FREE ESSAY ON DEFINING YOUR TERMS CLEARLY, WHAT ELEMENTS OF BRECHT'S THEORIES CAN BE TRACED IN FILMS THAT ARE SAID TO BE 'ALTERNATIVE CINEMA'

DEFINING YOUR TERMS CLEARLY, WHAT ELEMENTS OF BRECHT'S THEORIES CAN BE TRACED IN FILMS THAT ARE SAID TO BE 'ALTERNATIVE CINEMA'

Defining Your Terms Clearly, What Element of Brecht's
Theories Can Be Traced in Films that are said to be
'Alternative Cinema'?
The term alternative cinema has certain connotations. To many, it is not alternative,
instead it is
the way cinema was meant to be viewed, in that the viewer should be able to define the
film in
their own personal terms. In the following essay, I will firstly examine what the term
alternative
cinema means, and secondly how Brecht's theories are evident in many elements of the
films that
have been pigeon-holed as alternative cinema.
The word alternative is described in Collins English Dictionary as: 
"Denoting a lifestyle, culture, art form, etc., regarded by its adherents as preferable
to that of
contemporary society because it is less conventional, materialistic, or
institutionalised, and,
often, more in harmony with nature."(Makin, 1992)
This is an extremely useful definition, as the word 'alternative' has been used to
describe a form
of medicine or therapy, and even forms of energy. 'Alternative medicine' examines the
persons
physical well-being, and uses acupuncture, feng-shui, massage, and many others, as
techniques to
alleviate disease. 'Alternative energy' is energy created from what surrounds us, such
as, wind,
the sea and the tides; it is energy that brings us in alignment with nature. The word
'alternative' in
these forms looks at natural processes found in nature. A number of films from around the
world
can be pigeon-holed as alternative cinema, that is, the cinema that rejects the
mainstream
approach of filmmaking. It is not a particular method of making films because many of
these films
are very different from each other and use differing approaches. alternative cinema does
not look
at a particular way of doing things but a particular way of not doing things. the
Brechtian aspect
of making films centres largely on the theoretical and creative side of film-making,
therefore,
many of the films said to be alternative, in terms of production, cannot be discussed in
terms of
the work of Bertolt Brecht.
Bertolt Brecht was born in Germany in 1898, and has been cited as the driving force
behind
what is commonly known as the 'epic theatre'. Brechts' ethos centred around bourgeoise
theatre,
which through the elaborate sets and acting style helped to allow the audience to
consider what
they are seeing, rather than a simple attempt to create reality. The bourgoise theatre
did this by
presenting storylines and characters that the audience could empathise with and not
presenting a
simple construction of reality. The audience were pushed to evaluate the piece and no
longer
treated it as simple entertainment.
I once stood, with a friend, in front of a painting by the Italian painter, Gustave
Cailebotte. The
painting was called 'Paris: On A Rainy Day', and to me the painting's use of drab colours
and
suffused light, plus the details of Cailebotte's characters, distinct in the foreground
yet blurred in
the background, gave me a sense that I was a Parisian walking through those streets. I
could not
focus on what lay beyond, and was just single-mindedly getting to where I was going. The
rain
had turned Paris into a city that conflicts with the Paris that we all know, a Paris that
welcomes
you with open-arms, a friendly Paris full of sunshine. This to me was the anti-Paris. In
short, my
belief was that Cailebotte was attempting to express the wonder of Paris through
challenging what
Paris is not. My friend on the other hand believed that Cailebotte was destroying the
notion of
Paris as a city where the sun always shines, where the scenery is beautiful and the
streets are full
of friendly faces. This to him was the back-end of Paris, where the locals never wore
smiles and
walked about their daily business unaware of how the other half lived. This to him was
the real
Paris. This incident perfectly illustrates the essence of alternative cinema, enabling
the consumer
to personally interpret the film. It should be possible for two people to walk out of the
film with
totally differing views on what they have just seen. It is up to the audience to unravel
the film, not
the film to unravel itself. Brecht himself remarked that Epic Theatre: "turns the
spectator into an
observer, but arouses his capacity for action, forces him to take decisions... the
spectator stands
outside, studies." (Brcht, 64)
When the Hollywood studio system started in the 1920s, certain techniques and
standardised
operations grew from this. Up until this point most film-making was said to be
experimental.
