Young critics and enthused fans usually fall back (usually subconsciously) on the old Marshall McLuhan axiom that the medium itself is the message. If something is presented on film, the very form makes it art. This is an immature argument, and it’s often hauled out in defense of just about anything of dubious artistic value. Graffiti, sports, or video games, for instance. All have been accused of being artistic just because of their form.
The very cinematic form, though, doesn’t make something art. Form does not equal function. Watching a playback of a simple event may allow you to put that event in an objective headspace, which is certainly the first step on the way to seeing something as art, but you are not creating art merely by photographing something.
As a serious film viewer, it’s very important that you remember this. Not all films are art. Indeed, some very good films that you love a lot and have left a significant impact in popular culture may still not be art. I think a more valuable question to ask should be a slightly more specific one: “Is this film I’m watching great art?”
To answer the main question: I think we can all agree that the film form is capable of providing the world with great art. Films can be art. But it’s our jobs as critics and as viewers to be discerning. To have taste. To recognize what is art and what isn’t. Watch films on a case-by-case basis, and try to find the greatness in it. Not just the goodness. Not just how enjoyable it is, but how much it exploits the form. Does the film do something new with the form? What does it want me to feel? How deeply and profoundly does it want me to feel that thing? Just like any great piece of art, a great art film can rip open our souls, and nourish us deeply. A great film can link us with the divine parts of ourselves just as well as any art form.
But always remember: Not all films are art. Indeed, many of the mainstream movies you see will most likely not be. Most movies are entertainments. Commercial enterprises. They are meant to excite and thrill and move us, but not necessarily have an ambition to nourish our souls. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great film, but it is not great art. It seeks not to reveal deep truths about humanity, but to stimulate us. Indiana Jones is not someone we can relate to, and the story is the same pulp hokum seen in decades of entertainment. Star Wars is not art. Avatar is not art. Even the excellent and seminal Die Hard isn’t really art.
Looking back over these sentiments, I suppose my definition of art is something intrinsic and difficult to put into words. I used phrases like “nourishing the soul.” The problem with those phrases is that it’s hard to define what “nourishes the soul” in measurable means.
But art isn’t measurable; measuring is the realm of science. Humans are half logical and half artistic. Half thinking and half feeling. Half concrete and half ethereal. Half physical and half metaphysical. When we talk of art, we talk of the ineffable half of ourselves. We critics try to compare and contrast films all the time (X is better than Y, etc.), but we’re usually comparing their entertainment value, and not their artistic value.
These are important things to remember when delving into any sort of serious film analysis. Not all films are art, and, conversely, not all artistic films are great. Ultimately, there cannot be a single concrete definition in the matter. We just have to sense it. We sense what is art, what is ambitious, what it trying to reach the deeper parts of ourselves. As critics, we have to be careful about how we bandy about “art.”
Think about it the next time you go to a movie. And keep thinking about it. And never stop thinking about it.
Homework for the Week:
What are your favorite movies? Would you consider them art? How do you define art? What definitely is and definitely isn’t art? The most important question: Is there a line? Is there a realm where art can be distinguished from not-art? Are there films that ride the line?
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
