly we argued that we should include modern movies as they too hold value and should be appreciated as newer works which have impacted our modern society.

And our copy of the group manifesto:

Intro:

Within the realm of any art form, it is ultimately inevitable for the discourse surrounding it to separate an exclusive group of works from the rest and give them a greater value, to place them amongst what are considered to be the greatest works within that art form, to form an allegedly comprehensive, widely and expertly elected list or ranking system, to create a canon. There are obvious complexities to any canonical system and discourse; who decides what exists within the canon? What qualities make works eligible? Is it’s inherent subjectivity a stable foundation? Is a canon beneficial or harmful to the discourse of the art form it represents? Does this justify its existence and perpetuation? Is it truly inclusive, and therefore is it truly complete?

Film as an art form is not exempt from its own canonical discourse. But there must be rules, or at least considerations, to be acknowledged and established in order for a film canon to exist justly and fairly and to be required and relevant, if it is even to exist at all. This relates mainly to representation and diversity of films within the canon, the inclusion of all film forms and styles, the advantage given to older films and the size of the canon. 

Statements:

In order to construct a truly comprehensive, reliable and accurate film canon, it must be inclusive of all genres, forms and styles of film. This includes animation, documentary, comedy, horror, experimental and short films. Such examples of ‘low art’ cannot be below consideration for a canon to be established. Documentaries, shorts and international films should be recognised as integral parts of film’s history and present within the film canon. A much wider range of films and categories must be placed in the Canon from horror slasher films to romantic comedies, from Avant-garde shorts to animated documentaries. Any list that contains “The greatest movies of all time” of some sort MUST take into consideration fairly ALL kinds of genre. Not just drama. Not just high concept. Not just Hitchcock. Not just Bollywood. Not just animation. Everything.

The current canonical system advantages older films as they have had – in some cases – up to a millennium for their impact and legacy to be truly considered within the film industry, popular culture and more widely, society at large. Recently released films are not in this position and are therefore disadvantaged within canonical discourse. This disparity must be considered when creating the canon. Films placed in the Canon should be from all different types of generations and recognised for their significance of production at that time. It is unjust to negate the value and worth of films which have been made in recent decades that undoubtedly shine a light on our modern world and strive to promote diversity and representation within cinema, as well as confront issues we as a society should be addressing. Such films have the power to change societal mores and popularize inclusivity of all people, which was less present in films we often see in the canon today.  Old films are not always superior to new films, and newer works should be considered within the film canon. Any list that contains “The greatest movies of all time” of some sort MUST take into consideration fairly ALL kinds of time and age. Not just Classical Hollywood. Not just New Hollywood. Not just Lumiere brothers. Not just Italia 60s. Every time. This leaves us with the question of why can’t modern day movies be placed in the canon?

While an agreed upon or democratically voted ‘Top 10’ or ‘Top 50’ list was appropriate in the earlier days of cinema, it is counterproductive to maintain this low and exclusive number of positions in the ever-growing film landscape. Just as the landscape of any art form will continue to grow, evolve and produce new art over time, the canon of this art form needs to grow with it, not holding reserved positions for earlier works and allowing for consideration of the new. 

Films should have a strong sense of replayability, where as the viewer is left wanting to rewatch the film over and over for one particular reason, for instance a viewer cannot stop laughing at this film and could watch it over and over again.

Canons are not always a necessity in cinema to determine what films are ‘the best’. Vertigo, go to hell. Citizen Kane, go to hell. Canon, go to hell. Sight & Sound, go to hell. Film-making is an ART. Film-consuming is a PRIVILEGE. Stop ruining our pleasures. Appreciate ALL KINDS. Praise ALL KIND.

Frank

I am responsible for our group’s final video which is the form of video essay. We recorded our own scripts and edit the video with the screening of films based on our own content.

Meiyi

Our group made a poster with the title ‘The need for diversity in the canon’ and four positioning statements which are ‘A diverse scope of art cannot truly be achieved without a diverse scope of artists’ ‘In today’s current society, in order for films to be successful, they must be diverse, both in their casting and their genre’ ‘Diversity in cultural background is important and should receive more emphasis’ and ‘The diversity of objective world reflects the diversity of art’.

Rory

khangnguyen • October 29, 2019


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published / Required fields are marked *

Skip to toolbar