filmington: Week 2 Early Cinema and more.....

This week we screened Edison, Melies, Porter, Griffith, and Leonard.

I asked you to try to get your head into what life must have been like during the late 1800's, and imagine how the dawn of cinema began to evolve and emerge.

I continue to urge you to keep one eye on the present and future as we trace this evolution-

and try to synthesize the readings, screenings and discussions into an appreciation of the cultural power of moving images. once again- here are the links from the syllabus to read, as well as the link to my youtube favorites where some of the clips we've seen can be found. Please read the essays attached to the links and reflect on them in your responses to the screenings.

Richard Dawkins (1976)

excerpt from The Selfish Gene Memes, the new replicators.

http://www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html

Walter Benjamin (1936)

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1944)

The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm

Douglas Davis (1995)

The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction

http://cristine.org/borders/Davis_Essay.html