Cinematic Urbanism tells the story of modernity and postmodernity in cities through the lens of film. Through a series of films representing various modernities, AlSayyad traces the dissolution of the boundary between real and reel through time and space. The author distinguished between voyeur and flaneur. A flaneur is a casual observer with no ulterior motive, whereas a voyeur is someone who gets excited and gains satisfaction from peeking at other people. The author used two movies to represent the voyeur through a camera lens. The first movie ‘Rear window’ is an old movie and Jeff would use binoculars to observe his neighbours through windows. In the second movie ‘Silver’, Zeke would use CCTV cameras to spy on other people. Alsayyad contends that our understanding of the city cannot be just viewed from our cinematic experience. Films not only depict a society, but they also influence how we construct images of the world and, as a result, how we operate within it. We are beginning to hardly distinguish between what is real in everyday life and how we imagine it.
– Zimeng Fan 3035952745
Clear and concise summary of AlSayyad’s text. It is also interesting that you brought in the ideas of real and reel to discuss the idea of what can or cannot be viewed through the lens. How would you compare ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Sliver’ in their representation of the voyeur?