Wider Screenings book / e-book Sample Chapter
15. The Individuality of Perception
The interplay between objective reality and the subjective perception of it has always been one of cinema’s great subtexts. The films in this section all seek to explore the so-called distinctiveness of perception and how it relates to, and even transforms, the everyday world. The Minus Man examines serial killer pathology in terms of its obsession with consequence and shaping events to one’s unknowable sense of self, whilst Jacob’s Ladder seeks to depict a correlation between schizophrenic psychosis and the process of dying. The nature of illusion and magic is central to the horror of resurrection and all that it implies in Lord of Illusions whilst The Stunt Man uses aspects of its film-about-film premise to self-reflexively create an increasing sense of paranoia and perceptual instability. In conclusion, By Brakhage – an Anthology offers a look at an avant-garde film-maker’s life-long obsession with the mystery of film itself as giving true “form” to the uniqueness of his vision and perception.