Tag: Reading Response: Roland Barthes

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[Reading Response] Leaving the Movie Theater_Roland Barthes

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In “Leaving the Movie Theater,” the author scrutinizes the importance of darkness in shaping the audience’s cinematic engagement. Darkness is depicted not simply as the absence of light, but as a deliberate and indispensable component that fosters imaginative freedom and relaxation within the theater environment. Unlike the familiarity of watching television at home, the darkness of the theater offers a sense of seclusion and tranquility, allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in the cinematic narrative. This resonated deeply with my recent cinema visit, where I personally experienced how darkness transcended visual perception to create a profound emotional connection among audience

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[READING RESPONSE]The Rustle of language

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Response to “Leaving the Movie Theater” Movie is the use of sight, sound and space to create a unique artistic conception that not only satisfies people’s response to leisure and laziness, but also has hypnotic properties. From a visual point of view, the movie is like a beam of light breaking through the darkness and bringing a shock to the audiences’ soul. The audiences can experience the unique charm of the movie from the visual and text, whether it is the magnificent scenes or the vivid characters. In particular, combined with the unique auditory experience, the movie brings the perfect audio-visual experience. The sound of the movie provides an

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Cat Links Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

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In Leaving the Movie Theater, Roland Barthes briefly discussed how elements such as darkness and sound functioned as “prerequisites for hypnosis.” Cinema is a matter of what is in the frame and what is out (Martin Scorsese). The fantasy created by a movie, a “reel world,” can be a perfect choice for the audience to escape from the real world or an elaborately crafted mirror to reflect reality.   Because of my strong empathy ability, I could always integrate into any character in any movie, regardless of gender, identity, or even species. After watching A Dog’s Purpose, I still remember the

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Cat Links Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

[Reading Response: Roland Barthes]

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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

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Cat Links Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

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The article “Leaving the Cinema” discusses the elements of a theater that help viewers get fully immersed in a film, including the sound, camera light, darkness, seats, movie screen, and distance from the screen. Darkness plays the most significant role in why viewers are drawn to a film completely. On the contrary, when watching a movie at home, bright lighting, walking people, dinner tables, and other furniture constantly serve as a reminder that we are in a domestic setting rather than at the cinema. These frequently distract us from the movie’s plot. But when it’s dark, we often find ourselves

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Cat Links 2023 Blog, Lecture 1: Architecture, Film & The Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes and Walter Benjamin

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Despite Roland Barthes’ essay being written in 1968, it proves itself to be a timeless piece with relevance to this day. The act of being in the theater being hypnotic, almost a world of its own, an escape from reality are feelings I have also felt after watching a film. Cinemas nowadays are made with large curved screens that take up your entire field of view, comfortable seats you can sink into, and complete darkness when the film begins. Even with the rise of online movie sites like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO, I believe with advancing technology such as 3D

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

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Owing to the dark environment of the cinema as well as the sound and music of the movie, the author of “Leaving the Movie Theater” claims that attending the movie theater enables individuals to feel hypnotized. According to the author, the “twilight reverie” prefigures the dark environment of the movie theater and leads the person into a dimly lit cube where hypnosis can occur and where the body’s freedom is generated. People are relaxed and healed in the movie theater, away from the urban city. The comparison of the experience of watching Netflix at home versus at a cinema is

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Reading response to Roland Barthes

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Every time I walk in the theatre, it’s like a spiritual ritual. I turn off my phone and pull the “light” to the lowest. I figure out a comfy gesture so that I can fully embrace the darkness, until the seat under me becomes void. I wake up from the darkness and waiting for the sudden advent of the stinging light, warning me that the dream is ended, time to come back to the real life. And then my favourite part begins. I turn off the “do not disturb” mode and start to check the messages from people, curious about

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[Reading Response: Roland Barthes]

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Reading ‘Leaving the Movie Theater’ gives a mix of rational thinking and the narrator’s own personal feelings, including passion and dedication towards the movie and movie theater. Along with the reading, I was following the steps of the writer who observed every little distinction that makes watching movies in the theater different from watching television. I was smoothly led by the writer to know about every special function of cinema and how they make watching movies in theater become such enjoyable and aesthetic leisure in part of life. The distance between the screen and the audience works for the big

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

L1 Reading Response – Barthes

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  According to the ‘Leaving the Movie Theater’ by Roland Barthes, he describes the cinematic experience as “hypnotic”. I highly agree with his expression of watching a film at the cinema as I also felt engulfed and overwhelmed whenever I have finished a movie at the theater. Especially in this era of high technology, the innovation of 4DX has been implemented. Within 4DX, cinemas offer multi-sensory hypnotic effect. While the film was only confined to the screen before 4DX, nowadays the enhanced ambience and multi-dimensional effects draws audiences into the movie. I would like to shed a light on the

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