“The projection of the dialectic system of things
the brain
Into creating abstractly
Into the process of thinking
Yields: Dialectic methods of thinking;
Dialectic materialism-
PHILOSOPHY.”
“The projection of the same system of things
While creating concretely
While giving form
Yields:
ART.”
~ Sergei Eisenstein, A Dialectic Approach to Film Forum 1949.
Extracted from the reading, the scene is set to us by Eisenstein first establishing the interconnectedness of art and philosophy. While the rest of the essay focuses on the Philosophy of ART, it leaves the whole other world of the philosophy within art uncovered.
Both art and philosophy result from the same dialectic system of things; however, they are expressed into different forms. Philosophy is the expression of these dialectic systems of conflict in terms of the process of abstract thinking, in a way to connect ideas and logic into a bigger picture of the world. Similarly, Art is the expression of the same dialectic systems that exist in our world, but instead of in terms of pure thinking, the same logic and reasoning can be expressed in a visual concrete form. The results of both are interconnected. While both come from the same dialectic system, their results, although in different physical forms, still communicate the same message.
As an art form, film makes us understand things about the world, about ourselves, and about power, even if there is no dialogue or even characters! Making this connection, and this might be a stretch, I believe that it is that interconnectedness that art has with philosophy that makes art philosophical. A painting can accurately depict one or a few lines of thought that result in meaning, a film being a collection of pictures can result in trains of related thought. (This is obviously a very surface-level connection between the two, there are volumes of works explaining in depth the connections within the two arts. I am no philosopher!)
On the topic of Philosophy depicted through art, I decided to choose this article about Absurdist films, which I found compelling.
Just as Eisenstein says about all art being conflict, Absurdism is conflict. Absurdism is a philosophical train of thought that revolves around the conflict of humans desperately wanting to find meaning and value in life, but being faced with nothing (the absurd/chaos) when they do look. Absurdism is the belief that nothing in life has inherent meaning and that we all live in a world of chaos. This is not meant to be negative, which can definitely be interpreted as, but can be seen as enlightening once you come to terms with that if nothing has meaning, you are able to assign your own meaning to all aspects of life, as there is no framework/inherent meaning. Without this conflict between what humans look for and what they can’t find, this philosophical train of thought would not have arisen in the first place: we simply would not be aware of this issue; therefore no dialectic thought takes place.
This article summarizes the meaning of what it is to be an “Absurdist film” and then goes into 10 films that depict this through characters and story plot. Characters face the absurd, and learn how to deal with it. I like this article because of the paragraph summaries under each film, as well as its connection to absurdist philosophy. So, for those who like Camu, Greek myths, existentialism, and coming-of-age films, these films are for you!
This second article describes much more in-depth the complete philosophy of Absurdism.
https://medium.com/@nasyavinalifia/the-philosophy-of-absurdism-4ef5e40a33b9
Best,
Anna Zhai