Tag: Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film and the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3597773@connect.hku.hk

“In this darkness of cinema (anonymous, populated, numerous – oh, the boredom, the frustration of so-called private showings) lies the very fascination of the film.” I relate to this sense of anonymity. I find this cinematic darkness inviting, often even comforting. I yearn to be consumed by the void of the theatre. It is an entirely different experience viewing a film in a theatre versus on a television screen in your home. For the film’s entire runtime, I am completely immersed in the world it creates, indeed as Barthes mentions it is “hypnotic”. My attention does not waver, there is

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

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3609524@connect.hku.hk

When going to the cinema, individuals usually focus on the movie at hand and tend to overlook the vital role of the surrounding ambiance in shaping their degree of satisfaction. The light emitted from the exit signs, the texture of the seats, the after-taste of buttery popcorn… These are only some of the factors which contribute to one’s overall experience. These key elements, Barth argues, although much more subtle, are nevertheless as prevalent as the films themselves. He particularly underlines the feeling one gets as the lights are dimmed down and one is submerged in total darkness: a feeling of

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 1 Architecture, Film & the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3582508

After reading “Leaving the Movie Theater” by Roland Barthes, I was impressed by the way how Barthes described the film-watching experience in a cinema as hypnosis. I usually watch movies on my phone but whenever I want to get relief from daily life, cinema is certainly the best place for me because of the irreplaceable “darkness” in a cinema, significant aroma of pop-corn, bright light beam projected on a big screen, moving images and sound truly distract me from the reality. Fascinated by the film image and its narrative, I always stare at the screen and know nothing about my

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Cat Links Architecture, Film + The Modern City

[Reading response] Barthes and Benjamin

Posted on daeun

Two readings Barthes, R. (1986). Leaving the Movie Theatre 1975. In The Rustle of Language ( and Benjamin, W., Jennings, M., Doherty, B., Levin, T., & Jephcott, E. (2008). The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility gave me an in-depth insight into their view of film. Both of them reflects on how our experience of watching the film and what changed the quality of experience. For example, in the Barthes’ text he explains the importance of lighting and sound as a tool of conveying tension to audiences. This brought me to a point that in the times of pandemic, how would directors overcome

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Cat Links Lecture 1 Architecture, Film & the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on u3579277

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

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 1 Architecture, Film & the Modern City

[Reading Response]: Roland Barthes

Posted on May0523

Hyunjoo Kim – 3035821427 Barthes talks about the fascination of films, the hypnosis, and the fascination to be glued. So, in order to be unglued from the film, Barthes gives two suggestions, and honestly, his two solutions are already being adopted in the present, as Netflix videos, youtube videos, Instagram stories, or Tik Tok videos are still films but very detached, distanced from the audience. This totally makes sense, we don’t feel the same way of watching a movie in a theatre than when we watch in our house, using Netflix, even though we are more comfortable in our beds

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Cat Links 2021 Blog, Lecture 1 Architecture, Film & the Modern City

Reading Response: Roland Barthes

Posted on Gordon

The main features of a cinema include the darkness, the experience and the fascination. The darkness in the theatre provides you with the best atmosphere to focus solely on the movie. In the first reading, Barthes (1984) mentioned that ‘Not only is the dark the very substance of reverie, but it is also the “colour” of a diffused eroticism’. When you are in a cinema, the setting, lighting, music, soundtrack, and special effects amplify the emotions of the film. It also describes the experience mentioned above. The audience will feel like they are accompanying the characters as they make their

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