After watching Bringing up baby I thought about the technical things that might have been a part of making the film. Amazingly enough I happened to take a trip to the museum of moving image,(its in queens and free fridays 4-8) and walked through a number of exhibits that helped me figure some things out.
There they have a booth which allows you to try first hand voice overlays and sound splicing. There is also an exhibit on cameras of the era. The equipment used was massive.
In comparison to a number of our cameras today.
While this was great and all I took a looka at some photographs and short clips of different scenes. As great as some of these are; the classic american girl look is on everything. I compared it to the great gatsby. (Not the remake, though that was fabulous too) but the original 1974 version and was happy to note that while there is only about a 30 year distance between the two. The Great Gatsby comes across as a critique of the high class all american girl while Bringing up Baby and many others like it attempt to make work oriented women seem undesirable.
The contrast is stark and the time period is just enough for a whole generation. I think it highlights the importance of time and perception of the viewer.
This is a great point about the evolution of gender attitudes in the US.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yes, everybody, check out the MOMI! It's a great resource here, in our very own borough. In addition to the exhibits that Daphne is talking about, they have two theaters that play movies that you can't really see elsewhere--classics, art films, avant-garde movies, foreign films. You might even find that you could do research for one or more of your essays by going there: http://www.movingimage.us/