Visual Culture #4 - Brechtian and Dogme / Paradigms, Relativism and the Creative Process

That was a mouthful. With the lecturer this week, we were supposed to learn about Brechtian and Dogme. We touched on it a tiny bit, but the lesson was focused on auteur theory that we missed last week. Not quite sure if the lecturer will continue Brechtian next week or if we will skip straight to gender.

Bertold Brecht was a marxist playwright who was very political in his works, and often broke the fourth wall.

http://i2.wp.com/www.hofmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Deadpool-GIF.gif?resize=480%2C208

Dogme 95 was a very purist movement with strict rules (aka the vow of chastity). There was no capitalist values, the director must not be credited (but most break this rule), no special lighting, music, genre, etc. It was made to purify the film industry.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Tuesday's lecture, we learnt about paradigms, relativism and the creative process. But first, a few definitions;

• rhetoric - persuasive writing. Negative term nowadays. 
• paradigm - basic assumptions. Commonly accepted and shared. Set of accepted ideas
• paradigm shift - change in underlying assumptions
• relativism - 'relate'. Understood in terms of what it stands near in relation to (context in which it was made)
• cultural relativism - values and culture making, only valid in own cultural context

We normally don't question culture, we just accept it (a paradigm). However, some artists wanted to establish and break the rules. Some examples of paradigms in film are genre, style, location, etc. We then looked at "unity in variety" with different films using the same location.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--KPm9j5dX--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/1484311854805567409.gif

Westerns are also paradigms interpreted through the lens of different cultures, with spaghetti westerns, etc. This can result in a culture clash where objective truths are discovered. Cultural evolution is always changing, where it can be marginalised or adapted, often resulting in a culture clash with different values and opposing paradigms. Hybrids also often happen, that are also authentic and true. Acculturation can be a consequence.