Reponse - March 31st (Reading/discussion)

After reading MacDonald’s article on James Benning one line stood out the most to me as I connected it to his work and all the discussions revolving around his work. “Probably no filmmaker has been more involved with exploring and documenting the American landscape and cityscape than Benning” (MacDonald, 220). There have been tons and tons of documentaries of the American landscape/cityscape but how true to detail are they? Even the documentaries of wildlife and nature shows put a narrative aspect to the film to add entertainment. Benning is a purist and purely documents in a more observational quality. Documenting the same place over different periods of time or of only trains going by with no narrative aspect help define this statement. Instead of trying to capture some action and then transform it into some story Benning takes the small (less noticeable) things and brings them into the light. It makes me think of the tag line to the film “American Beauty” which is “…look closer.” Benning is the epitome of looking closer and finding the beauty in observation. As I heard about Benning’s class and how he takes students out in random places to observe I thought this truly is what exploring a landscape/cityscape is all about. Immersing yourself in your surroundings and finding all the little things you wouldn’t normally notice. In this sense it’s the little things that create the big picture. I believe as a filmmaker one should aspire to showing the audience a concept, idea, or observation new and fresh that sheds new light to something. Finding the little things in life is exactly the right way to do so.