RB 9/19
Walter Benjamin points out that art can’t retain its original aura in reproduction. He uses film as an example. All film is an edited replica of whatever the camera captured. The aura of film’s replication—inherent in the live performance—is forever lost because time is irretrievable.
This principle is why Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, arguably one of the darkest movies of its decade, can become a trailer to the romantic comedy Shining. Through reproduction, Shining is a reinterpretation of The Shining, which itself is a reinterpretation of actors on a set.
In The Shining, Jack Nicholson, under the guidance of an off-screen Kubrick, becomes a recovering alcoholic who relapses on drinks provided by ghosts and then tries to murder his family. A soundstage in Britain becomes the interior of the haunted Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Exterior shots of Oregon and Glacier National Park become Colorado.
In Shining, Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” drapes the footage in sappiness. A sound bite from About Schmidt is added, in which Nicholson says, “I’m you’re new foster father.” Images of fictional Jack’s building animosity toward his family in The Shining are a prelude to his redemption in a new family in Shining. Wicked sneers become joyful grins. According to Benjamin, all of these things, individually and collectively, have lost their aura.
“I’d do anything for him” in its original context is said by an Academy Award-winning actor talking to another actor in front of a camera. In its The Shining context, the same phrase is said by an embittered father venting to the ghost of a bartender about his wife’s keeping him from his son: “I love the little son of a bitch. I’d do anything for him. Any f**king thing for him. That b***h! As long as I live she’ll never let me forget what happened.” In its Shining context, the same phrase is said by a bachelor who has found true love and wants to adopt his true love’s son.
The original aura of filming on a sound stage is remembered not as much for what it was, but for the horror movie reproduction has made it. The images’ connection to The Shining’s fictional storyline is so strong that Shining’s fictional storyline becomes an ironic contrast to a context that isn’t the same as the images’ original context in a movie studio.
This principle is why Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, arguably one of the darkest movies of its decade, can become a trailer to the romantic comedy Shining. Through reproduction, Shining is a reinterpretation of The Shining, which itself is a reinterpretation of actors on a set.
In The Shining, Jack Nicholson, under the guidance of an off-screen Kubrick, becomes a recovering alcoholic who relapses on drinks provided by ghosts and then tries to murder his family. A soundstage in Britain becomes the interior of the haunted Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Exterior shots of Oregon and Glacier National Park become Colorado.
In Shining, Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” drapes the footage in sappiness. A sound bite from About Schmidt is added, in which Nicholson says, “I’m you’re new foster father.” Images of fictional Jack’s building animosity toward his family in The Shining are a prelude to his redemption in a new family in Shining. Wicked sneers become joyful grins. According to Benjamin, all of these things, individually and collectively, have lost their aura.
“I’d do anything for him” in its original context is said by an Academy Award-winning actor talking to another actor in front of a camera. In its The Shining context, the same phrase is said by an embittered father venting to the ghost of a bartender about his wife’s keeping him from his son: “I love the little son of a bitch. I’d do anything for him. Any f**king thing for him. That b***h! As long as I live she’ll never let me forget what happened.” In its Shining context, the same phrase is said by a bachelor who has found true love and wants to adopt his true love’s son.
The original aura of filming on a sound stage is remembered not as much for what it was, but for the horror movie reproduction has made it. The images’ connection to The Shining’s fictional storyline is so strong that Shining’s fictional storyline becomes an ironic contrast to a context that isn’t the same as the images’ original context in a movie studio.
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Another good example is Brokeback to the Future.
posted by blogsquatch @ 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
Great example. It freaks me out how easy it is to manipulate anything and everything.
AS
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