Film as Art or Film as Social Practice

While I was taking my MA in Media Studies, I usually debated with my teachers who insisted that Films should be viewed only as reflecting Social Practice. I argued that a film must be viewed primarily as a creative work, as Art. These teachers were all trying to be politically correct, in other words, they try to appear as left-leaning and "progressive".

Then one day, the officials of China's state-run film school held a symposium at the College. To settle once and for all if Films should be viewed as Art or as Social Practice, I asked the head of the Chinese school his opinion during the open forum. The Chinese film professor said, that of course, Film must be viewed as Art. "If you want social practice,"he said, "read the newspapers!" I really laughed after that because the teachers, especially the Dean who was my professor at that time in the course Film as Social Practice, knew exactly what I was getting at.

Films, of course can be viewed as Social Practice, but first and foremost, film is a work of art.

I found this among my notes on Film Studies:
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CULTURAL STUDIES AND FILM

Film Studies and Cultural Studies are both interested in textual analysis of films as well as the historical and political economy that surrounds the production of films. The most glaring difference is that Film Studies is focused on the text and is concerned with aesthetic value. Cultural Studies dismisses aesthetic value altogether and focuses on audience analysis.

In the 1950s, Film Studies received a big boost from Cahier du Cinema writers who considered mainstream Hollywood films as worthy of serious study. In the 60s, the auteur theory “legitimised” the critical studies on Hollywood mainstream directors like John Ford and Hitchcock. Also, film genres were given respectability; i.e., they were judged to be not mere formula driven shows but films that are worthy of study for their political economy as well as artistic potential. In the 70s, when cultural studies was still in its infancy, film studies developed analytical paradigms like the Structuralist (linguistics, semiotics) approach.

By the mid 70s, critical studies were also developing its own models. However, “its target was the nature of the political interests served by the patterns of meaning or strategies of representation such analyses uncovered.”

During that period, film studies were dominated by the so-called Screen theory which was based on semiotic-psychoanalytic theory of Metz and the Marxist theories of Althusser. Text was all-powerful and the subject-position theory became the film theory. But many opposed this view. Morley (1980), among others, argued for audience’s agency.

Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasures essay used this subject-position film theory to argue for the so-called male gaze. The feminists loved Mulvey’s arguments. But cultural studies writers “questioned the implicit proposition of a single, overly determined reading of the text.”

Today, the line dividing cultural and film studies are blurring. The best example is University of the Philippines' M.A. in Media Studies, specializing in Film, program. This means that Cultural (Media) Studies subsumes Film Studies. But then, there might also be an M.A. in Film Arts program in the same school.

Daniel Radcliffe a.k.a. Harry Potter grows up

It seems just like yesterday when we first saw three cute kids play the roles of Harry, Hermione and Ron in the film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's phenomenal Harry Potter novel.

Today, these kids are now all grown up. In fact, Daniel Radcliffe is enjoying a successful run at the West End playing a mature role in the play EQUUS. Like Peter Firth and other actors before him, Radcliffe gets to strut on stage clad only in his birthday suit.


Naked or not, Radcliffe has just signed the contract with Warner Bros. to continue acting in the last two Harry Potter episodes. The next installment will be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I am looking forward to see the now grown up Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Last year, I wrote a review of the Harry Potter films for my magazine column. Here it is:
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose - film review

There are times when life seems hopeless. During these times, because we feel badly, we tend to attract bad or negative vibrations. In the world of energy, like attracts like. And so the spiral downwards into living hell starts.

Some people, who are not spiritually strong, can be possessed by other entities. Many people reject the idea of possession because they have neither seen them or experienced them. They have also not seen an atom, an electron or a neutron but they believe these things exist because their teachers told them so. Yet they won't believe in spirits.

I have personally seen people being possessed. And these people are certainly not insane or crazy. But then, I have also seen spirits and ghosts. And there is nothing in science that says these entities cannot exist. They are merely vibrating in different frequencies.

