Roland Barthes’ article Leaving the Movie Theatre, his theory of simultaneously ‘two bodies’ related to the image and surroundings in cinema fascinates me. His use of language to depict the process of cinematographic hypnosis and contemplative immersion is intriguing—the narcissistic body to gaze and get lost into the self-reflecting mirror and the perverse body to fetishise sound and light. This assertion is true as my experience of watching Babylon in cinema, the film exaggeratedly present rise, fall and ‘craziness’ of dreamers in the old days in Hollywood, for which every spectator is enabled to memorise and see the shadows of himself, striving for something. Films mirror the intimate frustration of audiences in trough, and perhaps arouse the narcissistic feelings of their climax in the past. Regarding the perverse body, sound and light hypnotise spectators into a virtual but ever-existing world. They are mesmerised by the success of dream-chasers and moved by protagonists’ attempts to break the external constraints. The connection between the two bodies with feelings and emotions of audiences points out the ultimate essence of film: to enable intimate experience.
ZHAO LANYAN UID: 3035977202
You have carefully intertwined your own reflection and personal experience to Barthes’ ideas. Good work. A skillfully-crafted piece of writing!