4/7, Frampton on Dorsky

Frampton's assessment that a film is what most appears in it, at first, seemed accurate and nearly revelatory. Saying that Love's Refrain is about shadows because, upon first viewing, I paid most attention to those, is quite shallow. Frampton's illustration that Lana Turner is the subject of a film because she appears most could very easily be argued that the film is not about her, but her breasts. Even though an adolescent boy may have paid attention to little else, does not completely eliminate the other elements of the frame, even if it is just Lana Turner's plastic smile. I am quite sure that Love's Refrain had more going on than portions of the frame that had the sunlight blocked. To say that shadows is the meaning of the film would give a reader the sense that the film is rather glum, perhaps shallowly, but glum none the less. The glance shared by an elderly couple who observe the world we see as reflections on the sandwich shoppe window is ignored in favor of the shadow they cast on the counter. The film is about the shadow cast by a tree branch and not the movement of the tree branch just because, as an easily distracted viewer, I noticed a shadow in an earlier shot and so ignored any movement? It would save me, as a student and art audience member, alot of brain-time to be able to plug a movie into this equation, giving me more time to think about the Drew Carey Show. Frampton also spent great length discussing that film making is about subtracting from the white rectangle, not adding to it. If a film were to be about Lana Turner, surely, the filmmakers should not include her in any shot. Frampton's Lemon is about a lemon, that's all. Love's Refrain, I hope, is not just about shadows because my lazy and subjective eyes sought out the shadows of the compositions.