perception-essay anastasios-odyssefs ntinopoulos

5/11/2018 Perception-Essay Anastasios-Odyssefs Ntinopoulos - slidepdf.com

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/perception-essay-anastasios-odyssefs-ntinopoulos 1/9

1

Perception Essay

Investigating the themes of identity , alienation and ideology in the

film movie: Dogville (2003).



2

Anastasios-Odyssefs NtinopoulosPerception

BA (Hons) CG Arts and Animation Year 1University For The Creative Arts, Rochester

Lead unit tutor: Chris HuntWord count:1668

Submission Date: 12th December 2011

Contents

Introduction: …3 Main Body: …3 Conclusion: …7 Illustration List: …7 Bibliography: …8



3

Introduction:

Perception is the process of awareness and understanding by humans. Perception through artis always different to everyone and really ambiguous. Art is being understood in many differentand various ways by people. Most times art wants to depict and to express specific ideas andthemes In the film industry directors want to ensure that their film will be fully understood by the

audience but there are some exceptions with some films being different from other ones. Whichmakes them interesting and brilliant pieces of art to study and deeply analyze the aspects of theperception we perceive from them. Many film makers use ideology and symbolism in theirmovies for specific reasons. They pass their ideas and ideologies through the audience withtheir techniques. This essay will explore and will focus in one particular film Dogville (2003)directed by Lars von Trier. The film is really interesting for its ideas and particularly for itstechniques that have been used to film it. Extremely unusual sets, different ideas and meaningsin the film make it a masterpiece which worth discussing and analyzing about it. Also somecomparisons and some examples will be given from other films in order to be fully understood.Semiotics , ideology , some specific effects and techniques are used in “Dogville”. I will useresources from the books: Self and Identity : Fundamental Issues, Theatre and Consciousness,Performing Brecht, Visual Perception : An Introduction and some definitions.

Main Body:

The way we perceive the form of identity

“Identity is not stable or rational, but an ever -conflicted tension between id and ego, consciousand subconscious mind.” (Freud, Sigmund)

The way we perceive the identity and the personalities of the people of Dogville is based in avariety of factors.



4

“Figure 1” The different personalities in the town of “Figure 2” The people of the town of Dogville.Dogville.

Every individual perceives the identity of the other differently. The way that we have constructedour identity and our self makes us to construct the others identity in a way that is familiar andlogic for us. We first construct our self with the factors and the things we have received andprocessed as familiar from the society and from our sources. Familiar sources for us is ourfamily, our friends our personal experiences. Every people in Dogville town is seem different toeveryone because everybody has a different way and a different perception of how understandsand sets the identity of the other. As Ashmore points out (1997:11): “Self and identity are crucialto making sense of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals.” It can be agreedbecause as I said before we first construct our identity and our way in perceiving things andthen we can understand and perceive others people identity. Also identity can be released fromsocial bindings. The way that people are dressed and from what is their society status constructfor the audience a different identity for everyone in the town. In our situation consumerism doesnot play a key factor in the town’s people of Dogville because the time in the movie is set in anold time. Although in modern societies consumerism is a crucial thing that sets the identity ofpeople which is very misleading but it’s still a very crucial thing that sets identity in modernsocieties.

Consumerism: Attachment to materialistic values or possessions.(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerism, 2011)

Another good example of perceiving the identity of the other is in the movie Fight Club. Theaudience cannot distinguish the different identity of the leading role actor of the movie. The twodifferent identities are secretly hidden in the individual where we understand it in the end. It’sreally interesting how the person who has a split personality perceives and understand the otheridentity of his self as a different person in the film. The audience is also “confused” with thedouble personality.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consumerism






5

“Figure 3” The “double” identity of the main actor in the “Figure 4” The split personality actor in the Movie: FightMovie: Fight Club. Club.