Films can introduce people to the phenomenon of spiritual possession. The film The Exorcist must have given countless people several nightmares. Personally, I do not give much power to demons or Satan. But in the Western and Westernized world, demons or Satan are given so much power. It is you, the individual, who gives power to somebody or something. And this somebody or something can destroy you if you believe it is powerful enough to do so.

In 2005, an interesting film on possession was released. It is titled The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I wrote a review of it in my magazine column, Quantum Cinema. Here it is:

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Writer/Director Scott Derrickson’s 2005 film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” brings back to mind the blockbuster hit of the ‘70s, The Exorcist. Both films involve the supposed demonic possession of a teenage girl who spoke in a dead language (Aramaic, the native tongue of Jesus Christ) and a duly-authorized exorcism ritual performed by a Catholic priest. But while The Exorcist is a pure horror film, Emily Rose is not. It is a hybrid – part horror and part courtroom drama.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the life of Anneliese Michel of Germany who died in 1976 after a priest performed exorcism rituals to cure her of demonic possession. The priest was charged with manslaughter and brought to trial.

The film is thus not only about Emily’s exorcism but also about the trial of the exorcist (i.e., Father Moore, ably played by British actor Tom Wilkinson). The prosecutor’s is a forgettable role played by debonair Ethan Thomas while the defense lawyer has the meatiest role which was excellently played by Laura Linney. Newcomer Jennifer Carpenter plays the title role poignantly.

The film puts to the fore the never-ending battle in Western literature between Science and Faith. Here, Science is supposed to be on the side of Western Medicine. Faith, on the other hand, is supposed to be on the side of Religious/Spiritual Healing. According to allopathic or Western medicine, Emily had a “psychotic epileptic disorder”, whatever that means, and needed a specific medicine to be cured. According to religious / spiritual diagnosis, Emily was possessed by demons and had to be exorcised. In fact, according to one defense witness, the medicine administered to her aggravated Emily’s condition by locking her in an hallucinatory state, thus preventing her cure by exorcism.

In many instances in the West, parents have been hailed to court for refusing to let doctors administer medicine to their children. When the children die, the parents are indicted for manslaughter. There are religions in the West, like the Christian Science Church, which do not recognize the power of Western medicine. In fact, in the early 1990s, several courts tried Christian Science church members for murder and manslaughter. Parents belonging to this sect refused medical care for their children. The parents were later legally exonerated but the debate on who knows best when it comes to the care of the body remains a hot issue. Is the Church more capable of caring for a sick person? Or is it a state’s responsibility? After all, can the Body be separated from the Soul? But then, the unbelievers would counter – who says there is a soul?

The battle between Science and Faith is fought by its champions -- the State and the Church. Who has the right to protect the people – the Church or the State? The victors of the French and American Revolutions made sure that there will always be a separation of the Church and the State, with the State enjoying all the political powers. But history has shown that States have so often failed to conquer the Mind and Spirit.

The so-called Age of Reason brought forth the Industrial Revolution which in turn brought forth the blossoming of two ideological systems – Capitalism and Communism. Both promised the Body’s well-being – one, through the individual’s right to private property and the right to vote and the other, through the State’s right to distribute society’s wealth equitably among the people.

In capitalist societies, religion was booted out of government offices and public school systems. Religion became an optional Sunday activity. In Communist societies, religion was condemned as being “an opium of the masses”. Secularism reigned supreme. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the States took care of the Body and the Mind, but not the Soul or Spirit.

But in late 20th century, the Spirit revolted. Communism fell and the old religions in these countries became reinvigorated. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. found worldwide resurgence such that war-mongers and hawkish foreign policy advisers now talk of a Clash of Civilizations where the word civilization becomes a euphemism for religion. These people are calling for a new Crusade.

But that is nothing but rightist fundamentalism. The late 20th century has also brought forth fundamentalism’s foil– most call it the New Age movement, a movement in consciousness. New Agers graft the best of the old with the new, the Eastern with the Western, the Northern with the Southern to bring forth the New Holistic Empowered Man/Woman with a unified Body, Mind and Spirit.

