A Study on Relationship between Realism and Reality under Intense Technological Change

One of the most discussed themes in Film- Philosophy is the notion of realism in cinema. Film critics and theorists have long supported the realist filmmaking. Andre Bazin sees the photographic image and the film as the ‘the object itself ‘freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it （1960：8）.Kracauer continues Bazins position and argues ‘films comes into their own when they record and reveal physical reality （1961， Preface IX）.

However， cinematic realism is attacked in several ways： For Roland Barthes， realism is only a product of ‘reality effect（1986）.For Prince， unreal image with digital imaging seemed so real that film theory should change to catch up with this new technology （1996：36）.

According to Rodowick：‘periods of intense technological change are always fascinating for film theory， because the films themselves tend to stage its primary question： What is cinema？ The emergent digital era poses this question in a new and interesting way because for the first time in the history of film theory the photographic process is challenged as the ontological basis of cinematic representation （2001：9）， it investigates the relationship between realism and reality under development of intense technology.Before understanding his statement， it is convenientfirstly to explore a comparison between realism and reality from different aspects. It is in the second phrase that we discuss influence of intense technology on the relationship between realism and reality. It will be shown that intense technology has not changed their relationship.

Ⅰ.Relationship between Realism and Reality

Almost from the beginning of the film， theorists tried to understand the relationship between realism and reality. Thinkers such as Kracauer or Bazin saw film as a medium to present the ‘authentic flow of life;Deleuze talks about the ‘falsifying narrationas the character of modern cinema. According to Andre Bazin （1959）， reality is not art， but realism is necessarily an art， in which a filmmaker knows how to create an integral aesthetic of reality.

Kracauer argues， ‘strangely enough it is entirely possible that a staged real-life event evokes a strong illusion of reality on the screen that would the original event if it has been captured directly by the camera （1961：35）. Here he suggests something documentary does not necessarily give us a stronger sense of reality than the recreation of the real-life event. I.e.， for him， realism in a film is not a direct representation of physical reality. A case in point issleep （1963） directed by Andy Warhol， consisting of long take of John Giornos sleeping for five hours and 20 minutes. Presented on January 17， 1964， nine people attended the premiere， two left during the first hour. From this film， we can see the importance of recreation. In the contemporary society， the audience has changed also， direct representation of physical reality is no longer sufficient for them， and the audience comes to cinema in order to identify themselves， take part in this cinema universe and believe what he has seen is plausible and reel. This is what really attracts our audience now. In consequence， in realism， it is not important to possess realist elements because we know it is not real and it is a film. Yet the most important thing is to make audience believe that it is realist.

The realism is much more larger than reality. It includes some elements of reality， for example， landscape， costume or character， as well as illusions or fantasies. Why this illusion or fantasy？ For instancein the film Blade Runner （1982） directed by Ridley Scott， Los Angeles in 2019 is imagined as ‘Japanized nighttown of ‘fetid steam and perpetual rain where human beings are difficult to find differences between them and robots.The film begins with the return to earth of four Nexus 6 replicants， whose goal is to convince their creator， the Tyrell Corporation to prolong their lives. A special police force， called ‘blade runner， exists to kill them. Rick Deckard is contacted to complete this task. Whereas he becomes in love with Rachel， a replicant， having been planted with all the memories of Tyrells niece. Deckard succeeds in killing two replicants， Rachel kills a third replicant in order to save Deckard. Ultimately， Roy， the groups leader， wins the struggle with Deckard， but spares Deckard. The film ends with Deckard and Rachels escape from the city. It is a film full of imagination and fantasy： human beings are able to fall in love with robots. Furthermore， robots are classified as ‘pleasure model， ‘combat model and they are ‘more human than human. However， its themes are realistic： this film is a study of love： Deckard has finally regained his passion for life as a result of falling love with Racheal. We have also seen a patriarchal society in a scene of forced sex， where Deckard orders Racheal to say， ‘kiss me， ‘I want you， ‘put your hands on me. Finally there is ‘a destruction of the hero/villain dichotomy （E. Williams， 1988） by showing Ray saves Deckard from sure death in their struggle.

