anastasios-odyssefs ntinopoulos perception essay

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Perception Essay

Investigating the themes of identity , alienation and ideology in thefilm movie: Dogville (2003).


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Anastasios-Odyssefs NtinopoulosPerception

BA (Hons) CG Arts and Animation Year 1University For The Creative Arts, Rochester

Lead unit tutor: Chris HuntWord count:1668

Submission Date: 12th December 2011

Contents

Introduction: 3Main Body: 3Conclusion: 7Illustration List: 7Bibliography: 8


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Introduction:

Perception is the process of awareness and understanding by humans. Perception through artis always different to everyone and really ambiguous. Art is being understood in many differentand various ways by people. Most times art wants to depict and to express specific ideas and

themes In the film industry directors want to ensure that their film will be fully understood by theaudience but there are some exceptions with some films being different from other ones. Whichmakes them interesting and brilliant pieces of art to study and deeply analyze the aspects of theperception we perceive from them. Many film makers use ideology and symbolism in theirmovies for specific reasons. They pass their ideas and ideologies through the audience withtheir techniques. This essay will explore and will focus in one particular film Dogville (2003)directed by Lars von Trier. The film is really interesting for its ideas and particularly for itstechniques that have been used to film it. Extremely unusual sets, different ideas and meaningsin the film make it a masterpiece which worth discussing and analyzing about it. Also somecomparisons and some examples will be given from other films in order to be fully understood.Semiotics , ideology , some specific effects and techniques are used in Dogville. I will useresources from the books: Self and Identity : Fundamental Issues, Theatre and Consciousness,Performing Brecht, Visual Perception : An Introductionand some definitions.

Main Body:

The way we perceive the form of identity

Identity is not stable or rational, but an ever-conflicted tension between id and ego, consciousand subconscious mind. (Freud, Sigmund)

The way we perceive the identity and the personalities of the people of Dogville is based in avariety of factors.

Figure 1 The different personalities in the town of Figure 2 The people of the town of Dogville.Dogville.

Every individual perceives the identity of the other differently. The way that we have constructedour identity and our self makes us to construct the others identity in a way that is familiar and


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logic for us. We first construct our self with the factors and the things we have received andprocessed as familiar from the society and from our sources. Familiar sources for us is ourfamily, our friends our personal experiences. Every people in Dogville town is seem different toeveryone because everybody has a different way and a different perception of how understandsand sets the identity of the other. As Ashmore points out (1997:11): Self and identity are crucialto making sense of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals. It can be agreed

because as I said before we first construct our identity and our way in perceiving things andthen we can understand and perceive others people identity. Also identity can be released fromsocial bindings. The way that people are dressed and from what is their society status constructfor the audience a different identity for everyone in the town. In our situation consumerism doesnot play a key factor in the towns people of Dogville because the time in the movie is set in anold time. Although in modern societies consumerism is a crucial thing that sets the identity ofpeople which is very misleading but its still a very crucial thing that sets identity in modernsocieties.

Consumerism: Attachment to materialistic values or possessions.(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerism, 2011)

Another good example of perceiving the identity of the other is in the movie Fight Club. Theaudience cannot distinguish the different identity of the leading role actor of the movie. The twodifferent identities are secretly hidden in the individual where we understand it in the end. Itsreally interesting how the person who has a split personality perceives and understand the otheridentity of his self as a different person in the film. The audience is also confused with thedouble personality.

Figure 3 The double identity of the main actor in the Figure 4 The split personality actor in the Movie: FightMovie: Fight Club. Club.

The same thing happens in this movie. Because of the way we have perceived the things thathave been shown in the movie as two different identities we believe until the end whereeverything is revealed that there are two different ident ities in the movie. Its because of the waywe have perceived and the things have been shown and our self and mind automatically andsubconsciously distinguish it as two different persons. Its really interesting how and in which
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerismhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerismhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerismhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerism


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way things can be shown that can set and destine our mind. Reality and things that can becompletely wrong and misleading sometimes destine the identity of the other in our mindsubconsciously. This is how the human consciousness works in modern societies most times.

Special effects and techniques

In Dogville we can observe the unusual set as being an audience. The whole set is an emptystudio with an extremely minimal stage. The stage is articulated only by painted lines on thefloor and a few scattered objects, which represent the town in its entirety. The audience issuccessfully affected by this technique-special effect used in purpose from the director. Thealienation or distancing effect is being used in order to discourage and distance the audiencefrom the characters.

Alienation effect: It involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience fromemotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatricalperformance. (2011,http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15423/alienation-effect)

In our situation the set creates an illusion to the audience, the audience is plunged into an

illusion, in something completely fictional.

