Formalism Realism formal design/structure content plot story editing / design narrative code message challenge to staus quo normativity of status quo remains concealed Theoretical concepts: Defamiliarization Suture

Suture theory (Daniel Dayan, The Tutor-Code of Classical Cinema) ideology in systems of expression (2) the construction of identity (3) concealing the apparatus

The ideology of the system It’s not just that the message conveys a viewpoint (ideology) the way the message is structured also conveys a viewpoint (ideology) plot story (e.g., “History is written by the winners”) Cp: Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message.” code message

(2) The construction of identity Identity is constituted through codes: There are a limited number of possibilities for how to express yourself. These expressions are filtered through communally available codes (e.g., children take after their parents…) Works of art emerge from a set of beliefs about the world (ideologies) They in turn work to persuade us of these beliefs in a variety of ways.

Works of art do this through an ensemble of techniques (the apparatus): e.g., in film: The “camera eye” Dark room Screen fills our field of vision Framing / Mise-en-scène Music makes us sympathize with certain viewpoints Empathetic and Anempathetic Music Manufactured desire In Music / Narrative (e.g., clifhangers, MacGuffins, etc.)

(3) concealing the apparatus Realism / Naturalism simply refers to the ways in which the coded apparatus of the art object (incl. its ideological import) remains hidden. To the extent it remains hidden our own subjective experience is suspended (that is, it makes us forget that we are watching, evaluating) To the extent that we are made unaware of this situation through narrative techniques, editing, camera placement, etc. we enter into a situation where the hole left by our abdicated subjectivity is sutured to the subjective positions made available by the film.