However, with the advent of the major five studios (Paramount, MGM, RKO, Warner, Fox)
and
the minor three studios (Universal, United Artists, Columbia), a divide between what can
be
classed as 'alternative' and what can be classed as 'mainstream' cinema appeared. There
was an
'assembly line' technique of production within the fully integrated studios and their
sole aim was
economical rather than artistic. Mass production was the vogue. Henry Ford made cars for
the
masses - the studios made films for the masses. 
The studios tried to open a fictional world and drag the audience inside by hiding the
technical
side of film-making. They would obide by specific rules of operation, such as the 180?
rule (A line
is drawn through the action in which the camera cannot cross, thus keeping the right
perspective
on the action) and the 30? rule (The camera cannot cut to more than thirty degrees around
the
axis of an object), to name just a few. Temporal continuity kept the story flowing in the
right
direction, and all these techniques helped the audience to be totally absorbed in the
action on
screen and to believe in the fictional narrative. 
In contrast to this, it was Jean-Luc Goddard who remarked that his films are "more
essayistic
[and use] less narrative than ever before, [and] have become a continuous free-form
commentary
on art, society, memory and, above all, cinema." (Romney, J) This way of thinking was
largely foreign to
Hollywood and the mainstream film-makers, and this quote typifies the ethos of the
alternative
film-makers. To exemplify the methods of the mainstream filmmakers versus the
alternative
filmmakers we can simply look at the film, Cape Fear. 
The 1962 version of this film by J. Lee Thompson works on the Hollywood ethos of
equilibrium. The sugar coated portrayal of family life, is soon followed by the
disequilibrium
caused by the entry of Max Cady and then the film ends with the equilibrium that returns
when
Cady dies. In the 1991 version, Martin Scorsese, its director, who although not generally
classed
as an alternative filmmaker, is classed as an auteur in that his films are personal
journeys, and
express personal beliefs. His version of Cape Fear begins with a family already in
disequilibrium
and the entry of Cady exacerbates this. Cady eventually dies and an equilibrium is found
that was
not evident at the beginning. The film of Scorsese can be seen as working in the
mainstream
because of the happy ending but still does not follow standardised narrative procedure.
This
method of working is indicative of the modern film-makers' move away from what is
generally
thought of as mainstream, and instead illustrates a newly realised technique of
storytelling. Peter
Wollen remarks that "The beginning of the film starts with establishment, which sets up
the basic
dramatic situation - usually an equilibrium, which is then disturbed. A kind of chain
reaction then
follows, until at the end a new equilibrium is restored." (Wollen, 99). Scorsese's Cape
Fear does appear to
have an economic purpose above everything else and closure gives the mainstream film its
own
reality, with nothing existing ouside its own bounds, and no need to reach ouside this
perimeter to
find closure. Mostly, Mainstream cinema is fictional entertainment and its aim is to be
unchallenging and above all enjoyable, with social and political issues largely ignored
and even
biographical and true-life films presented as simple representations, all this differs
from what the
documentary film and alternative cinema is trying to achieve.
The acting style withing the Brechtian film should have an 'alienating effect' on the
audience.
The actors would use various techniques to seperate themselves from the characters they
were
playing. Lines were delivered as if simply quoting from the script, which had the effect
of
seperating the actor from the part they were playing. It would disregard the 4th wall of
the theatre
and address the audience directly. 
I will now look at German expressionism (commonly cited as alternative cinema) and in
particular Robert Wiene's Cabinet of Dr Caligari. This film displays many elements of
Brechtian
theory, with it's distorted view of reality. One reviewer started his critique by saying:

"Is the film what it is on the surface? Is Francis a madman who has concocted the story?
Or is
it yet again reversed, with the framing device an epilogue which illustrates how corrupt
power
protects itself? or, again, can any part of the story be believed? Could some aspects be
true
and others false?... The speculation produced in the minds of the audience have the same
effect as the scenery: they put everything off-balance. No one can be trusted. In this
way, the
message about crippling power and the nature of authority is even stronger because of
its
actual mentally disorientating quality." (Brown, 98)
The film poses questions. It's dream-like quality avoids a realist take and therefore
lets the
audience pose its own questions and then answer these questions, therefore in effect
forming its
own reality. The actors use exaggerated gestures to externalise the characters' emotions.
