29 Interaction of people and machines as a narrative and visual figure in film: a study of motifs

Abstract

The primary question of this study of film aesthetics is “What social discourses are articulated in films, which portray interaction between people and machines as central narrative and visual figures?” The artistic portrayal of content is viewed as a reflection of contemporary social discourse. Narrative and visual figures in film formulate specific problem constellations: basic questions and conflicts related to human existence. The positioning of the individual in the technical world as well as social transformation finds a place for reflection in film. The subject matter of films can be seen as a seismograph of the individual and collective experience within evolving social structures. The exploration of this thesis requires a combination of several methodological approaches from the fields of art and cultural sciences. The initial step includes the study of design structures and formal composition contexts of a film in its entirety. Methodical analysis using cognitive theory model approaches specific to audio-visual artistic expression will be used. Film-inherent relevance processes and sensuous constructions will be explored. The results of analysis will allow the portrayal and description of a work's complex, interwoven structures, and of their functions and statements in terms of an abstract system. A second step will apply models of narrative theory and paradigms of dramatic theory. More comprehensive proof within the framework of forming hypotheses will be worked out using the model of deep hermeneutic cultural analysis, which offers ideal methods for examining audio-visual cultural objectification. The viability of the interpretation of the cinematic statements within the various groupings will be examined using this combination of methods by comparing the results of the different theoretical-methodological approaches. A selection of international fiction films reflecting visual and narrative constructions of “people and machines” make up the core of this study. Comprehensive and intensive film-specific research, including different periods in filmmaking history, forms a basis for our thesis. The following article gives a comprehensive report on the intermediate state of the research done up to present. The study will be continued within the framework of teaching and research activities at the Berlin University of Fine Arts.