New Agers are not content to simply mouth slogans because the great thinkers or leaders said so. And people have realized that nothing or nobody holds a patent to Truth. The Greek Catholics will not go to Hell simply because they do not believe in the Pope. Nor will Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie just because the Iranian ayatollahs said so. There is as much wisdom in allopathic medicine as in homeopathic medicine, or in Western and Eastern pharmacology.

The world’s history has shown the foibles as well as greatness of humanity and it behooves each individual to ponder well upon the lessons of history. This new movement is not like the organized movements of the past. The New Age is a movement of individuals trying to realize the greatest potential of their Selves, their Environment and their Fellow Creatures on Planet Earth.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose does not tell the viewers categorically who the winner was – Science/State or Faith/Church. The jury’s verdict as pronounced by the judge is quite ingenious – “Guilty but free to go.” But then, the New Age Man/Woman knows that the best protector of the Body and Soul is an Open Mind.

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Published in Mr. & Ms. Magazine: Supermonthly of the Body, Mind and Spirit, November 2005
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Genre: Hybrid – Horror / Courtroom Drama
SONY Pictures production
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Written by Paul Harris Boardman & Scott Derrickson
Cast:
Laura Linney .... Erin Bruner
Tom Wilkinson .... Father Moore
Campbell Scott .... Ethan Thomas
Jennifer Carpenter .... Emily Rose

Secrets of Sex Magick

The term Sex Magick brings to mind images of naked witches and warlocks in orgy, or scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s forgettable film Eyes Wide Shut that showed hooded men fornicating with nude women, or the paintings and sculptures of the Kama Sutra.

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut (above)

Tom Cruise and others in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut

In the Kubrick film, the men were simply enjoying an orgy with elaborate costume and roduction set design. The Kama Sutra is more the enjoyment of the magic of sex than sex magick. Sex Magick may be practiced in witch’s covens although the sex act is usually limited to the High Priest and High Priestess.

Can ordinary men and women, who are neither witches nor warlocks, practice Sex Magick? And what good would it bring them?

Aleister Crowley, the most famous or notorious magus of the 20th century, defined Magick as “the Science and Art of Causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.” This is the very essence of Magick. Crowley popularized the new spelling – with a K – so as to distinguish ceremonial magic from showbiz or carnival magic or even from the connotations of the word Magic. For many people, magic implies supernatural causes.

For practitioners of Magick, something is magical if it was caused by the magus’s will according to the forces of Nature. Thus, magic is causal and natural.

One very powerful force that a magus can harness is Sexual Energy. The science and art of harnessing sexual energy for manifesting one’s Will or desire is known as Sex Magick.

(Western) Sex Magick vs. (Eastern) Magic of Sex

Sex Magick is a Western concept. Some people might be surprised with that statement because the East has practiced the Sexual Arts – Hindu, Buddhist, Tibetan, and Japanese varieties – for centuries, if not millennia. The Eastern esoteric sexual practices are concerned about the total enjoyment of the sexual act – physically, mentally and spiritually. Sex is the end-all and be-all of the Eastern tradition. But performing the 99 or so positions of the Kama Sutra is not Sex Magick although it can introduce the couple to the magic of Sex. Any change brought about by the exercise is limited to personal transcendental transformation. In one Taoist tradition, as popularized today by Mantak Chia, various maladies like headaches and stomach aches can be cured by sex using specific sexual positions.

In the Western tradition, sex magick is simply one approach or method of Wicca or witchcraft or the pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe. Books and movies like the Harry Potter series or the TV program Charmed portray the romanticized versions of this tradition.

But there is another western tradition which also uses sex magick. This is the more esoteric version called Ceremonial or High Magick. This tradition came from the Middle East or West Asia. Egyptian Magic, the Qaballah and Alchemy were introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages by the Jews and Muslims. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, many Western magi traveled to East Asia. There, they learned the Kama Sutra, Tantra and other esoteric sexual traditions.