The
audience discovers the characters' emotions without being sucked into the world that the
characters inhabit. This style of acting was seen as a response to method acting, a style
developed
by Stanislavsky between 1910 and 1920 and taken up by actors such as Marlon Brando and
Dustin Hoffman in modern cinema. German expressionism used the actors as an extension of
the
sets, making a psychological link between the two. The expressionist movement was clearly
an
alternative to the mainstream and was similar in many ways to Brecht's epic theatre and
in that
respect can be called alternative cinema. 
However, it is difficult to class German expressionist filmmakers as Brechtian in
approach,
although there are similarities. German expressionism does not succeed in breaking the
fictional
barrier, it distorts what is recogniseable enough to increase the impact of the film.
German
expressionism along with soviet montage, (and especially the films of Sergei Eisenstein)
both bear
similarities with Brechtian theory, however, this is seen as more by coincidence rather
than
influence. It was with the emergence of the French new-wave that Brechtianism was
embraced
fully. Filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Goddard focused largely on the audiences' relationship
with
the action on screen, and their main aim was to push back the boundaries that the
mainstream
cinema up until then had promoted. in 1959 Jean-Luc Goddard released A Bout de Souffle
(Breathless) which illustrated how he was trying to experiment in film. 
Goddard has attempted to remove many of the techniques used by mainstream film-makers to
pull the audiences into the filmic reality, and he has replaced them with characters that
talk to the
audience, a total removal of transparent editing, and an anti-illusionist method of
acting. The film
is a milestone in world cinema for a number of reasons. Firstly its style of editing
which, according
to John Francis Kreidl: 
"does not allow the viewer - like in the normal Hollywood film viewing experience - to
set
up a preconceived notion how to take a shot and assign to it meaning. Shots are cut in
ways
that confound anticipation the exact opposite of the way the classical Hollywood film of
the
1930's sets up each successive group of shots. Every act by the hero of "Breathless",
Michel
Poiccard, seems as if he had just, on the spur of the moment, decided to do what he did."
(Kreidl, 80)
Michel as a character often comments upon himself as a character in the film, which
distances
Michel from the filmic world, and lets the audience ask questions themselves as to what
they
would do. Michel has chosen to go one way, would we have done the same? Whilst Michel
asks
questions of Patricia, her vagueness in answering them allows the audience to step in and
answer
them for her so giving the audience a feeling of participation, a feeling that this is
not reality and
therefore we are allowed to enter the world and choose the outcome. The cinematographic
technique is ahead of its time, with innovations in the jump cut (a few feet of film is
cut in random
places) and the quick cut (short shots are cut out that break up the continuity of a
given scene).
With these shots the audience is invited to fill in the missing gaps. In one scene Michel
is seen
lying in Patricia's bed, and in the next he is walking out of the bathroom. The film also
uses highly
professional actors in very amateurish situations which does not ring true, (the same
situation
would arise if amateur actors were in professional situations). This technique adds to
the falseness
of the film and the involvement of the audience.
In 1967 Vent D'Est was released. The French New-Wave had already petered out but here
was
a film that embraced Brechtianism wholly, as Brecht remarked, "Character is never used as
a
source of motivation; these people's inner life is never the principle cause of the
action and
seldom its principle result; the individual is seen from outside." (Brecht, 64) Vent
D'est involved characters
talking directly to the camera, different characters using the same voice, and different
voices for
the same character. Therefore, a distancing from reality occured and as an audience, we,
rather
than following the plot in a logical fashion, have to force our own perception onto
proceeding to
garner our own meaning from what we see. 
Jean Marie Straub followed Brechtian theory closely in his work. His first feature film,
Not
Reconciled, begins with a Brechtian quote, "Only violence serves where violence reigns"
and
Bordwell and Thompson remarked that "Straub... films invite us to consider the actors not
as
psychological beings but as reciters of written dialogue. We thus become actively aware
of our
own conventional expectations about film acting, and perhaps those expectations are
broadened a
bit" (Bordwell, 97) Not Reconciled uses the theory that fiction in the context of another
time period was
inevitably alienating for the audience. In short, each period of history has its own
beliefs and
values inapplicable to any other, so that nothing can be understood independently of its
historical
context; Brecht called this 'Historicization'. In Not Reconciled, the narrative flits
around between
differing time periods and does not clearly seperate each period from the next,
therefore,
alienating the audience from the events on screen. The actors in Not Reconciled spout
their lines
as if reciters of written dialogue. Through this the audience, become aware of the
expectations of
film acting and then they broaden these expectations which again helps to alienate them.
