But Is It Art?: Heidegger, (Moving) Images and the Interpretation of Early Film

Abstract

Behind the question ‘But is it art?’ lie other questions: what values, prejudices and cultural norms do we bring to play when we distinguish between art and non-art, or high art and low art, good art and bad art? What does it matter, what is at stake when we throw doubt on a work’s artistic status or worth? And is silent film an art form? Heidegger’s massively influential and important essay, ‘The Origin of the Work of Art’, attempts to specify the nature of art and how it addresses its audience. Great art is depicted as revelatory, world-disclosing. But this account appears to exclude narrative, silent film from the conditions of art. The chapter examines Heidegger’s conception of art and interpretation of individual art works, and it considers the possibility of a ‘Heideggerian cinema’. It then goes on to use a sequence from Renoir’s La Fille de l’eau to suggest that despite Heidegger’s conception of art, which would appear to exclude film from the conditions of major works, silent film may have the capacity to create meaning and disclose truth.