Now we can answer to the question of reasons for fantasy or illusion in film： we are able to improve psychologically this world around us by trying to experience it through the camera because viewer will participate in the thought of a film and contributes to the meaning of this film， especially in the face of an ambiguous film like Blade Runner. The following question to ask is that if audience could create their own reality？

Kracauer suggests that the film helps us get out of the banality of everyday life and enters into a ‘temporary relief so that we can overcome the difficulties of life at least at spiritual level or so that we can simply get a pleasure or to satisfier our different desires（1961：300）. The audiences are thusinvited to create fantasies and become active. In other words， we are able to create our own world around us.The film Big Fish（2003） has well demonstrated this point of view. Directed by Tim Burton， it is a film both realist and fantasy. At Will Blooms wedding day， his father Edward tells a story that he caught a big fish using his wedding ring when Will was born. Will argues with his father in believing this story as a lie because he has heard it hundreds of times. During three years， he stops speaking with his father. After three years， Will and his pregnant French wife Josephine return home to pass the last time with his father already with a cancer. Will begins to tell his story to her daughter-in-law： as a boy， he meets a witch and sees how he dies through her eye， but he does not fear. When he becomes an adult， he decides to go out of his hometown with a giant Karl and he discovers a secret town where he makes friends with poet Norther Winslow and Jenny. However， he wants to leave this town and he promises Jerry to come back one day. With Karl， they come to the Calloway Circus where he falls in love with Sandra， his future wife. He works freely for a circus leader and a werewolf， Arnos Calloway， just for obtaining a detail about Sandra each month. Three years later， he admits his love for Sandra， but refused by her because she is engaged with Don Price. Don beats heavily Edward and Sandra ends their engagement because of it. Edward finally marries her. Afterwards， being sent to the Korean War， he convinces conjoined twins Ping and Jing to help him return home. Edward becomes a travelling salesman in US. After Edward finishes his telling stories to Josephine， Will wants to know the truth about his father in believing that his father has an affair with another woman. So he travels to the secret town. He meets Jenny who says that Edward helps habitants in the town keep their house and he also helps her rebuild her house. Jenny continues to reveal that his father remained faithful to her mother while she loved him. ?Will accompanies his father at the end of his life. Edward asks Will to narrate the ending of his life. Will says they escape from the hospital to go to a lake where friends of Edward are all there. He finally transforms into a big fish and goes away in this lake. Edward now knows his son understands him and dies peacefully.

In this film， Edward has tendency to ‘embellish the truth. His son asks： ‘I always want to know the truth. His father says：‘I have always told you the truth.For Edward， all the tales he tells to the others are true and he believes persistently it as true. Why？ Will finally understands that all these storytelling is just because his father is full of imagination and passion for life. For example， he prefers to tell an imaginary story to Will that he was catching a big fish on the day of his birth rather than selling products in another city， because Edward felt so sorry not to be with his wife at that time and a child prefers psychologically this illusionist version than the original version. It is the same in a film： filmmaker is like Edward， audience is like Will， the audience like fantasy to be much more happier. Afterwards， audience will create their own fantasy， like Will invents fantasy in order to make his father die peacefully and to make himself feel better in face of his fathers death.

So far this paper has focused on the relationship between realism and reality from different aspects. The following section will discuss influence of intense technology on their relationship.

Ⅱ. Realism and Reality Under Intense Technology Change

Sequences Review in 1959 has noted， firstly， as the viewer is in front of a screen， it forces the director to frame an image and to choose content. Secondly， film is an art of lighting. When we observe a character in a sunny or a gray lighting， the effect on the audience is different. Lastly， the reality in an image differs according to the context. The best illustration of this aspect is the Kuleshov effect： the face of actor is changed with various shots （a plate of soup， a girl in a coffin， a woman on a divan）. The expressions are respectively hunger， grief and desire. Consequently， the directors bias the reality because technically they should make a choice. Accordingly， the audience is able to sense a kind of signification expressed by camera （Sequences， 1959）. With development of technologies， especially computer， can we now add a fourth point？ In other words， can the digital art be able to make filmmaker obtain realism from reality？ ?In order to answer this question， we should firstly know if the reality has been lost because of technology; if no， in what situations？ If yes， we should find secondly if we could still obtain realism from this ‘loss of reality？

Technology permits human beings to see what we cannot see with our naked eyes， such aswe cannot see the tiniest objects or microscopic organisms， we are not able to see radio waves which can range from one foot to several miles;however， some fancy equipment permitus to see them. In these cases， the reality is gained because of the technology.

