The Goat Riding the Flaming Bicycle Represents the Government: Avant-Garde

[on:]

In my Introduction to Film Class we recently covered and examined the genre of the Avant-Garde/Experimental films. The first thing I thought of was Twin Peaks of all things. Needless to say though, this is the one area that I have not found any interest in. We watched Last Year at Marienbad this afternoon, which had beautiful cinematography but what really got on my nerves was the inappropriate musical cues that bordered on shrill and made it really uncomfortable to listen to at points. This is only a small dosage I've received and I'm sure I'll watch more, (the TAs here eat the experimental shit up), but I was wondering what other people thought. So far, I don't like it. A lot of the ideas expressed in what I've watched this week I think would work better in any other medium, paintings, poetry, songs, photography, but in film I don't know for me I guess I really just appreciate storytelling or logically driven narratives over non-narratives.

[Reply #1 on:]

Twin Peaks (the TV show at least, I haven't seen the film) is not very avant garde. It certainly has avant garde elements, but for the most part it's a straightforward mystery/drama. Compared to the rest of Lynch's work, Twin Peaks is barely avant garde at all. It's also fantastic.

Avant garde anything is a mixed bag, but especially with film. Some of it is meaningful, deep, and full of questions to ponder. But then a lot of it is just incomprehensible pretentious bullshit. Don't dismiss avant garde film as a whole just because you've seen a few things that you found to be the latter. Have an open mind and you might find something that speaks to you.

I will say though that every experimental film I've ever seen a film major at my school make has been of the "incomprehensible pretentious" category. Most of them don't understand that with avant garde you're supposed to convey meaning to the audience. Instead most of them just make something that has meaning, but meaning that only they understand, and that can't be understood by anyone else unless explained. This is self-indulgent and stupid.

[Reply #2 on:]

That's very subjective though.  Do we have to use specific motifs, themes, and symbols that everybody absolutely has to know and understand in order to express ourselves across a meaningful yet abstract spectrum of emotions and ideas?  Who gets to be boss of that?