Joan, all,
I agree that there's not yet (and perhaps will never be) a single,
comprehensive history, for all the reasons Scott says. I think those of us who
teach and who may be following the current debates on MOOCs as pedagogical
tools might propose to design one of these online courses. (How 'bout it? If
McGraw-Hill won't have us, maybe Coursera or xEd will! "The History of
Avant-Garde Film"..... we could all make lots 'o' money!)
Joan, I just finished teaching an Avant-Garde Film History course, which I
offer fairly regularly at UNM. We spend a good few weeks at the beginning of
the semester on the European avant-garde movements, and then move on to
(mostly) American films, 1940s to the present.
Because I haven't yet figured out a way to force my students to read, this
semester I just typed out some excerpts from what I thought were the most
useful articles on the particular film(s) or movements, and handed them out in
class. For further reading (hope reigns eternal!) I also put some 100+ articles
on e-reserves, which I can burn to a disc. I'd be happy to send those to you,
or to anyone else who might be interested.
I'll contact you offline, Joan.
Nina Fonoroff
Department of Cinematic Arts
University of New Mexico
-----Original Message-----
From: scott <sc...@financialcleansing.com>
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com>
Sent: Sat, May 11, 2013 7:50 pm
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] textbook recommendation
Hey Jonathan et al,
I don't actually think there can be a single, comprehensive history--since
"avant-garde cinema" can mean so many things, what exactly is "avant-garde" and
what all does that history include?
In any case, I think it's better to have students enter the field by way of
the filmmakers than by a single overview.
Scott
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] textbook recommendation
From: Jonathan Walley <wall...@denison.edu>
Date: Sat, May 11, 2013 11:38 am
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com>
Scott (et. al.),
Your CRITICAL CINEMA books are extremely useful, in part because they are,
indeed, reader friendly. I would say that about MOTION STUDIES, too. I hope
it's clear that my point was that I don't think there is a single broad
historical survey of avant-garde cinema, so that anyone who wishes to teach a
survey course on the subject must cull together material from different
sources, including most definitely your books. I've used several of your
interviews and other writings in classes I've taught, as well as in my own
research.
Maybe it's wrongheaded of me to hope for a "complete" history - and as I
suggested in my last post, anyone who attempted such a thing would probably be
in for a lot of flack. I don't know that a historical survey ala
Bordwell/Thompson's or David Cook's would ever find a publisher: no matter how
broad such a study would be, it would still be too narrow and specialized to be
appealing as a textbook to an academic publisher. And perhaps the very idea is
anathema to the avant-garde spirit. Imagine the "for dummies"-style prose of a
college textbook (MgGraw-Hill's "The Big Book of Avant-Garde Cinema") applied
to Brakhage, or Frampton, or Rainer - yikes. But I would still like to see, one
of these days, a broad, synthetic, and straightforward account of the subject,
as it might encourage more teaching of this kind of cinema at the college or
even high school level.
Best,
Jonathan
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 2:10 PM, <sc...@financialcleansing.com> wrote:
Jonathan,
I've always hoped that my Critical Cinema books might be useful for
undergraduates as introductory texts. They do not pretend to provide anything
like a "complete" history, but these volumes can provide a sense of the world
of avant-garde cinema and the thinking of (some of) the filmmakers who have
energized this particular world of cinema.
Scott
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] textbook recommendation
From: Jonathan Walley <wall...@denison.edu>
Date: Sat, May 11, 2013 7:13 am
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com>
Dear Joan (and Frameworkers),
I hope people respond on-list, as this is a perennial problem for anyone
teaching undergraduate courses on avant-garde cinema. To my knowledge, there is
not a good general history of AGF, much less one accessible to students with
little or no background in the subject (or related subjects like art history).
Indeed, I can't think of any book that purports to offer such a history - the
closest I can think of is A.L. Rees's A HISTORY OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND VIDEO,
which, while fascinating, is a little advanced for uninitiated readers, and
leaves off in the 1970s before going on to focus specifically on British
practice. Despite its title, it's a little scattershot historically (which I
say as an admirer of the book and of Rees's work generally).
Any other text that comes to mind is focused on specific periods, nations,
filmmakers, or themes. For this reason, I've always cobbled together my reading
lists for such classes in the same way you're doing - journal essays, book
chapters, artist interviews, online stuff, etc.
This is "the history we need," as they say; I've always wondered why there
isn't such a book. And I've thought about writing one. Perhaps it seems like
too pragmatic, or too simplistic, an endeavor for avant-garde-y folks, or
perhaps it's the fear of backlash against such a project, which would
necessarily oversimplify, leave out worthy filmmakers, suffer from blind spots,
etc. Maybe the controversy over VISIONARY FILM, and the related "Essential
Cinema" canon, has made subsequent scholars wary of taking on a synthetic,
general historical account of the subject.
I have only skimmed it, but Michael O'Pray's AVANT-GARDE FILM: FORMS, THEMES,
AND PASSIONS is probably worth looking at.
Anyway, probably not a terribly helpful response, but confirmation that there
are others out there who have the same problem. So I do hope others on this
list will chime in publicly.
Best,
Jonathan
On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 9:24 AM, Joan Hawkins <jchaw...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Frameworkers,I'll be teaching a History of the American Avant-garde class
in the fall (there'll be 2 weeks of early cinema and then we'll move quickly
into the 1942-present period) -- and I would like to have a good history to use
as the basic text, to be supplemented with journal essays, artist's essays
etc. Is there a text you'd recommend, preferably one that
discusses some of the major critical responses to the films as well as the
films themselves?
The class will be offered to juniors and seniors, with very little experimental
film background or experience. There will be a production for component for
students who sign up for it (so students can take the history course alone or
take an experimental production course in conjunction with my crit/hist class).
Feel free to respond to me offlist.
Many thanks, Joan
--
Joan Hawkins
Associate Professor
Indiana University
Dept of Communication and Culture
800 E. Third St
Bloomington, IN 47405
office phone 812-855-1548
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--
Jonathan Walley
Associate Professor
Department of Cinema
Denison University
wall...@denison.edu
_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
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_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
--
Jonathan Walley
Associate Professor
Department of Cinema
Denison University
wall...@denison.edu
_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
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https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
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