After watching Millenium Mambo I was both in love and annoyed with the main character. I identified with her extreme sense of claustrophobia, as i too felt the physical confinement of her tiny apartment and the tension and conflict that took up residence with her and Hau Hau (im sure thats not spelled right). Furthermore, the passage of time was so realistically portrayed via the long take that time often felt excruciating and repetitive. 

In thinking about the "long take" I cant help but refer back to Bazin. He discusses the "democracy" of the long take, as it privileges the viewers eye to wander freely throughout the take and thus the viewer can create their own perception and emotions of the information presented to them. 

The Long Take for me in Millenium Mambo had me using the same democratic process but at the same time, arriving at a completely contrived emotional response. I felt like i was perpetually searching, and looking for something but i had no idea what.  

Here, my eye was wandering so much throughout the non-linear storyline AND the back to back long takes, that i could not help but IDENTIFY with the protagonist's pervasive feelings of loneliness, purposelessness, and vagrancy.  Therefore the way this director uses the long t seems to demonstrate that the device isnt necessarily democratic and can be used in the same way as Eisenstienian montage (im sure i spelled  this wrong too) - to dictate and create a specific sentiment in the viewers. 

THOUGHTS? FEELINGS? UTTER DISAGREEMENTS? 

Cheers, 

michela

Welcome to our blog!

Hi Thursday Section! Welcome to our blog.

GROUP POSTS
During the week your group is assigned to post to the blog, you will post a group entry by Sunday midnight. Your group must also post an identical entry to http://whattaxidriver.blogspot.com/ (the blog for the Friday section). Title your post "Group Post--Alex, Zach, Ashley" etc.

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES
Every week, after the post has gone up, each of you (not just the group in charge for the week) will respond to the post, with comments, thoughts, further questions etc. Use the "comment" function. Your responses need to go up by the Wednesday night--ie the night before our section. Respond on this blog only. The Friday section members will have their own discussion on their blog. You are recommended to follow their blog but not required to.
See the calendar of deadlines below for post and response due dates.

The syllabus and our section agendas suggest one way of organizing the course. Your blog posts can suggest another. In other words, your blog posts can serve as a forum to raise questions that span various weeks of the syllabus, pose unusual connections, test hypotheses, get to the stuff we didn't have time for in section. Be creative, be informal! Post even when you don't absolutely have to! Don't think of the blog as a chore--if I were you I'd think of it like Facebook. Something to check and update whenever you need a distraction.

CALENDAR
GROUP 1 —POST DUE SUNDAY MARCH 1 Midnight
Alex Ashe
Zachary Bornstein
Ashley Adams
responses due Wednesday March 4 midnight

GROUP 2 —POST DUE SUNDAY MARCH 8 Midnight
Stassia Chyzhykova
Bladi Duran
Sean Feiner
responses due Wednesday March 11 midnight

GROUP 3 —POST DUE SUNDAY MARCH 15 Midnight
Stephen Doucet
Will Epstein
Adam Fern
responses due Wednesday March 18 midnight

GROUP 4 —POST DUE SUNDAY MARCH 29 Midnight
Michela Fitten
Nikolas Gonzalez
Sam Helman
responses due Wednesday April 1 midnight

GROUP 5 —POST DUE SUNDAY APRIL 5 Midnight
Alex Hare
Coral Murakami-Fester
Daniela Lopez-Goichochea
responses due Wednesday April 8 midnight

GROUP 6 —POST DUE SUNDAY APRIL 12 Midnight
Adam Pliskin
Matthew Modica
Rafik Salama
responses due Wednesday April 15 midnight

GROUP 7 —POST DUE SUNDAY APRIL 19 Midnight
Leslie Primack
Michael Shuster
Bryan Smith
responses due Wednesday April 22 midnight

GROUP 8 —POST DUE SUNDAY APRIL 26 Midnight
Tracey Szatan
Lee Stevens
responses due Wednesday April 29 midnight.