week_1_response

Sherlock Jr. and Peeping Tom are great examples of the two very different approaches to “metacinema.” Sherlock Jr. approaches cinema with a novel sensibility, exploiting editing techniques in the name of slapstick humor. Peeping Tom, on the other hand, explores the psychology behind the desire to make a film, while also using the creation of a film to drive the narrative.

Sherlock Jr. is a good film to discuss first, because it explores of cinematic devices in a lighthearted manner. Buster Keaton’s goal is not to make the audience contemplate the process of film making, but to elicit a chuckle. Beyond the protagonist working in a theater, the film has little to do with examining cinematic techniques. The examination of film comes during a dream sequence, which only serves to make Keaton’s approach more novel. It’s understandable that the scene is depicted as a dream, it makes the ensuing chaos easier to digest for a 1920s audience. In the scene, Keaton’s character has an out of body experience after dozing off while projecting a film. At first, his fantasy is pretty standard: he enters the world of the film he’s projecting and assumes the role of a detective. The other characters in the projected film transform into individuals Keaton’s character knows in real life and their relationships in the dream are exaggerated versions of their relationships outside the dream. What ensues is a series of sight gags. The audience becomes aware that Keaton is stuck in a film through a shot that depicts an theater screen within the frame. The film that Keaton is stuck in begins a series of hard cuts. Keaton remains in the same space as he was in the previous shots, while the background abruptly changes, putting Keaton in some dangerous situations. Eventually, Keaton is woken up by his love interest. They reconcile (following a misunderstanding that happened earlier in the film) and Keaton takes romantic cues from the actors on the screen.

Peeping Tom is vastly different, both in it’s exploration of the idea of a “film within film” and in it’s mood. Peeping Tom wouldn’t be considered humorous unless viewed by a sadist or sociopath. The main character, Mark, is obsessed with filming women moments before their deaths (at his hand). The police search for the person responsible for the killings and eventually begin to close in on Mark as their prime suspect. Peeping Tom turns the camera itself into a weapon. Mark uses a modified tripod to murder his victims and the style of cinematography he employs are aggressive and suffocating (extreme closeups of the victims’ faces). The metaphor of camera as weapon is pushed further by the style of the point-of-view shots throughout. When Mark is filming, the point of view is sometimes shown through the camera’s viewfinder which has cross-hairs similar to a sniper rifle. The camera becomes intrusive: an object that evokes fear, terror, and suspense. The camera is relentless. The viewer is uncomfortably forced into Mark’s shoes. The major downfall of Peeping Tom is that Mark’s motivation to kill (and to film his murders) is accounted for. Mark’s father was a psychologist who performed experiments on him that dealt with fear. His father also filmed these experiments. Without this explanation, Peeping Tom might have made the audience question whether Mark’s motivation was caused by a fascination with film or if film played an ancillary role to his urge to kill. Despite this (perceived) misstep, the audience is still forced to evaluate the social impact of the presence of a camera.