WEEK 8 READING: “Shields, David. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. New York: Vintage, 2011. Print”

In Shields’ manifesto, I found that reading it was a bit of a gamble. I would either stumble upon something quite profound and intricate, or just plain ‘being different for the sake of being different’ pretentiousness. However, I understood most of what the reading’s purpose was. It explained to me how a Korsakow film can create a non-plot driven narrative through a montage or collage like sequence, by juxtaposing different images to explain my point or message in a non-linear way. It is experimental film through interactive online documentary. An extract that really grabbed me was “If you grow up with toys bought in the shop but things that are found around the farm, you do a sort of bricolage. Bits of string and wood. Making all sorts of things, like webs across the legs of a chair. And then you sit there, like a spider. The urge to connect bits that don’t seem to belong together has fascinated me all my life.” (pg.110, A313) What Shields is doing is preaching the non-linear. The combination of randomness to create something whole, and a constructed thing, in and of itself. On the other hand, an article saying “The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.” While this is true for experimental film, reading some text which may not go together can also alienate a reader and they can become bored. With the ever decreasing attention spans of society, to read a collection of ‘gibberish’ would only serve to show pretentiousness, intoxication and mindless self indulgence. Such as the quote “I hate quotations”. I don’t get it. It may be subjective art that I have to dissect, but the result is that its not engaging enough for someone to care about. No one cares. That can become a huge risk for experimentation with this sort of media/mediums. My reasoning as to why experimental film will never receive the attention, adoration or capital that narrative film does.