Poem 8

This early experimental film by Emlen Etting shows a woman dancing in a field of grass and wildflowers, then a train trip into a less natural environment, the city, where movement and beauty are subdued. It would seem to be a prefigurement of Maya Deren's work, but seems much more accessible. It does not use the camera tricks that Deren delights in to make people appear and disappear. It is, largely, a study in motion: the wind in long grass, the wind in trees. Yes, the dancing is sometimes overly modern and to my eye pretentious, but the creators seem to lack the annoying self-involvement that Deren's work conjures up in my mind. It is not about Etting or his subject, it is about the grace of movement. It reminds me of one of the complaints of D.W. Griffith about the studio-bound films: they had lost the wind in the trees. Etting has not lost the wind, and if his technique is not sufficient to hide his technique -- the art that conceals art -- at least he does not leave the audience to try to puzzle out what he intended. Art requires work from its audience, but appreciation of art is not the same as assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

This early experimental film by Emlen Etting shows a woman dancing in a field of grass and wildflowers, then a train trip into a less natural environment, the city, where movement and beauty are subdued. It would seem to be a prefigurement of Maya Deren's work, but seems much more accessible. It does not use the camera tricks that Deren delights in to make people appear and disappear. It is, largely, a study in motion: the wind in long grass, the wind in trees. Yes, the dancing is sometimes overly modern and to my eye pretentious, but the creators seem to lack the annoying self-involvement that Deren's work conjures up in my mind. It is not about Etting or his subject, it is about the grace of movement. It reminds me of one of the complaints of D.W. Griffith about the studio-bound films: they had lost the wind in the trees. Etting has not lost the wind, and if his technique is not sufficient to hide his technique -- the art that conceals art -- at least he does not leave the audience to try to puzzle out what he intended. Art requires work from its audience, but appreciation of art is not the same as assembling a jigsaw puzzle.