The article addresses the lure of theatres, comparing the opaque cube with homey environment, investigating not just the screen, but the sound, atmosphere and distance the theatre creates, giving a unique experience to audience.
The section that impresses me a lot is the distance the writer described as a connection between two bodies, theatres create this hypnosis by gluing the inspector into the movie. The writer named the two bodies as a narcissistic body and a perverse body. Truly, in movies, the first “me” is with the protagonist, no matter he is doing good or bad. That “me” is greatly immersed in the movie, in the dream world of sci-fi, attracted by it and almost putting myself in the characters’ toes. Senses are all focused on the screen, the texture of sound and vibrations, feeling the story myself as if I were writing the screenplay. On the other hand, a second “me” keeps myself aware of the reality, reminds me of the texture of the chair, the mat my foot is on, coolness of the air, and the people sitting in front of me that I could barely see. This distance, the mysterious line between delusion and reality creates a tension in-between inspectors. The exact distance can only be created by an equal balance between senses. This is also the reason why I think even a modernized home cannot create an experience similar to the cinema. Advancement technologies give us wider screens, optimized speakers, but as long as you are aware of the furniture beside you, knowing where you are sitting and the location of everything you have access to even when the lights are out, the first “me” is so diminished that you just cannot forget about the reality. Obviously the two senses/ bodies are imbalanced and thus cannot create the distance, and fail to create a new dimension of space during the two hours. Not having a difference in the experience of space, this leaves inspectors boredom after the movie is over.
Theatres are subjective. Today’s technology has provided us with many options to watch movies, some might find it more convenient and cheap to watch movies on tablets, and it is undeniable that the imagery computers capture is no difference with cinema screens. However, if you see the cinema darkness as a form of architecture, the spaces and texture it creates to manifest the distance, the cinema is still a place for a nice holiday.
Wong Jing Hymn Joseph
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A good interpretation of the “narcissistic body” through “me” becoming the protagonist of the movie one’s watching and an interesting reflection on whether the advancement of technology will be able to recreate the hypnotic experience at movie theatres.
There could possibly be more reading on the second “me’, the perverse body – does the awareness of senses through the second “me’ leads to something more? and what is the “equal balance between senses”? Barthes’ mentioned “a perverse body, ready to fetishize not the image but precisely what exceeds it” (1986, 349) , what could be achieved if one sees beyond the image?