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A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–19591896: Georges Méliès

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–1959: 1896: Georges Méliès [This chapter begins with a discussion of the ambivalent chord Méliès struck for the pioneering documentary historians for whom Méliès was rendered an uncanny, estranged autre, an incontestable rival of the (by that time) nearly century-old documentary tradition. On the one hand, Méliès was never considered to be a meaningful or even relevant player in the progression of documentarism. On the other, film historians were then—as they are now—aware of the notion that no mythology is enabled or made viable without a perfect antagonist, a role for which Méliès’s personal characteristics and professional traits were perfectly suited: eccentric, rebellious, extremely innovative, wildly imaginative, hyper-aesthetic, and outrageously creative. In this chapter I present a close reading of a nearly forgotten paragraph from his private memoirs in which he describes his epic journey, with a camera, to the storm-swept beaches of Trouville and Le Havre. Back in Paris with the developed materials, the unexpected, excited audience reaction to the naturalistic documentary marvel he had just produced inspired him to shout at the top of his lungs: “That’s it, exactly!” a cry that, half a century later, would be echoed by the masters of direct cinema. This chapter begins with a discussion of the ambivalent chord Méliès struck for the pioneering documentary historians for whom Méliès was rendered an uncanny, estranged autre, an incontestable rival of the (by that time) nearly century-old documentary tradition. On the one hand, Méliès was never considered to be a meaningful or even relevant player in the progression of documentarism. On the other, film historians were then—as they are now—aware of the notion that no mythology is enabled or made viable without a perfect antagonist, a role for which Méliès’s personal characteristics and professional traits were perfectly suited: eccentric, rebellious, extremely innovative, wildly imaginative, hyper-aesthetic, and outrageously creative. In this chapter I present a close reading of a nearly forgotten paragraph from his private memoirs in which he describes his epic journey, with a camera, to the storm-swept beaches of Trouville and Le Havre. Back in Paris with the developed materials, the unexpected, excited audience reaction to the naturalistic documentary marvel he had just produced inspired him to shout at the top of his lungs: “That’s it, exactly!” a cry that, half a century later, would be echoed by the masters of direct cinema.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–19591896: Georges Méliès

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
ISBN
978-3-030-79465-1
Pages
51 –63
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-79466-8_3
Publisher site
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Abstract

[This chapter begins with a discussion of the ambivalent chord Méliès struck for the pioneering documentary historians for whom Méliès was rendered an uncanny, estranged autre, an incontestable rival of the (by that time) nearly century-old documentary tradition. On the one hand, Méliès was never considered to be a meaningful or even relevant player in the progression of documentarism. On the other, film historians were then—as they are now—aware of the notion that no mythology is enabled or made viable without a perfect antagonist, a role for which Méliès’s personal characteristics and professional traits were perfectly suited: eccentric, rebellious, extremely innovative, wildly imaginative, hyper-aesthetic, and outrageously creative. In this chapter I present a close reading of a nearly forgotten paragraph from his private memoirs in which he describes his epic journey, with a camera, to the storm-swept beaches of Trouville and Le Havre. Back in Paris with the developed materials, the unexpected, excited audience reaction to the naturalistic documentary marvel he had just produced inspired him to shout at the top of his lungs: “That’s it, exactly!” a cry that, half a century later, would be echoed by the masters of direct cinema. This chapter begins with a discussion of the ambivalent chord Méliès struck for the pioneering documentary historians for whom Méliès was rendered an uncanny, estranged autre, an incontestable rival of the (by that time) nearly century-old documentary tradition. On the one hand, Méliès was never considered to be a meaningful or even relevant player in the progression of documentarism. On the other, film historians were then—as they are now—aware of the notion that no mythology is enabled or made viable without a perfect antagonist, a role for which Méliès’s personal characteristics and professional traits were perfectly suited: eccentric, rebellious, extremely innovative, wildly imaginative, hyper-aesthetic, and outrageously creative. In this chapter I present a close reading of a nearly forgotten paragraph from his private memoirs in which he describes his epic journey, with a camera, to the storm-swept beaches of Trouville and Le Havre. Back in Paris with the developed materials, the unexpected, excited audience reaction to the naturalistic documentary marvel he had just produced inspired him to shout at the top of his lungs: “That’s it, exactly!” a cry that, half a century later, would be echoed by the masters of direct cinema.]

Published: Sep 16, 2021

Keywords: “That’s it exactly!”

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