How does film in general affect the way you see the world?

How does film in general affect the way you see the world?

Wow. What a loaded question.

The artistic medium known as film is in a state of constant development. The technologies and techniques used in film are ever-adapting, building and blending on top of each other as past influence weaves with current capabilities.

The “reasons” for film remain the same that they always have been: to convey an idea or an image to a designated third party (not counting those selfish few who create a film for their own personal enjoyment). The stories we pay $10 to watch on a large projector are basically the same as they’ve always been: guy falls for girl, guy tries to woo girl, girl falls for guy, girl has to move to California for work, guy loses leg in tragic bass fishing accident. Since the time of Shakespeare, the concepts and forms of simple story telling have been beaten into our brains to the point where we know that, despite how bleak the situation may appear, the happy ending is still to come.

 However, technologies expand the capabilities of these filmmakers, giving them seemingly infinite methods for communicating their intended purpose. The language of film empowers the filmmaker to dream (really dream) and share their experiences with the outside world previously incapable of looking inside their heads. Now, anything is possible. Film begets flight, invisibility, and fire-breathing dragons: essentially, film brings a super-hero to life. Film suspends the stranglehold of reality to validate the authenticity of imagination. Until the advent of film, the only way to see a man in tights flying around shooting lasers from his eyes was to open up a comic book and, simultaneously, open up your mind.

As effective a method is this proves to be (and certainly there is nothing wrong with freeing one’s imagination), it does not allow for a uniform understanding. The artist does not truly have control over the image portrayed in your mind: he merely influences it. Film allows complete dictation of what is to be understood, of how imagination is to be portrayed.

Certainly, of any film, Amelie best represents the abilities of film to communicate the imagination to an audience. Amelie is a girl trapped in a world of imagination due to the uncomfortable nature of her relationship with her parents. As a young girl, she desperately wanted nothing more than to be touched by her father, but this only came in the form of her weekly physical check-up. After her mother’s untimely death, her father becomes increasingly removed from her life. Thus, as a child, she is essentially removed from the real world and drawn into her own imagination. She takes great pleasure in the simple aesthetics of living: dipping her hand into sacks of grain, cracking crème brulee with a teaspoon, skipping stones across St. Martin’s Canal, and trying to guess how many couples in Paris are having an orgasm at one moment ("Fifteen!").

Thus, the filmmaker utilizes the language of film to convey Amelie’s world to the audience. Her perspective - since, after all, this is the essence of the story - is demonstrated through the enhancement of aesthetics. The crack made from her spoon puncturing the skin of the crème brulee is distinct and loud – unrealistically loud for a real world activity. Yet, within her own head, she is completely focused on its aesthetic pleasure; thus, the audience is clued in as to how her mind works. This is similarly shown later in the film when we see her heart literally melt when the man she has a crush on leaves the café.

Film – the ultimate medium for conceptual and imaginative representation – presents us with immeasurable ways to reach an audience and alter one’s imagination. It simply takes the creativity of the filmmaker to discover the manner in which to do this.