Neoformalism- Christian Colletti

Neoformalist Film analysis

I found both of these readings to be interesting and shed light on some aspects of film analysis. Formalism, first used by the Russians, viewed films as artwork and they were artistic expressions that did not have a basis on reality. They were abstract and symbolic, and wanted to make the familiar seem strange to the viewer, a process they called defamiliarization.The formalist method doesn’t explain the film but simply calls your attention to it. The Neoformalist approach is different in that it attempts to explain nuances of the film. Thompson explains that film-watching is an experience separate from our everyday world. In our daily routines our mental energy is focused on things important to our well-being, like stopping at a red light so we don’t get in a car accident. Thompson believes that the spectator is an active participant when watching films and a reaction to a film is based on our previous experiences. These experiences are three types of “backgrounds”, our everyday world, how it relates to other artworks, and the practical purposes of the film. Our interpretation of a film changes as the backgrounds change. The reading gave a great example of Bonnie and Clyde, released in 1967. At the time, the violence in the film was shocking and caused a lot of controversy. If we saw it today we wouldn’t think of it as violent at all. In the Neoformalist approach, the active participation of viewers relies on physiological processes, and preconscious, conscious and unconscious thought processes. The viewer responds to a film based on these processes and their past experiences. I always felt like I passively watched a film, but this reading showed me that a lot more goes into it when watching a film.