장 비고와 도시 교향곡 - <니스에 관하여> 소고

Abstract

This paper takes an indepth look into the city documentary of Jean Vigo titled A Propos de Nice, utilizing arguments put forward by Walter Ruttmann and Dziga Vertov in what may be summarized as films of ‘City Symphony’. The paper takes a careful examination of Metropolitans of 1920's. 1920's was an era of experiments in films and the films in the genre titled City Symphony was at the forefront, it became the vehicle in understanding the soul and charm of a city. To access the very essence which made up the city, Ruttmann tried to formulate his ideas on formal aesthetics. In contrast Vertov wanted to explore and document the city from a rather satirical viewpoint by exploring carnivals and recreation centers of a city. The two perspective resulted in two quite different images of a city. Vertov in a denotative perspective is close to Ruttmann while in a connotative perspective he is more aligned towards Vigo. The city image suggested and documented by Vertov seems solid and fluid at the same time. When one utilize closeup and long shots the captured image of a city denotes a solidified image. On the contrast, through editing as the sequences bcome faster the images takes on the image of fluidity. Jean Vigo's film A Propos de Nice is as mentionned a documentary film of social viewpoint of a city. The film of Vigo can be summarized as "primal love for the surface of things, its uncanny ability to capture life as it is"(Bill Nichols: 2002), showing the difference from Ruttmann in that he wanted to capture and document the surface not to mention deconstruct the outer image. Vigo while documenting various images that is at the core of soul of city symphony does not forget to document the upcoming death of the bourgeois and the city elements. His films show an influence of his father who supported anarchy, and tries to convey to the public the ‘last breath’ of the city as we know it and prophesies the coming of new society where workers will be the owners of the city.