The Eyes Have It: Cinema and the Reality Effect

Murray Pomerance

Published by Rutgers University Press 2013

The Eyes Have It

Cinema and the Reality Effect

Murray Pomerance

In the series Techniques of the Moving Image

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813560601

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Eyes Have It explores those rarified screen moments when viewers are confronted by sights that seem at once impossible and present, artificial and stimulating, illusory and definitive.

Beginning with a penetrating study of five cornfield sequences—including The Wizard of Oz, Arizona Dream, and Signs—Murray Pomerance journeys through a vast array of cinematic moments, technical methods, and laborious collaborations from the 1930s to the 2000s to show how the viewer's experience of "reality" is put in context, challenged, and willfully engaged.

Four meditations deal with “reality effects” from different philosophical and technical angles. “Vivid Rivals” assesses active participation and critical judgment in seeing effects with such works as Defiance, Cloverfield, Knowing, Thelma & Louise, and more. “The Two of Us” considers double placement and doubled experience with such films as The Prestige, Niagara, and A Stolen Life. “Being There” discusses cinematic performance and the problems of believability, highlighting such films as Gran Torino, The Manchurian Candidate, In Harm’s Way, and other films. “Fairy Land” explores the art of scenic backing, focusing on the fictional world of Brigadoon, which borrows from both hard-edged realism and evocative landscape painting.

Author / Editor information

MURRAY POMERANCE is an independent film scholar in Toronto. Among his many books are Shining in Shadows: Movie Stars of the 2000s, A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film, Johnny Depp Starts Here, and An Eye for Hitchcock, all published by Rutgers University Press.

Reviews

"Pomerance explores how the mechanics of cinema create engaging and irrationally persuasive illusions of reality. Thanks to [his] technical expertise and command of historical context, the book is constantly bringing new light to familiar material. Pomerance summons films arty and pop, classic and current, major and forgettable, with a unique combination of tecnical savvy, theory, and analytic sensitivity. It is exciting and delightful to read."

— Choice

"Real history and technology cling to Pomerance’s boots in his delightful, instructive romp through acres of films in our 'Field of Dreams.' Enjoy this down-to-earth study of illusion."

— Dudley Andrew, Yale University

"Pomerance's sound scholarship, provocative readings of classic films, and meticulous archival research make this beautifully written work both pleasurable and illuminating to read."

— Vivian Sobchack, University of California, Los Angeles

"Pomerance's book shows the reality effect in cinema by using our eyes to blend a kind of milkshake of our senses thought pleasurable, complex, artificial, and previously unnoticed film patterns in regard to actors' performances, technological aspects, and scenic design."

— The Journal of American Culture

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Prelude: Corn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Vivid Rivals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. The Two of Us Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
3. Being There Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
4. A Fairy Tale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Works Cited and Consulted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Illustrations
- Other: 6 photographs, 1 figure

eBook

Published: March 19, 2013
ISBN: 9780813560601