Teoria Filmu

“Remote cinema”. On the ambiguous status of the viewer's sensual presence in the cinema

Łucja Demby draws the reader’s attention to a new phenomenon that emerged during the coronavirus epidemic: “remote cinema”. The author contemplates how this new situation differs from the ordinary experience of watching a film online. These deliberations are conducted in the context of selected threads of the film theory regarding the spectator's distance towards the film and, above all, towards other spectators in the cinema. The author refers to the sensuous theory, which has prevailed in the recent years, but also to earlier theoretical concepts (such as the psychoanalytic theory), emphasising that today's reflection on the film is largely rooted in there. As for the cinema experience, the focus is placed on the paradoxical loneliness of the spectator. The author also refers to some film examples, in particular Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema by Wojciech Marczewski.

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein are the authors of the concept of a work of art understood as an exaggerated stimulus in the creative process. The aim of art, according to them, is (a) to show the essence of something in a perceptually accessible way, and (b) to evoke a strong reaction from the recipient. Scientists say that the aim of art is not to perfectly reproduce reality, but to present the very essence of an object, scene or event by exaggerating its most characteristic features, while
ignoring non-essential features. The effect of this treatment is a super stimulus, which is a supernatural stimulus that does not exist in the real world. Researchers have proposed seven universal – evolution- arily and culturally – neurological laws of aesthetic experience in relation to the visual arts (painting and sculpture). I propose to extend the tool apparatus of neuroaesthetics from the area of unimodal arts to a work of film art. It is an interesting tool for research into film aesthetics and masterpieces. In this paper, I will discuss these laws and make a representative analysis of them in a visual case study of Michael Almereyda’s film Nadja (1994). The main goal of my work is to show the stricto naturalistic position. Man is not aware that the first stages of cognitive perception have a significant impact on his interest in art, what he pays attention to, and on aesthetic experiences on a sensual, unconscious level. It is an interdisciplinary attempt to provide consistency of research approaches in the humanities with the naturalistic one in the area of natural sciences, which shows that on some levels we are very similar to each other and only in the process of ontogenesis do we acquire individuality – that we are governed by universal laws, not only those related to our individual interests and tastes.

I think, therefore the cinema exists.
Relationships between film and philosophy according to Juliette Cerf

The aim of the article is to present various aspects of the relationship between cinema and philosophy in theoretical works of Juliette Cerf, which have not been discussed yet in Polish film studies. These two fields have been related since the beginning of the cinema, and the problem itself was analysed by such figures as Henri Bergson, whose philosophical thought has also influenced the contemporary film theory (Gilles Deleuze). The author of the article specifies and develops several issues dealt with by Juliette Cerf:
- philosophers talking about the cinema;
- the cinema talking about philosophers;
- the cinema creating its own philosophy;
- the cinema teaching philosophy.
The main thesis of the article is a statement that the cinema should not recreate the existing philosophies; instead, it should create its own philosophy based on its specific means of expression.
The author also presents the concept of “filmosophy”, which is widespread in Western literature, yet not well-known in Poland, and in which film is treated as an auxiliary to the teaching of academic philosophy.

Myślę, więc kino istnieje.
Związki filmu i filozofii według Juliette Cerf

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie różnych aspektów relacji kino-filozofia w ujęciu teoretycznym Juliette Cerf, autorki, której nie poświęcono dotąd publikacji na obszarze polskiego filmoznawstwa. Związek tych dwu dziedzin istniał już na początku historii kina, a problemem tym zajmował się między innymi Henri Bergson, którego myśl filozoficzna wywarła wpływ także na współczesną teorię filmu (Gilles Deleuze). Autor(ka) artykułu wyszczególnia i opracowuje kilka zagadnień, którymi zajmuje się Juliette Cerf:
- filozofowie mówią o kinie;
- kino opowiada o filozofach;
- kino tworzy swoją własną filozofię;
- kino uczy filozofii.
Główną tezą artykułu jest stwierdzenie, że kino nie powinno odtwarzać istniejących filozofii, tylko tworzyć filozofię własną, w oparciu o specyficznie filmowe środki wyrazu.
Autor(ka) przedstawia także, rozpowszechnioną w piśmiennictwie zachodnim, ale mało znaną w Polsce, koncepcję „kinofilozofii”, w ramach której film traktowany jest jako środek pomocniczy nauczania filozofii akademickiej.