the American Riefenstahl
History is just series of stories. Visual, verbal or written, it is a construct. A carefully controlled construct, One that is used to control people and cultures.
In our image oriented times' imagistic' histories have an immense power. A power that the verbal and written versions don't have anymore. And it is this power that drives the desire to control the stories visuals tell.
"Engaging with the time" one lives in and "creating an imagistic version of living history" are fine sentiments and great goals. Leni Riefinstahl probably had the same thoughts running through her mind when she dircected what are now considered to be the best propaganda films ever made.
Kathryn Bigelow can be called a modern day, American, Riefensthal, Only, just not as good. Her ties to the American powers that be and the tales she tells for them echo the ties Reifensthal had with the third Riech. Bigelow's ties with power have already earned her an Oscar and a close collaboration with the CIA. More rewards will probably follow from, what is becoming, the Fourth Riech.
I find it interesting that the secretive CIA collaborated closely with the her new film, just like the American Military did with her last one. The 'imagistic 'HiSTORY' she tells for the
American Empire constructs a narrative that seeks to negate the narrative that other, tightly controlled and censored American images from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, would tell.
Those images , still and video, are not allowed to be seen. They are not being released even under "Freedom of Information Acts" .Even the American courts -the famed American Justice system, will not allow the release of images that might challenge the Official Narrative that Bigelow's films are constructing for the American powers that be.
When she gives any thought to the vastness of the story, and to the radioactive sensitivity of so many of its elements, she reassures herself that, "as a film-maker, it's a responsibility to engage with the time I live in. You're kind of creating an imagistic version of living history." And with all the risks that entails.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jan/12/kathryn-bigelow-zero-dark-thrity
In our image oriented times' imagistic' histories have an immense power. A power that the verbal and written versions don't have anymore. And it is this power that drives the desire to control the stories visuals tell.
"Engaging with the time" one lives in and "creating an imagistic version of living history" are fine sentiments and great goals. Leni Riefinstahl probably had the same thoughts running through her mind when she dircected what are now considered to be the best propaganda films ever made.
Kathryn Bigelow can be called a modern day, American, Riefensthal, Only, just not as good. Her ties to the American powers that be and the tales she tells for them echo the ties Reifensthal had with the third Riech. Bigelow's ties with power have already earned her an Oscar and a close collaboration with the CIA. More rewards will probably follow from, what is becoming, the Fourth Riech.
I find it interesting that the secretive CIA collaborated closely with the her new film, just like the American Military did with her last one. The 'imagistic 'HiSTORY' she tells for the
American Empire constructs a narrative that seeks to negate the narrative that other, tightly controlled and censored American images from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, would tell.
Those images , still and video, are not allowed to be seen. They are not being released even under "Freedom of Information Acts" .Even the American courts -the famed American Justice system, will not allow the release of images that might challenge the Official Narrative that Bigelow's films are constructing for the American powers that be.
When she gives any thought to the vastness of the story, and to the radioactive sensitivity of so many of its elements, she reassures herself that, "as a film-maker, it's a responsibility to engage with the time I live in. You're kind of creating an imagistic version of living history." And with all the risks that entails.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jan/12/kathryn-bigelow-zero-dark-thrity
“Release of these materials could reasonably be expected to harm national security,” Justice Department attorney Robert Loeb argued Thursday.
As it happened, the 45-minute oral argument Thursday occurred only about one block away from the Washington museum where the Oscar-nominated Hollywood version of the bin Ladin raid, “Zero Dark Thirty,” received its D.C. premiere Tuesday night. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has formally asked the CIA for all information provided to the filmmakers by agency officials.
The help provided by the CIA included detailed information about the floor plan of bin Laden’s compound, as well as meeting with the moviemakers, documents obtained by Judicial Watch under a separate FOIA request show.
“I can’t tell you how excited we all are . . . about the project,” the CIA’s then-public affairs director George Little wrote the screenwriter in a November 2011 e-mail. “It’s been a real pleasure to help facilitate things.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/10/179536/bin-laden-death-photos-might-not.html
posted by Satish Sharma at
18:04
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