A Manifesto For the Individual
A manifesto championing the preferences of the individual, not out of opposition, but out of heart. It is time that individuals rejoice solely in the beauty of their own cinematic experience.
Exquisite Corpse Exercise
An exquisite corpse threading together our manifesto positioning statements on the high/low art dichotomy, ‘guilty pleasures’ and the canon’s waiting game.
Group 5 – Exquisite Corpse from Media Factory on Vimeo.
Jasmine
Positioning Statements:
- In 2020, we must champion the narratives, films and creations of marginalised people – with even more vigour than that which has been afforded to straight white men for the course of cinema history.
- It is time to get rid of the canon’s waiting game. No more reluctance around declaring the greatness of new films. Shout that they are masterpieces the second they end if you truly believe so.
- We must never be shamed into the ‘guilty pleasure’ again. Enjoy things for the sake of it. Enjoy things because they speak to your heart, soul, brain and everything in between.
Summary:
Our final manifesto takes a video format to champion the preferences of the individual, as opposed to collective cinema notions. We approached this through reciting our manifesto’s in character from various ‘guilty pleasure’ or ‘low art’ films. I largely spoke to our overall manifesto essence (in a questionable attempt at a Carrie Bradshaw get-up). Creating this manifesto was a highly engaging and unique experience, that allowed me to dive deep into our chosen issue with the canon. Not only that, but it was certainly a fun time.
Maddy
POsitioning STatments:
- Canonical lists are simply a cover up for the cis, white male lens – there is no excuse in the 21st century for it to remain so close minded and exclusive in its enrolment form for films.
- The idea of ‘guilty pleasures’ are in their basic form a gate keeping ideal that should be excluded from our cinephile vernacular – why be shamed for what you love?!
- Ye old film does not need to held over our heads as we claim recent films to be wonderful. Just because a film was revolutionary or the first of its kind does not make it the best, and that must be recognised when compiling lists of the greats.
summary:
We approached this manifesto in the format of a video essay, where we tackled the distinction between high and low art. In dividing up our segments, I decided to do the ‘guilty pleasures’ section of our piece, which resulted in me dressing as John Mcclaine from Die Hard and Divine from Pink Flamingos – wildly different films that still come under the umbrella of guilty pleasures. This project was tremendously fun and extremely interesting, as the topic itself is something I’m interested in and would love to explore more. On top of that, I got to dress up as a drag queen for a uni project which is always a good time.
Henry
Positioning Statments:
- As an individual you are completely unique, so are your sensibilities, morals, and tastes. This means that not every piece of work that is produced will connect with you as an individual, so to allow a canon that can be recognised as defining a ‘greatest film of all time’ is simply unjust to the importance of the work and the individual it relates to. A canon is only significant to the individual who produces it, for a number of cultural and personal factors. In thinking this, it must mean that a canon should be a personal project that effectively works to spark a dialogue within the art form as way of perpetuating significant spread of personal and cultural beliefs that effect the landscape of film.
- As a canon is produced there can not be a set criteria that dictates what an individual must choose as a film that belongs within it. The removal of this criteria allows for all forms of film to become legitimate and significant works of art that are not easily recognised by the broad public. These criteria act to disparage the understanding of what film is and what it can be, inevitably reducing the amount of great works that could not effectively be translated in to the current understanding of film.
- The idea of a ‘high art’ is a classist ideal that only acts to gate keep both the film industry and critical one, such respects are antagonistic to the formation of a canon as its criteria surrounding it effectively diminish film as a whole. This is due to placing certain elements surrounding film above another allowing for a stale and fruitless art form that slowly rots away from the inside. A film should be judged upon its own merits and not by the nature of its production or targeted audience.
Summary:
In approaching the creation of our manifesto we broke down the major points the individual may face when expressing their opinion on film. I worked upon the discussion of High and Low art and how people utilise these titles to put down other works of art and to elevate films they specifically enjoy. In the video essay I use two films, The Shining and The Evil Dead as both could be considered examples of “High and Low Art” but are very similar in different ways, such as both being works of horror. I hope this project for others is a thought provoking work but also an enjoyable viewing experience.