Spectatorship

A spectator is a person who observes any event. He gives his reviews and views on it. In film studies, a spectator observes a movie and gives its reviews. The nature of spectatorship is to look at how the viewer is involved, implicated and engaged in the viewing experience. Varieties of terms are used in this. They are distanciation, self-reflexivity, focalisation and subjectivation. It is important that an individual participates in his own role and activity in determining a film.

Spectatorship is not only the act of watching films, but to enjoy each and every bit of it that how much an individual is enjoying the film while watching. The spectator interacts in the action of the film, enjoying the movie and giving meaning to it. The spectator sometimes can be a decoder. It is the work of the spectator to decode them and give the meaning because the film totally relies on the signs of the spectator.

Films have become the most important part of today’s lives. People watch films and learn for it, whether it is good or bad. Its impact is very high on today’s audiences. Today’s film industry is a money making industry and so the spectator should know their tastes, likes and dislikes.

Kabuki

Kabuki is Japanese traditional form of dancing and singing. It is performed in a performed in a greatly stylized method. For almost four centuries, kabuki was the major theatrical form in Japan. Kabuki is the combination of music, dance, costuming, makeup, mimic, etc. The word is written with three characters: ka, signifying “song”; bu, “dance”; and ki, “skill.” Actors of kabuki have carried this tradition from one generation to other.

Kabuki, in Japan took place in 17 century. Female dancers here were named as OKUNI because they use to perform only at the place of worship. Okuni’s was the first dramatic entertainment for the tastes of the common folks in the Japan.

Make up is very important when it comes to Kabuki. Kabuki makeup which is called as kesho,is of two types. One is ‘standard makeup’ which is applied to most actors and other is ‘kumadori makeup’ which is applied to villains and heroes.

To punish the wicked or reward the honourable is the purpose of Kabuki. It entertains and allows the actors to demonstrate their skills and this whole process is called as “kanzen-chōaku”. Regular performances of Kabuki are held at the National Theatre in Tokyo. Kabuki thus moved away from its origins, an unsteady form of dance, and towards a formalist style of drama with a more rigid framework.

RASA

Rasa refers to the emotional flavors/essence of a person. It is crafted into the work by the writer and a good taste by a positive taste and mind. They are described by Bharata Muni in the Nātyasāstra, an ancient work of dramatic theory. RASA is most important in Indian drama and literature.

Poetry and Rasa both belongs to each other. The attractiveness of poetry is because of the Rasas. In the case of poetry and drama this taste is to be tasted with the help of the ears and the eyes.

There are eight primary rasas. Śṛngāram (शृङ्गारं) Love, attractiveness, Hāsyam (हास्यं) Laughter, comedy,Raudram (रौद्रं) Fury, Kāruṇyam (कारुण्यं) Compassion, Bībhatsam (बीभत्सं) Disgust, Bhayānakam (भयानकं) Horror, Vīram (वीरं) Heroic mood, Adbhutam (अद्भुतं) Wonder.

The theory of Rasa is still is been used in the entire Indian classical dance and theater such as Bharatanatyam, kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Kudiyattam, Kathakali and others. Classical Indian dance form is referred to as Rasa-abhinaya expressing Rasa. The Nātyasāstra carefully potrays the bhavas used to create each rasa.

Rasa has the important influence on Indian cinema. Emotions, which are very important in any of the cinema and it is the only thing which differentiate it from the western culture. Rasa is the method of conveying the emotions which is thus felt by the audiences. 

Dhvani

Dhvani (meaning- sound) Theory is the most important poetic theory of ancient India. Dhvani Theory is basically a semantic theory. The term dhvani (sound) is derived from the root 'dhvan' to make sound. If we go back to Atharva Veda, it was the older term used in the sense of sound, tune, noise etc. In the Veda, there are many magical speculations regarding speech and sound. The Braahmana texts analyze the words into their elements in the context of meaning. The problem of the relation between sound and meaning is fully discussed by the ancient Indian thinkers. AudumbaraayaNa and VaarttaakSa, the thinkers, were the first to explore in this field. Regarding the eternal character of the sound, even Yaaska, in his Nirukta, records the view of AudumbaraayaNa.