These magi like PB Randolph incorporated the sexual techniques of Tantric, Taoist and other traditions into Western (or West Asian) ceremonial magic. This merging of East Asian sexual techniques and West Asian ceremonial magick has become known as Sex Magick. Randolph created the first Rosicrucian temple in the US, established magical orders and societies and greatly influenced succeeding magi like Franz Bardon and Aleister Crowley

Energy

Magic, whether Western or Eastern, is basically the manipulation of energy. Energy goes by different names – Chi or Qi, Prana, Manna, Frequency, Orgone, Inner Fire, Sacred Flame, etc. It is the adept’s lifelong purpose to study, analyze, scrutinize, and manipulate energy in its various operations and transformations. In the Hindu /Buddhist/ Taoist traditions, the monks or practitioners are more concerned with the balance of the polarities of energy (the yin and the yang) in the body or in the environment (feng shui).

In Western High Magick traditions (Rosicrucian, Masonry, Hermetic, etc.), the magi study the various operations of energy not only in the human body but in all objects, including celestial bodies and the chemical elements. In doing a High Magick ritual, all energies are considered – the position of the planets, the sun, the moon, the fragrances in the incense, the materials of the magickal instruments, etc.

Sexual Energy

In the East Asian tradition, emphasis is on the conservation of sexual energy, its manipulation and circulation within the body. The end result is the body’s (individual’s or couple’s) well-being or the achievement of a state of ecstasy. In the West Asian / Western tradition, focus is on the production and use of the sexual energy to bring about change in things or events.

In other words, in the East Asian traditions, the sexual energy is manipulated to bring about ecstatic orgasms and the general well-being of the practitioners. In the West Asian / European traditions, sexual energy is used by the magi to get what they desire -- such as wealth, fame, knowledge or power. For the latter, sexual enjoyment is not even an issue.

The Secret of Sex Magick

For the ordinary man/woman of the 21st century with no desire to learn esoteric rites and rituals nor join mystical orders or covens, the best way is to do Sex Magick the New Age way, i.e., learn the principles and do it yourself. For New Age practitioners, sex magick is willing what you desire to happen and at the same time enjoying the process.

If you and your partner desire, for example, to buy or build your dream house but lack the resources to do so, you might want to try Sex Magick. First and foremost, you must build up enough sexual energy. This means that it won’t be a 3-minute affair. There must be prolonged foreplay. Therefore, the proper ambience and materials must be set – aromatic candles, incense, massage oils, mood music, kama sutra instructional videos or even adult movies on DVD’s.

Bathe yourselves as a symbol of purification. The intention (Will) must then be declared by both parties - in this case, buying or building your dream house. Proceed gradually – kissing, stroking, necking, etc. Prolong the act as much as possible by experimenting with various positions. At the onset of orgasm, silently declare what you want and during the process of orgasm, will what you desire with all your being. Afterwards, thank God or the Universe for giving you (in the present tense) what you desire. Then close your eyes and visualize that you already got what you want; i.e., see yourselves already living happily in your dream house.

In 1872, PB Randolph wrote Magia Sexualis (in French) and tried to popularize Sex Magick in America. Here are excerpts from the book to guide you further:

Sexual union is like a prayer…For when the sexual act is perfect, the union of man and woman succeeds in all spheres of their respective beings, and their force increases tenfold in the higher worlds. The prayer, this prayer, is always exhausting. But, it is necessary that the demand, the vow, the object of the prayer be formulated and imagined clearly… Before, during and after the act of love, hold a clear image of that which you wish… Love is the root of life…Through your love, you unite with God!...The instant that the semen of the man passes into the body of the woman who accepts it, is the instant of greatest fecundity, the greatest power, the greatest emotion of the life of man.


When PB Randolph tried to bring Sex Magick to the consciousness of ordinary Americans, he got the ire of both the legal authorities and magic practitioners like HP Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. But with the New Age movement, ordinary mortals like us can study and practice Sex Magick in the privacy of our homes without fear of censure from anyone. (end)

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Published in Mr. & Ms. Magazine the Supermonthly of the Body, Mind and Spirit December 2005

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