Figure 5 The empty stage of the film Dogville Figure 6 The illusion set of the film Dogville

The actordoes not allow himself to become completely transformed on the stage into thecharacter. (Dinkgrfe, 2005:68). It can be agreed that the actors during the distancing effect arenot fully transformed on the stage but still their performance effects the audience as it shouldeffect it with a real set scene. Although the actors seem weird and strange in a kind of s et likethat still they achieve the best with their performance. The audience can observe the actors and

their performance although the stage can be fully fictional and empty. Its amazing how theaudience gives in to that illusion and still can observe the movie being attached to theperformances of the actors. After the audience have been familiarized with the unfamiliar set themovie is as normal as it would be if it had a real stage set. The distancing or alienation effecttechnique has been introduced by the epic theatre playwright Bertolt Brecht. He has used thistechnique in his plays. Also this effect can be seen in traditional Chinese theatre. In the dramatictheatre the alienation effect has been introduced by Stanislavski.
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Figure 7 Brechtplay: The Caucasian chalk circle using the alienation effect

Distancing effect promotes the notion that Brecht meant the audience to be detached fromtheir feelings during a performance. (Eddershay, 1996:16). It is likely that the audience duringthe distancing effect is being detached from its feelings because of the illusion that is beingcreated by the performance. Its normal not to give in in your feelings when you are a viewer insomething completely fake and something which is fictional and an illusion in reality. Althoughthe fact that the audience is kind of detached from its feelings it doesnt mean that the movie isdetached from reality. The movie still passes its messages and its ideologies successfullyusing this kind of effect.

Ideology and symbolism

Ideology is often and most times perceived through art. Different meanings and ideologicalmessages pass through the audience and through their experience and incentives they takethrough art. The movie Dogville passes its own ideology to the individual giving differentmeanings to everyone who sees it. Furthermore symbolism can be viewed in the movie whichadds some meanings in the ideas that are being viewed through the whole movie. This isachieved by specific facts and incidents in the movie. Symbolism can be felt in the movie. Thereis a psychological connection with symbolism that makes it visible to the audience. In the end ofthe movie we can observe a massacre through the whole town by the mobs. The whole actionsymbolizes revenge through the sinful people of the town against the newcomer. Also the actionthat they have put chains to Grace (leading actor in Dogville) symbolizes the captivity of thestronger to the weak. The chains are a symbol of captivity. These are some symbols that can befelt to the audience during the movie.


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Figure 8 The killing of the town people in Dogville Figure 9 Grace being captivated with chains

The whole society of the town can pass the idea that depicts the new modern corruptedsocieties where everything is repaid with a cost. The idea of the corrupted society and thegreedy people is being passed through the audience during the whole movie. The ideology ofrevenge against the corruption and the greedy people is what the movie offers you in the end.

Ideology and symbolism is one of the main things that a piece of art wants to pass to itsaudience. Ideology differs and everyone can perceive ideology in their own certain way. Also inthe end of the movie the innocent dog which is the only one that survives symbolizes theexception and the hope of non-corrupted and non-sick member of the society.

Conclusion:

Perception through art is always visible to anyone. All kind of artists give a meaning to theirartworks. In every kind of artwork , even if it is a painting, a film. Anything that is beingcharacterized as art gives a special perception to the audience. Perception is a fundamentalpsychological process, and a very remarkable one. (Wade, 1991:12). From research that hasbeen carried out this seems really true. As I mentioned previously the perception is derived

through the psychological condition of the individual. Every artist is giving a meaning to its pieceand certain opinions and messages are passing to the audience. In the film Dogville throughthe alienation effect and through symbolism, ideas of corruption and revenge are being passedto the mind of the audience. The audience reacts to what it sees and perceives everythingthrough its own common sense. Its normal to perceive something differently than another one.Its because we process everything with our own common sense.

Illustration List:

Figure 1: Dogville (2003): The different personalities in the town of Dogville.

http://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 2: Dogville (2003): The people of the town of Dogville.http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 3: Fight Club (1999): The double identity of the main actor in Fight Club.
http://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpghttp://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpghttp://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpg


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http://fondecran001.free.fr/cinema/f/fight_club/fight_club_031.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 4: Fight Club (1999): The split personality actor in the movie Fight Club.https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0509/5af283e5b0467/5af283ead772e.jpg(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 5: Dogville (2003): The empty stage of the film Dogville.http://lh4.ggpht.com/_BBrt97HFKzU/TKHgAgawl9I/AAAAAAAAJZQ/kSXkcansfJw/vlcsnap-2010-09-28-12h40m04s146%5B2%5D.png(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 6: Dogville (2003): The illusion set of the film Dogvillehttp://www.dgdesignnetwork.com.au/dgdn/wp-content/images/DGmagazine132/Setting-the-Scene/Dogville%202.png(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 7: The Caucasian chalk circle: The Caucasian chalk circle using the alienation effect.

http://www.womanaroundtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PipelineTCCC-20-1038--520x346.jpg(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 8: Dogville (2003): The killing of the town in Dogville.http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bLsLWkpL98/TYo3ZhHYz2I/AAAAAAAAAxM/zIt3MyPmjfQ/s1600/dogville.JPG (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 9: Dogville (2003): Grace being captivated with chains.http://www.openheaven.org/data/openheaven/images/Dogville_Grace_with_chain_thing.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Bibliography:

Ashmore, Richard D. (1997) ). Self and Identity : Fundamental Issues. USA. Oxford UniversityPress(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Meyer-Dinkgrfe, Daniel (2005). Theatre and Consciousness. Bristol. Intellect Ltd.(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Eddershaw, Margaret (1996). Performing Brecht. London. Routledge(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Wade, Nicholas J (1991). Visual Perception : An Introduction. USA. Routledge.(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

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