riceandweed on Nostr: “It is the Hollywood musical of the thirties that realizes the dream of the ...
“It is the Hollywood musical of the thirties that realizes the dream of the historical avant-gardes : here, even the scenic mechanism of constructivism is translated into the imaginary. In the musicals of Busby Berkeley, the "chorality" of the dance is the absolute protagonist and is enriched with symbolic values. In Forty-second Street, the chorus girls are once again disguised, as in Parade or The Triadic Ballet.But here their mask is cre ated by urban reality : the outlines of the skyscrapers of New York dance optimistically-in the very midst of the Depression-along the inevitable staircase, inviting the audience to enter into the collective celebration prof fered by a metropolis that is intended to negate the crisis.so
Here, truly, montage of the attractions and symbolic universe, artifice and narration, instruments of information and technological knowledge converge. The mechanical equipment no longer needs to exhibit itself: in the film, its laws are entirely incorporated by the product. Furthermore, the Berkeley musicals are "political" spectacles; Warner Brothers directs them explicitly at the masses who support F. D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
The collective dance in the Hollywood musical is not mere escapism : a synthesis of precision and bodily liberation, of the surreal and of kitsch, it is even capable-as in the "Forgotten Man" sequence in Gold Diggers of 1933-of reminding American society of its own responsibility regarding the Great Depression and the grave unemployment.
Theatrical constructivism was to have a further result, tragically ironic. In the penguins' pit at the London Zoo (1932-33), Berthold Lubetkin used, almost as a literal citation, the spiral ramps designed by Lissitzky for Mey erhold. The enclosed space is used for a zoo : here the penguin is enclosed, while the man on the other side of the net is given the role of passive spectator.”- The Sphere and the Labyrinth, Manfredo Tafuri
Here, truly, montage of the attractions and symbolic universe, artifice and narration, instruments of information and technological knowledge converge. The mechanical equipment no longer needs to exhibit itself: in the film, its laws are entirely incorporated by the product. Furthermore, the Berkeley musicals are "political" spectacles; Warner Brothers directs them explicitly at the masses who support F. D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
The collective dance in the Hollywood musical is not mere escapism : a synthesis of precision and bodily liberation, of the surreal and of kitsch, it is even capable-as in the "Forgotten Man" sequence in Gold Diggers of 1933-of reminding American society of its own responsibility regarding the Great Depression and the grave unemployment.
Theatrical constructivism was to have a further result, tragically ironic. In the penguins' pit at the London Zoo (1932-33), Berthold Lubetkin used, almost as a literal citation, the spiral ramps designed by Lissitzky for Mey erhold. The enclosed space is used for a zoo : here the penguin is enclosed, while the man on the other side of the net is given the role of passive spectator.”- The Sphere and the Labyrinth, Manfredo Tafuri