Group D answers from 3/5 reading and questions for 3/10 readings

Alea thinks that Cuban cinema’s social function in Cuba serves several purposes. The first is that it should “elevate the viewer’s revolutionary consciousness” and to prepare them for the ideological struggle they will face in terms of the reactionary tendencies they face, since much of Cuban cinema deals with social progress and realities of Cuba. The other purpose is that it should bring enjoyment to their life. Cuban cinema should bring social and political awareness to viewers’ lives, and carry on with them after they are no longer watching the movie.

Alea discusses how film originated from the bourgeoisie, and that means of film production and conventions were created in the inventions of the bourgeois taste and needs. Furthermore, film became popular in the sense that it could attract a large, diverse crowd, but it was not popular in the sense that it was a true expression of the people. Since film originated from bourgeois interests, Alea argues that it’s better for capitalism interests. This is because cinema has never been able to successfully fuse revolutionary ideology with mass acceptance that way socialist interests want cinema to do. This relates to the Revolution beause if revolutionary ideology in cinema could be accepted by the masses, it would be an effective medium to use as a tool in order to reach the broadest audience and spread a message.

Throughout his discourse, Alea repeatedly states that cinema is clearly marked by class origins. He observes that there have been small rebellions within the realm of cinema, but "cinema continues to be the most natural incarnation of the petty bourgeois spirit which encouraged cinema at its birth more than eighty years ago." Alea goes on to draw attention to a capitalist spirit associated with the cinema and broader entertainment industry. Cinema became a "cultural/cultured" art due to cinema's need for as large an audience as possible. In Alea's words: "they did not want to evaluate cinema to the category of true art. Art and the people didn't get along." Cultural art allowed cinema to appeal to the masses without the same kind of blind ignorance applied to other forms of art

Q1. How does Hayward explain the relationship between nation and state?

Q2. Does the article assert that culture is distinguished by its tangible characteristics (ie, cinema, specific films) or by the broader intangibles?

Q3. What assumptions about nationalism does Willemen’s article rest upon?

Q4. How does Willemen relate the national and the international, and identity and subjectivity in socio-cultural formations through Mikhali Bakhtin’s idea of “creative understanding”?

Q5. Why does the foundations of cinema differ between countries depending on the dynamics at work within and between industrial and governmental institutional networks?

GROUP C QUESTIONS for March 5

1. What does Alea think Cuban cinema's social function should be?

2. What does Alea mean, when he says, "cinema almost always has responded better to capitalism's interests than to socialism's?" How does that relate to the Revolution? 

3. Why was cinema considered "cultural art" rather than just "art?"

Group C: Espinosa Articles Responses

1. What is “imperfect cinema” according to Julio Garcia Espinosa? How does he
   predict art creation and spectatorship will change in the future?

Espinosa describes a perfect cinema as a ‘technically and artistically masterful’ one. Imperfect cinema comes from a true artist who is prepared to take any risk, knowing that the product will still be artistic expression. Espinosa basically treats perfect cinema as one that is mass produced, to fit the expectations or ‘needs’ of an audience who is not really interested in the artistic form. Imperfect cinema ‘finds a new audience in those who struggle, and it finds its themes in their problems. For imperfect cinema, “lucid” people are the ones who think and feel and exist in a world which they can change; in spite of all the problems and difficulties, they are convinced that they can transform it in a revolutionary way. Imperfect cinema therefore has no need to struggle to create an “audience”. In contrary to the perfect cinema, imperfect cinema is “no longer interested in quality or technique. It can be created equally well with Mitchell or with an 8mm camera in a studio or in a guerrilla camp in the middle of the jungle. Imperfect cinema is no longer interested in predetermined taste, and much less in “good taste.” Espinosa refers to Marx by stating that “in the future there will be no longer painters, but rather men, who amongst other things, dedicate themselves to painting” this can be related back to the notion that perfect cinema does not concentrate on the essentials of art itself, and so anyone can do it. Espinosa mentions that for the future, folk art will be the essence. “There will be no need to call it that, because nobody and nothing will any longer be able to paralyze again the creative spirit of people. Art will not disappear into nothingness; it will disappear into everything.”

2. What are the three problems that Espinosa believes comes with producing cinema? Can these problems be overcome? How are these problems portrayed in Cuban cinema?

Espinosa first discusses art as a “disinterested activity.” Espinosa talks about using cinema as an art to discuss interests without camouflaging them. He cites war films that denounce war while showing it as a grand spectacle as disingenuous. Espinosa then identifies three problems with producing cinema. The first problem is the “addressee.” Espinosa says films are mostly made for an unaware public that does not have the potential to participate in changes. Espinosa says the addressee should be shifted to those struggling and who are in the process of producing changes. The second problem is “quality.” Espinosa discusses the idea of Paris as a quality city over Hanoi. But Espinosa says he finds the imperfections of producing a picture without makeup more attractive. Espinosa says contemporaneity and modernity are being depicted as the most common realities, and when this goes against the theme of a film, it can be consequential to the film’s purpose. The third problem is referred to as “an economy of waste.” Espinosa says this happens when great capitalist countries incite unnecessary consumption in much smaller, less developed countries. These countries can never reach such economic size, and Espinosa says they do not have to. But works of art should “contribute to eliminating the culture of waste.”

3. According to Espinosa, why is the revolution the most important factor in cultivating a national Cuban cinema as well as Cuban popular art in general? Why is the revolution itself an expression of culture?

Espinosa says the revolution enables the dissolution of elitist concepts and practices in art. The revolution is the only way to make the “total and free presence of the masses” possible. With this comes “the definitive disappearance of the rigid division of labor and of a society divided into sectors and classes.” Espinosa calls the revolution the highest expression of culture because it will stop the fragmentary activity of art.  

4. According to Espinosa, who are the audience for “imperfect cinema”?

Espinosa says the audience for “imperfect cinema” is those who struggle. Artists have had elite audiences condition the form of their work. Imperfect cinema is not concerned with quality, technique, or good taste. Imperfect cinema does not celebrate results. It instead shows the process that generates problems. Its audience is struggling and “lucid.” They think, feel, and exist in a world they can change. In spite of their struggles and difficulties, they believe they can change their world in a revolutionary way.