Brecht only briefly toyed with the film industry, making the left wing communist picture
Kuhle
Wampe, yet his theories were applied liberally by the French New-Wave cinema and can be
seen
as early as German Expressionism. The German New-Wave cinema of the 1960's also
displayed
many of Bertholt Brecht's theories, with directors such as Alexander Kluge displaying
these ideas
in films such as Disorientated. The film Disorientated was typified by episodic
narrative,
alienating acting and the seperation of sound and image. alternative cinema is not just a
term used
to describe French, German and Soviet cinema, although these were simply the countries
most
renowned for this type of production. Countries such as Brazil, Iran, India and Britain
have all
produced films classed as alternative or new-wave. The Brechtian philosophy, if used in
the
production of film, will nearly always get the film the title of alternative cinema
because the
concepts of pleasure, spectacle and identification all take a backseat whilst the
differing concepts
of alienation, sporadic and episodic narrative take the front seat and help the audience
to
understand the film on many differing levels. 
Many barriers have been broken down in recent years with directors such as Quentin
Tarantino
offering Jean-Luc Goddard as a major influence in his work. Yet he is still classed as
Mainstream
because his films gain high box-office receipts, although, at the same time, garnering
'cult' status.
The film-makers that emerged through the seventies, for example Stanley Kubrick, Martin
Scorsese, Francis Ford Copolla and Arthur Penn, all displayed prominent anti-Hollywood
threads.
Yet their box-office returns proved that the so-called Hollywood rules of production set
up in the
studio years, can be ignored and a specific effect achieved. These directors were great
innovators
yet still gained huge box-office returns, which forged the alliance between the
alternative and the
mainstream. Hollywood is still concerned with the economic side of film-making yet it has
been
shown to be possible to innovate and also side with the mainstream movement. 
Bibliography
Bibliography
Makins, M (Managing Editor) (1992) Collins: English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers
Bordwell, D & Thompson, K (1997) Film Art: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill.
Willett, J (1964) Brecht on theatre. Methuen.
Cook, P (1999) The Cinema Book.
Elsaesser, T From anti-illusionism to hyper-realism: Bertolt Brecht and Contemporary
Film.
Brewser, B (1975-76) Brecht and the Film Industry. Screen. 16(4).
Heath, S (1975-76) From Brecht to Film: Theses, Problems. Screen. 16(4).
MacCabe, C (1975-76) The Politics of Seperation. Screen. 16(4).
Kuhle Wampe. (1974) Screen. 15(2).
Kreidl, J, (1980). Jean-Luc Godard. Boston: Twayne Publisher.
Internet Resources
Romney, J. Praise be to Godard. The Guardian/The Observer Visited Apr 2000 URL: http://
www.filmunlimited.co.uk/ Feature_Story/interview
Brown (1998)The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The Magic of the Movies Visited. Apr 2000. URL:
http://members.aol.com/aechrist/6/das.html
Filmography
A Bout de Souffle (1960) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Written by Jean-Luc Godard.
French:
Les Films georges de Beauregard, Imperia, Societe Nouvelle de cinematographie, societe
Nouvelle de Cinema.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) Directed by Robert Wiene. Written by Hans Janowitz &
Karl
Mayer. Germany: Decla-Bioscop
Kuhle Wampe (1932) Directed by Slatan Dudow. Written by Slatan Dudow & Bertolt Brecht.
Germany & Switzerland: Praesens-Film AG, Prometheus Film.
Not Reconciled (1965) Directed by Daniele Huillet & Jean Marie Straub. Written by
Heinrich
Bolle & Daniele Huillet. West German: Unavailable.
Vent D'Est (1969) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard & Jean0Pierre Gorin Written by Sergio
Bazzini
& Daniel Cohn Bendit. French: Film Kunst, Anouchka Films, Polifilm.