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Touching Death with Images, The Need for Sense. 'The Hit' by Stephen Frears

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Frac W.

Kwartalnik Filmowy

2006

issue 53

67-72

The author writes that Stephen Frears' 'The Hit' can only seemingly be considered by application of traits of gangster film and black comedy. According to him, the deepest sense of the movie is revealed through significant absence. He frequently points out the paradoxicality of the statement but consistently argues that seeing is evolving into its negation in 'The Hit', e.g. in the opening scene of the film the hero and the camera are looking in the same direction but the viewer does not see what the hero is looking at. A mystery arises and it is strengthened by the scenes to come; these shots help to set the limits of seeing. The viewer is anxious to give meanings to what he sees. Béla Balázs is quoted as saying that giving meanings to things is the primal function of human consciousness. The need for sense, felt from the very beginning of the film, is connected with the experience of death. The conclusion is that although sense is revealed on a negative basis, it is not possible to negate it in an absolute way.

Audiovisuality as ethical challenge

100%

Frac W.

Przegląd Kulturoznawczy

2006

vol. 1

issue 1

31-39

In his study, the author undertakes the analysis of audiovisuality as a new and determinant phenomenon of culture, which projects an entire new area of ethical consequences with particular emphasis on the problem of responsibility. A starting point for the analysis is provided by an idea taken from culture philosophy which appeared in Spengler's and Heidegger's works, i.e. the notion that the world has become an image. Such assumption bring about particular ethical consequences. Film theory has been aware of such threats from the very beginnings of the cinema. This awareness is testified by Münsterberg's work. Thus, the determination of culture through the techniques of audiovisual communication requires a complementary ethical dimension leading to fundamental awareness of responsibility. A significant contribution in this area is provided by H. Jonas's 'The Imperative of Responsibility', which constitutes a new project of ethics for technological civilization. According to Jonas, a true reaction to audiovisual condition of modernity could be provided by material responsibility taken on by an individual (assuming he/she is powerful enough to fulfill it). Rather than responsibility for something, it is a default responsibility, i.e. responsibility for neglecting actions that should be performed. In the development of interactive media, this claim appears even more forcefully. It is a non-reducible need of responsibility awareness in material sense, since the receiver - who is regularly interpreted as object of responsibility - grows to be the subject, also bound by the power given to him/her by this new medium.

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1 Kwartalnik Filmowy

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2 2006

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Touching Death with Images, The Need for Sense. 'The Hit' by Stephen Frears

Audiovisuality as ethical challenge