What is Film?
Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige (2006), much like a magic trick, relies heavily on audience manipulation. Throughout the film, Nolan does a great job of manipulating the spectator and making them unsure of what is going on and who they should root for. Viewing the film under the guise of Ideological theory and trying to understand “how the director wants the world to be seen” leads me to believe that Nolan is making a statement about directors and film being much like a magician and a magic trick.
Perhaps Cutter says it best in the film, “The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled” –John Cutter from The Prestige (2006. I believe Nolan wants us to see the duality of the magician and the director. Each director looks for new and innovative ways to get people to watch their films. Spending a fortune even, just like Angier in the film, to make a film great.
“The world is on the brink of new and terrifying possibilities.” –Angier from The Prestige (2006)
With the scene of “The real transported man” it seems Nolan wants to send a message to the spectators that although, as Angier says, “What you are about to witness is not magic, it’s purely science,” the graphics of technology are no less mesmerizing and impressive than the trick of classic illusion.
Nolan also wants the spectator to grasp the dual meaning of the devotion to the art of directing being mirrored in the devotion to the craft of being a magician both by the old Asian magician, and by Borden and his twin. It takes a lot, too much, even, if we are to believe the movie’s metaphor to be literal, to pull off the greatest masterpiece.
Great connection between science and technology!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your point of science and technology being related. You can also think about how magic, science and technology are seen as temporary happiness or fix. In the film the audience was always looking for the next best thing, and so were the magicians. There is a part where Angier is presenting the bird in the cage trick “he says I’ll perform this feat, in a manner never before seen by yourself or any other audience anywhere in the world”. Film is an ever changing way to present a story. We have gone from silent, to sound, then to 3D.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Nolan is known for his great films, as, inception, memento etc. But we each film a new illusion is brought in to play. His films are never without suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat; as with Prestige where you were kept in the dark for a reason, until the end. Going off of John Cutters quote you have there about wanting to be fooled. It is related to when we find out about some new trick, technology, scientific discovery or film comes out; we must see it right away (the fooled part). But once it starts to get repetitive, we start to become bored with it; just like if a magician gave away the secret to their trick, its worth becomes nothing. After the glamour has gone, the public craves something new and as a director of a film in order to stay relevant you come up with new inventions to present you film. I do agree with you that directors spend a lot of many so they could have the next best thing or next best movie. But once that temporary fame is gone, it is time to start a new movie.
S.wong
I like your connection between science and technology and feel that it can be totally related to film as well. Aren't we always looking for the next big thing? I remember the switch from VCR to DVD and then to Blu-Ray and the technology will just keep evolving. Do you think that Nolan is using these scenes as a comment on the history of film? If we use historicism to analyze the film I do believe that it fits. I do agree with your point on illusion. This made me think of 3-D. Many people feel that 3-D is a scheme in order to make Hollywood more money. Do you feel this way? As Nolan's films keep you on the edge of your seat, so does the ever changing technology.
DeleteWhen a new trick/technological advancement is brought to life, the viewer will either embrace or disgrace this new found way of film. Once the initial awe of the new advancement is over, audiences will start looking for a new way to be convinced and wowed. I do believe that this ties perfectly with the film the prestige and a great deal of Nolan's films.
J. Moss
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