Essay On Cats Cradle - 1355 Words

Stan Brakhage’s Cat’s Cradle took me on a ride of ecstasy that I can never forget I have taken. After viewing this quick-cut, fast paced, and slightly unnerving piece, my mind did not ever want to view the film again but for some reason I could not resist. This film has no clear throughline narrative, but beautifully illustrates a dreamlike feeling that usually cannot be articulated. The six minute and nineteen second film has so much dense material that needs to be unpacked in order to attempt to enter Brakhage’s mind or thought process. Cat’s Cradle brings an interesting characteristic of film that may not have been practiced before the release of this film. Brakhage uses multiple types of filmmaking to achieve the successful finished†¦show more content†¦The silence also creates a type of atmosphere that pulls you into this world Brakhage has created and when the film concludes and the silence remains, it feels as if you have never left the wor ld of the film. Editing plays a large role in Cat’s Cradle and is the large reason that to write about this film it has to be viewed more than once. Brakhage and his editors use quick cutting to create a sequence similar to a montage. This type of editing kept me on the edge of seat, I was always waiting for more information or different shots to appear. The downside to this erratic type of editing is that it leaves little room for a concrete narrative to be pulled; then leaving audience interpretation to be the driving force of the film’s critical analyses. Walter Murch, the editor of Sam Mendes’ Jarhead, once told Lawrence Weschler in his essay â€Å"Valkyries over Iraq† that he believes the largest problem with film as a narrative medium is that it s literal, in that what you see is what was literally there, and yet we as filmmakers in processing the narrative have to create a spaciousness, a sketchy ambiguity, that allows the audience themselves to piece it all togeth er and make it powerfully their own. Brakhage takes that â€Å"sketchy ambiguity† and throws it out the window, leaving all ambiguity and nothing literal. Thus the film can be easily categorized as experimental; Brakhage is heavilyShow MoreRelated The Satire of Vonneguts Cats Cradle Essay1009 Words   |  5 PagesThe Satire of Cats Cradle      Ã‚  Ã‚   Cats Cradle is, Vonneguts most highly praised novel. 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Everyday we experience things like a cat’s cradle; we experience insignificant objects, feelings, or idols that