Class 6 "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

1)The use of film has expanded our optical perception as much as psychoanalysis expanded our consciousness. What was once merely an impulse is now studied and examined in an isolated way. Through the use of camera techniques like close-ups and slow motion, we can examine minute moments in entirely new ways. The rapid speed at which we move through our daily lives doesn’t allow us to break free of the “prison”. Film lets us look more carefully and appreciate the details in ways not previously possible.

"The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses." (p. 237)

2) I thought about the science film of the mother interacting with her baby played at slow motion. The mother at normal speed looks like she is smiling, at slow motion she looks horrific. Is a further development in film the use of brain imaging to see how those impulses look in space and time with cameras that can see brain activity?