Anyway, I showed my students the original short film The Perfect Human that filmmaker Jorgen Leth is asked to remake five times by Lars Von Trier in the feature-length film The Five Obstructions. I thought this would be a nice starting point for our own obstructions project, and I was curious to see if students could appreciate the narrative similarities between short film and microfiction. Here’s the film:
The Perfect Human, 1967
The reaction from my students was less-than-impressed. One student went so far as to say he thinks they should show a film like that to prisoners of war who are being interrogated. They would most certainly crack within the twelve minutes of the film run-time. While my student’s hyperbole generated a laugh or two, I found it curious that reactions would be so negative to this little gem of a film. Granted, it’s not what most of the students are likely used to, but what makes it so unbearable? Is it because it’s “old” and in black and white? Is it the foreign language and the need to read subtitles? Is it the “artsy” feel or the slow methodical examination of the characters? The slight and subtle story arc? I’ll continue to think on this as we progress through the project. Perhaps I will understand it in a few days…
1 response so far ↓
I’ve spent a few days thinking about it. The best I can come up with is that despite some writers saying that not only can a valid story be one in which nothing happens, but that they enjoy or prefer writing such stories, the reality is a story where the audience can not see the point is likely a story the audience won’t enjoy.
If that is they case, the question becomes where is the line between what we claim to enjoy and what we truly enjoy, and why do we feel the need to not reconcile those two things.