Film as a Subversive Art

I am embarking on a new project essentially for a paper for my Theory & History of Cinema class, but also because I am methodical and curious. From an early age, I have known the satisfaction of methodical inquiry. I am one of those kids who read the encyclopedia. Fortunately ours was not many extensive volumes, but it is a big book. What I am now proposing is nowhere near as expansive a quest.

I am preparing to write a paper on Amos Vogel, spectatorship and why we are such poor cinema audiences. The film industry is going down like a sinking cruise ship and it just keeps hoping that by adding rides, like 3D and crazy explosions, that they will be able to forestall the inevitable. It breaks my heart to see old movie theaters like the Uptown or the Annex just sit empty and decrepit.

I am hoping to be able to discover a unique experience that people would come out for and enjoy like an indie rock show at the Empty Bottle. Brew and View at the Vic is close, but it's filthy and the movies suck. I wonder if a cine-club is possible and exciting for others. I love watching films and then chatting about them with cool peeps. I want to save the filmviewing experience from solitary, mediocre DVD or worse, streaming, home viewing.

To that end, I will be watching as many films from the brilliant Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art. Hopefully you'll be inspired to watch some weird films and we'll collectively be inspired by the more than 20 year-long running film club, Cinema 16, created by Vogel in 1947 in New York. (I'd also like to think that Chicago is an amazing enough city in which to pull this off.)

I'm open to suggestions and will now enable posting from others. So send me your thoughts and let's save film and society too!