In another case， reality can be non-longer the basis for cinema because of technology. As Rodowich（2007：9） suggests， in our contemporary world， digital arts can create image without any object and the physical representation is no longer the only basis of cinema： ‘The emergent digital era poses this question in a new and interesting way because for the first time in the history of film theory the photographic process is challenged as the ontological basis of cinematic representation.I want to cite one of my favorite movie Avatar （2009） directed by James Cameron to explain this point. Avatar is an American science fiction film. ?Its director has used computer-generated images to build completely a new imaginary world. This film has used 70% CGI， including the look of the Navi， the gorgeous blue and tall aliens in Pandora， which came from a dream of Camerons mother. I am also very impressed by the great leonopteryx， called also the last shadow by Navi， which is a creature of fierce beauty and nobility. These creatures are rooted from pure imagination of James Cameron， namely， not from reality， but from unreality.

Could filmmaker obtain realism from unreality？ Prince pointed out that we could perceive things， as real even they are obviously unreal： ‘computer-generated image have been rendered with such attention to 3D special information， they acquire a very powerful perceptual realism， despite the obvious ontological problems in calling them realistic（1996：34）. James Cameron inAvatar （2009） took several advanced methods to create realism： one of them is that he used a skullcap with a camera that watched the actors facial expression. With this， actors every muscle contraction was recorded， it creates in consequence emotional verisimilitude to their Naaviroles. In addition， director mixes a sense of familiarity with the alien to bring real emotion to audience; for example， the floating ‘Hallelujah Mountainsare mainly influenced by the Chinese peaks.

Consequently， even if the chemical photographic process is challengedas the ontological basis of cinema， I do not think it is necessary to recreate a film theory under influence of technologyas Rodowich or Prince proposed because the relationship between realism and reality keeps the same.

In conclusion， this essay has investigated a comparison between realism and reality from different aspects. This has been done by a close textual analysis of the film Blade Runner （1982） andBig Fish （2006）.

In the second phase， this essayhas explored influence of intense technology on the relationship between realism and reality and this part has been discussed by analyzing the film Avatar （2009）.

References：

[1]Bazin， A. （1960） The Ontology of the Photographic Image， Film Quarterly， Vol.13， No. 4. pp. 4-9.http：//links.jstor.org/sici？sici=0015-1386%28196022%2913%3A4%3C4%3ATOOTPI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0/ Accessed 11/04/19.

[2]Barthes，R. （1986） ‘The Reality Effect， The Rustle of Language， Translated by Richard Howard， Hill and Wang， New York.

[3]Cavell， S. （1984） Themes Out of School： Effects and Causes. San Francisco： North Point Press.

[4]E. Williams， Douglas （1988） “Ideology as Dystopia： An Interpretation of Blade Runner”， International Political Science Review， Vol. 9， No. 4 （Oct.， 1988）， pp. 381-394.

[5]Grbic， Jovana（2009） Behind Avatar： Science， Technology， Art and Design， Scriptphd，http：//scriptphd.com/from-the-lab/2009/12/14/behind-avatar-science-technology-art-and-designAccessed 11/04/19.

[6]Johnson， Bobbie （2009） ‘The Technological Secrets of James Camerons New Film Avator， The Guardian.https：//www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/20/3d-film-avatar-james-cameron-technology Accessed 11/04/19.

[7]Kracauer， S. （1961）Theory of Film： The Redemption of Physical Reality， Princeton University Press.

[8]Magerst?dt， S. （2014） Body， Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema - Virtual Worlds and Ethical Problems. Chapter 2.

【作者簡介】武瀾瀾，湖南省外國語職業學院。