The same thing happens in this movie. Because of the way we have perceived the things thathave been shown in the movie as two different identities we believe until the end whereeverything is revealed that there are two different identities in the movie. It’s because of the waywe have perceived and the things have been shown and our self and mind automatically andsubconsciously distinguish it as two different persons. It’s really interesting how and in which way things can be shown that can set and destine our mind. Reality and things that can becompletely wrong and misleading sometimes destine the identity of the other in our mindsubconsciously. This is how the human consciousness works in modern societies most times.

Special effects and techniques

In Dogville we can observe the unusual set as being an audience. The whole set is an emptystudio with an extremely minimal stage. The stage is articulated only by painted lines on thefloor and a few scattered objects, which represent the town in its entirety. The audience issuccessfully affected by this technique-special effect used in purpose from the director. The“alienation” or distancing effect is being used in order to discourage and distance the audiencefrom the characters.

Alienation effect: “It involves the use of techniques designed to distance the audience fromemotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatricalperformance.” (2011, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15423/alienation-effect)

In our situation the set creates an illusion to the audience, the audience is plunged into anillusion, in something completely fictional.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/15423/alienation-effect






6

“Figure 5” The empty stage of the film “Dogville” “Figure 6” The illusion set of the film “Dogville”

“The actor does not allow himself to become completely transformed on the stage into thecharacter.” (Dinkgräfe, 2005:68). It can be agreed that the actors during the distancing effect arenot fully transformed on the stage but still their performance effects the audience as it shouldeffect it with a real set scene. Although the actors seem “weird” and strange in a kind of s et likethat still they achieve the best with their performance. The audience can observe the actors andtheir performance although the stage can be fully fictional and “empty”. It’s amazing how theaudience gives in to that illusion and still can observe the movie being attached to theperformances of the actors. After the audience have been familiarized with the unfamiliar set themovie is as normal as it would be if it had a real stage set. The distancing or alienation effecttechnique has been introduced by the epic theatre playwright Bertolt Brecht. He has used thistechnique in his plays. Also this effect can be seen in traditional Chinese theatre. In the dramatictheatre the alienation effect has been introduced by Stanislavski.

“Figure 7” Brecht play: “The Caucasian chalk circle” using the alienation effect



7

“Distancing effect’ promotes the notion that Brecht meant the audience to be detached fromtheir feelings during a performance.” (Eddershay, 1996:16). It is likely that the audience duringthe distancing effect is being detached from its feelings because of the illusion that is beingcreated by the performance. It’s normal not to give in in your feelings when you are a viewer insomething completely fake and something which is fictional and an illusion in reality. Althoughthe fact that the audience is kind of detached from its feelings it doesn’t mean that the movie is

detached from reality. The movie still passes it’s messages and it’s ideologies successfullyusing this kind of effect.

Ideology and symbolism

Ideology is often and most times perceived through art. Different meanings and ideologicalmessages pass through the audience and through their experience and incentives they takethrough art. The movie “Dogville” passes its own ideology to the individual giving differentmeanings to everyone who sees it. Furthermore symbolism can be viewed in the movie whichadds some meanings in the ideas that are being viewed through the whole movie. This isachieved by specific facts and incidents in the movie. Symbolism can be felt in the movie. Thereis a psychological connection with symbolism that makes it visible to the audience. In the end of

the movie we can observe a massacre through the whole town by the mobs. The whole actionsymbolizes revenge through the sinful people of the town against the newcomer. Also the actionthat they have put chains to “Grace” (leading actor in Dogville) symbolizes the captivity of thestronger to the weak. The chains are a symbol of captivity. These are some symbols that can befelt to the audience during the movie.

“Figure 8” The killing of the town people in Dogville “Figure 9” Grace being “captivated” with chains

The whole society of the town can pass the idea that depicts the new modern corruptedsocieties where everything is repaid with a cost. The idea of the corrupted society and thegreedy people is being passed through the audience during the whole movie. The ideology ofrevenge against the corruption and the greedy people is what the movie offers you in the end.Ideology and symbolism is one of the main things that a piece of art wants to pass to its

audience. Ideology differs and everyone can perceive ideology in their own certain way. Also inthe end of the movie the innocent dog which is the only one that survives symbolizes theexception and the hope of non-corrupted and non-sick member of the society.