Dhvani is a divisible and has independent existence.  It is produced and in a particular sequence and the same qualities of sound is superimposed on sphoTa.

Dhvani is the term of an earlier origin. Though, its nature is already met with in the works of scholars like AudumbaraayaNa and many others. Its relation with the abstract level of sphoTa, was defined only at the time of PataNjali. 

Natya shastra

The Natya Shastra (Sanskrit: नाट्य शास्त्र, Nāṭyaśāstra) is an ancient Indian Culture. It is the Indian Tradition of performing arts, theatre, dance and music. Natya Shastra was written in the period between 200 BCE and 200 CE. It was classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata. Bhara muni was the one who introduced Natya Shastra. It is based on the Gandharva Veda. To influence music, dance and literature, Natya shashtra took place in Indian Culture.

Natya shastra is very important in the history of Indian classical music. It is the only text which gives such detail about the music, instruments of the period. The most understood commentary on the Natyashastra is the Abhinavabharati by Abhinavagupta. Natyashastra mainly concentrate on movement, voice, emotional expression, and the stylization of bodies with make-up and costumes as artistic elements in their own right.

It is referred as the fifth Veda. Natyashastra remained an important text in the fine arts for many centuries. The structures of music outlined in the Natya Shastra retain their influence even today, as seen in the seminal work Hindustani Sangeetha Padhathi by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande from the early 20th century.

Cinema is mere gadgetry without narrativity- hugo munsterberg

Hugo Munsterberg was a German-American psychologist. He was one of the pioneers in applied psychology, extending his research and theories to Industrial/Organizational, legal, medical, educational and business settings. To Munsterberg films were getting closer to 'complete cinema' which is bad because it is getting closer to reality with color/sound/etc, betraying the silent film. He celebrated the flatness of the image, silent films, and the artifice in cinema. The photoplay mirrors how the mind works. Flashbacks are important to him.

In 1916, German-American psychologist and philosopher Hugo Munsterberg published The Photoplay, one of the first printed volumes on the new phenomenon of film. Taking his interest and training in applied psychology as starting point, Munsterberg “casts a psychologist’s eye on the physiology, perception, and mental functioning of the spectator, while the philosopher in him considers the intrinsic aesthetic qualities of the art and the emotions and moral attitudes that the medium can elicit and engender.”

He concludes, for example, that movement in film is not actual but rather created by the spectator; the viewer does not experience reality in the theatre, but rather a mental perception of reality. In essence, cinema stimulates the mental structures of the mind by way of its structural similarity to the mind itself. Munsterberg’s work was remarkably ahead of its time, precipitating a tremendous impact on what was to be the field of Film Studies.

Andre bazin's myth of total cinema

Andre Bazin who wrote the book ‘The Myth of Total Cinema’ was in support of realism. He examined the history and emergence of the technology of cinema. According to him, cinema was brought into this world to reproduce the world around us in perfect detail. Bazin argues for the inventors of photography and cinema were not just satisfied with producing technology for sale. Though he does admit that some were primarily concerned with this – but they were striving for the imitation and reproduction of the “real” world.

The desire for realism derived from the production of technology. Andre Bazin explains ‘The cinema is an idealistic phenomenon.’ He argues that a conception, an understanding of cinema cannot or should not be drawn from the economic and technological development of photography.

As per Andre Bazin, The myth or guiding desire of realism and cinema is the reproduction of the world unburdened, uncoloured, by an artist’s interpretation or subjectivity. Realism is the attempt or aim of objectivity enabled by mechanical reproduction of reality. Bazin believes the desire for realism is the natural, organic beginning and end point of cinema. Bazin believes that the myth of total cinema realism was held in every mans’ heart long before the technology was invented.