Luther Gibbs Decalouge
How does the visual medium of film work as Midrash?
The visual medium of film works as Midrash, because film is a visual in which viewers have the ability to interpret differently. The aspects of film being film scores, colors, emotions, and language can all play significant roles in how the meaning of a scene enlightens/teaches the viewer. The four aspects of Midrash (Pashot, Remez, Sod, and Darash) all give different ways for the interpretation of biblical text through literal meaning, deeper meaning, hidden meaning, and comparative meaning. These same interpretations of meaning can be applied to film, because film contributes itself as "visual text" and speaks to different people in different ways. The same Midrash applies to the Commandment of "I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no other strange Gods before me." This can be left to interpretation because gods can come in the form of material things, meaning materials that can become your priority and it takes away from the contemplation aspect of God being the most important thing in your life.
Do any of the visuals of the films work as symbols that bridge the gap of understanding? How?
Personally the most important visual of the film that bridged the gap for me in the first episode of the Decalouge for me was when the young boy asked the computer what his mother was dreaming about and it had no answer to his question. This bridged the gap for my understanding visually about not having any other gods before the one true God. This scene gave me the ability to interpret the visual that although the computer has superior knowledge to the average human intellect, and the fact that it can calculate solutions almost immediately perhaps faster than getting solutions through prayer, the scene showed that this "all knowing" device indeed had limitations. I think the scene where the professor calculates the weight it would take for the frozen layer of the lake to break and ultimately the false calculations led to the death of his son was able to connect the relation between feeling and meaning. The computer and all its solution finding capabilities is something, especially as college students we can all relate to and understand. We feel the assurance the professor feels when he checks his calculations twice. Unfortunately his calculations were wrong resulting in the death of his boy. The meaning is shown more aggressively when he goes to the alter of mother Mary and shoves it down in anger because it seems like he comes to realize that his current walk of faith thus being in machine has come to an end. He realizes that his false god/idol is not all knowing and that his meaning of fulfillment and all being can only be satisfied in the religion in which he turned his back on, thus being represented when he anoints his head with the frozen holy water.
Finally, does this film cycle work to contextualize and integrate the code into an individual's life, bridging the flux of the moment to the ultimate meaning of eternity?
In the ending scene of the second part of the Decalogue that we watched I think the scene that bridged the flux of the moment to the ultimate meaning of eternity was when the police officers executed the murderer. In the context of eternity, I find it interesting that the commandment of thou shall not murder is bended and interpreted by the law in means to create a sense of justice in society. This battle of interpretation will exist for the eternity of mankind.
The visual medium of film works as Midrash, because film is a visual in which viewers have the ability to interpret differently. The aspects of film being film scores, colors, emotions, and language can all play significant roles in how the meaning of a scene enlightens/teaches the viewer. The four aspects of Midrash (Pashot, Remez, Sod, and Darash) all give different ways for the interpretation of biblical text through literal meaning, deeper meaning, hidden meaning, and comparative meaning. These same interpretations of meaning can be applied to film, because film contributes itself as "visual text" and speaks to different people in different ways. The same Midrash applies to the Commandment of "I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no other strange Gods before me." This can be left to interpretation because gods can come in the form of material things, meaning materials that can become your priority and it takes away from the contemplation aspect of God being the most important thing in your life.
Do any of the visuals of the films work as symbols that bridge the gap of understanding? How?
Personally the most important visual of the film that bridged the gap for me in the first episode of the Decalouge for me was when the young boy asked the computer what his mother was dreaming about and it had no answer to his question. This bridged the gap for my understanding visually about not having any other gods before the one true God. This scene gave me the ability to interpret the visual that although the computer has superior knowledge to the average human intellect, and the fact that it can calculate solutions almost immediately perhaps faster than getting solutions through prayer, the scene showed that this "all knowing" device indeed had limitations. I think the scene where the professor calculates the weight it would take for the frozen layer of the lake to break and ultimately the false calculations led to the death of his son was able to connect the relation between feeling and meaning. The computer and all its solution finding capabilities is something, especially as college students we can all relate to and understand. We feel the assurance the professor feels when he checks his calculations twice. Unfortunately his calculations were wrong resulting in the death of his boy. The meaning is shown more aggressively when he goes to the alter of mother Mary and shoves it down in anger because it seems like he comes to realize that his current walk of faith thus being in machine has come to an end. He realizes that his false god/idol is not all knowing and that his meaning of fulfillment and all being can only be satisfied in the religion in which he turned his back on, thus being represented when he anoints his head with the frozen holy water.
Finally, does this film cycle work to contextualize and integrate the code into an individual's life, bridging the flux of the moment to the ultimate meaning of eternity?
In the ending scene of the second part of the Decalogue that we watched I think the scene that bridged the flux of the moment to the ultimate meaning of eternity was when the police officers executed the murderer. In the context of eternity, I find it interesting that the commandment of thou shall not murder is bended and interpreted by the law in means to create a sense of justice in society. This battle of interpretation will exist for the eternity of mankind.
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