COPOLLA, is that you?

a commentary




I couldn't believe it's happening.

Francis Ford Coppola, a cinema giant known for his greatest contribution to cinema The Godfather (1972) , posted a video on YouTube.





I didn't see it coming. And i am still laughing now.

For some reason the idea of an artist (a director in this case) and his solitary role as the maker of art is purged by the so-called interconnectedness in modern society --- the Internet. I cannot point a way to describe it, but basically the thought of an artist being a solitary human being was raised by my college writing instructor as she defines the role of a writer.

What makes isolation important? In film, there is a question of distance. Film making, as we know, is a cathartic, technical process. A collaborative type of art wherein the attribution of 'the artist' is still unresolved not until French New Wave break in fifty years ago. Critic of Cahiers du Cinema during the late 1950s attempted to resolve this problem of attribution by placing the Auteur Theory as theoretical framework for the analysis of films on world stage for criticism.

Auteur theory has a bounded function - to attribute 'the artist' title to the director of the film. This attribution is based on the consistency of 'style' on the films directed by these so called 'artists of cinema'. The theory still survived until now. The title of 'auteur' can be the highest possible honor that a director can achieve. Famous auteurs includes melodramatic Steven Spielberg, the women(feminist?) director Pedro Almodovar, the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, the poetic Abbas Kiarostami, the meditative Bela Tarr, and many other names that may rang up your minds.

Directors as artists, in the auteur context, are prone to the penal description of the ISOLATED BEING. We want artists as artists, but not as posers. yes, we might be curious to how they make art or what concept they might have in mind or their opinions about the richness of their style. All of this can be much achieved through an interview, a dyadic communication with questions of specificity. But this does not break the shell intended to protect their isolated image.

To break the shell is to let in every possible interaction between the community and himself. This may have positive results like a deeper connection with the audience, to let a possible discussion or criticism. However, this depict an artist as a public figure almost at a celebrity level.

Isolation enables the artist to function as an omnipotent being, unreachable, much like a auric god. The only interaction involved is the audience and his work of art. An artist must exist in his art and should be depicted through his art to attain authenticity as the maker of the art.

His function does not involve depicting him as himself. this might destroy this connection, and may lead to a probable depletion of his authenticity as the maker.

I cannot imagine Coppola grasping a camera and talking about his recent film, Tetro. It diminishes his auric image as one of the great directors and it levels him to other Internet passe.


That's all for now.