The Aesthetics of Bordem and Blasé Attitude in Cinema Based on Thoughts of George Simmel and Walter Benjamin: A Case Study of Gavkhooni (The River's End)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Instructor, Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

In the Iranian cinema, it is possible to find various films that have built their own structure on the depiction of the Boredom of their own heroes. In these works, there are passive characters rising from modernity that do not have affinity with the active characters of the classical cinema. Since these characters are a manifestation of modern human's condition, it is possible to recognize their characteristics by investigating about their encounter with the modern city. In spite of the fact that in the discourses related to modernity, flaneur is often considered as a person who warmly embrace the stimuli and shocks of the modern city, some theoreticians believe that flanerie might be read with what Simmel has regarded as a blasé characteristic of the modern subjects. From Simmel's point of view, the experience of a blasé person is a devoid of "qualities" that leads to a perception based on the "devaluating the whole objective world". Simmel's analyses and thoughts have left a great influence on the ideas of Walter Benjamin in his discussions about concepts such as distraction and boredom. Benjamin believed that when passing through the modern city, in confrontation with assault of the images, the eye would lose its ability to concentrate, and as a result a new kind of perception would emerge. A perception based on the movement of eyes between countless and diverse surfaces and images, which is associated with impossibility of contemplation and concentration: the distracted perception. The main point is that, despite the existence of films focused on the boredom, so far, less research has been done about Iranian cinema that focuses on how to display boredom and blasé, and to investigate the perception of the modern subject in confrontation with Urban modernity based on the ideas of Simmel and Benjamin. Focusing on Gavkhooni (The River's End) by Behrooz Afkhami, This paper attempts to investigate depiction of boredom and blasé in this film based on the ideas of thinkers such as Benjamin and Simmel. In most of the works that try to depict their character's boredom, this concept appears more at the narrative/fictional level, and the filmmaker is not able to convert the sense into cinematic matter. According to the discussed issues in the present article, Gavkhooni (The River's End) is declared as a specific example of Iranian post- revolution cinema, which succeeded in developing the boredom of the character/ narrator into the various cinematic levels. For example, the relation between boredom and narrator is reproduced in relation between him and the geography of the city of Isfahan. In order to visualize as much as possible, the aimlessness and bordem of the character which emerge as a result of daily routine that surrounded him, Afkhami creates a vague cinematic city which is far from real geography of Isfahan. As a result, and according to the findings of this study, it can be stated that Gavkhooni (The River's End) goes beyond mere displaying a narrative about the boredom and has succeeded to improve this sense based on the fundamental features of cinema art.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts & Music
Volume 25, Issue 3
September 2021
Pages 5-14

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