My first entrance into the cinema of my Mind
Eye of the Story
Audrey Lane
January 6th, 2016
In a world of black and white comparisons, we are left to try and remain impartial, yet fully submerged in this idea of separate togetherness. It is in that grey area between the opposite polar spectrums that we must exist.
Innumerable variables contribute to the perception and cognition of the Human experience. Era, race, social class, are just a few examples of the key components that shape our innate ability to understand and perceive our surroundings. Language anomalies, symbolism, and sound have long been and always will be the Human’s main way of capturing thought, ideas, and emotion. However, that process of cognition will change from era to era, and from nation to social class.
One way, of many, to articulate this ever changing formula of expression and understanding is to study the trends of Theater and Cinema in history. “[The] tension between real and the imagined is the theater, this is why theater will always remain a necessity”(Baldwin p.31). Through theater, vast concepts can be metaphorically unveiled, leaving the story in the viewer’s hands to interpret. If we imagine the lens of a camera like a lucid eye, we can begin to understand the process of seeing cinema or theater as stimulant for unlocking the “first entrance into the cinema of [our] mind[s]”(Baldwin p.9). This concept is broadly expressed in the book The Devil Finds Work, by James Baldwin. We are brought along a journey through his mind of his understandings and critiques of several examples of Literature and Cinema during the 30s and 40s. What caught me was not his literal explanations of the media, but the moments when his mind wandered over into the ethereal realms of thought, allowing the concepts in the film to break down in his mind and take him through a visual journey of his relating experiences and hidden metaphors rising to the surface.
We are introduced to the stark, undeniable realization that “the narrow ribbon of light [before the theater curtains open] then contains a mystery – that mystery may contain the future. You are, yourself, suspended as mortal. Nobody can possibly know what is about to happen, it is happening. Each time, for the first time, for the only time”(Baldwin p. 32).
Here is the Visual component of my presentation for Week 1 Seminar on the book ‘The devil finds word’ by James Baldwin. This visual piece aims to take a peek into the cinema of your mind, and use the eye like a lucid lens.
Film created by Audrey Lane.
Cinematography by Audrey Lane/ B&W 35MM stock
Muisc by Chromophobia
PASSWORD: femdefilm