Conclusion:

Perception through art is always visible to anyone. All kind of artists give a meaning to theirartworks. In every kind of artwork , even if it is a painting, a film. Anything that is beingcharacterized as art gives a special perception to the audience. “Perception is a fundamental



8

psychological process, and a very remarkable one.” (Wade, 1991:12). From research that hasbeen carried out this seems really true. As I mentioned previously the perception is derivedthrough the psychological condition of the individual. Every artist is giving a meaning to its pieceand certain opinions and messages are passing to the audience. In the film “Dogville” throughthe alienation effect and through symbolism, ideas of corruption and revenge are being passedto the mind of the audience. The audience reacts to what it sees and perceives everything

through its own common sense. It’s normal to perceive something differently than another one.It’s because we process everything with our own common sense.

Illustration List:

Figure 1: Dogville (2003): The different personalities in the town of Dogville. http://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 2: Dogville (2003): The people of the town of Dogville.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 3: Fight Club (1999): The “double” identity of the main actor in Fight Club. http://fondecran001.free.fr/cinema/f/fight_club/fight_club_031.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 4: Fight Club (1999): The split personality actor in the movie Fight Club.https://reader003.{domain}/reader003/html5/0213/5a81cb79df7a0/5a81cb7e882ff.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 5: Dogville (2003): The empty stage of the film “Dogville”. http://lh4.ggpht.com/_BBrt97HFKzU/TKHgAgawl9I/AAAAAAAAJZQ/kSXkcansfJw/vlcsnap-2010-09-28-12h40m04s146%5B2%5D.png (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 6: Dogville (2003): The illusion set of the film “Dogville” http://www.dgdesignnetwork.com.au/dgdn/wp-content/images/DGmagazine132/Setting-the-Scene/Dogville%202.png (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 7: The Caucasian chalk circle: “The Caucasian chalk circle” using the alienation effect.http://www.womanaroundtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PipelineTCCC-20-1038--

520x346.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 8: Dogville (2003): The killing of the town in Dogville.http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bLsLWkpL98/TYo3ZhHYz2I/AAAAAAAAAxM/zIt3MyPmjfQ/s1600/dogville.JPG (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Figure 9: Dogville (2003): Grace being “captivated” with chains.

http://www.starzmoviez.com/images/cache/screen_image_264515.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E9YcWkAQSfQ/Sw40w0zPwRI/AAAAAAAAKaw/O_4-7zmy9mw/s1600/dogville.jpg



http://fondecran001.free.fr/cinema/f/fight_club/fight_club_031.jpg


http://mar2mak.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/fight-club-doppelganger.jpg


http://lh4.ggpht.com/_BBrt97HFKzU/TKHgAgawl9I/AAAAAAAAJZQ/kSXkcansfJw/vlcsnap-2010-09-28-12h40m04s146%5B2%5D.png



http://www.dgdesignnetwork.com.au/dgdn/wp-content/images/DGmagazine132/Setting-the-Scene/Dogville%202.png



http://www.womanaroundtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PipelineTCCC-20-1038--520x346.jpg



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bLsLWkpL98/TYo3ZhHYz2I/AAAAAAAAAxM/zIt3MyPmjfQ/s1600/dogville.JPG


















9

http://www.openheaven.org/data/openheaven/images/Dogville_Grace_with_chain_thing.jpg (Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Bibliography:

Ashmore, Richard D. (1997) ). Self and Identity : Fundamental Issues. USA. Oxford University

Press(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Daniel (2005). Theatre and Consciousness. Bristol. Intellect Ltd.(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Eddershaw, Margaret (1996). Performing Brecht. London. Routledge(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

Wade, Nicholas J (1991). Visual Perception : An Introduction. USA. Routledge.(Accessed: 11/12/2011)

.

http://www.openheaven.org/data/openheaven/images/Dogville_Grace_with_chain_thing.jpg



perception-essay anastasios-odyssefs ntinopoulos

Documents