All art is political but does it have to be? This year’s Venice Film Festival began with an omen. After the premiere of opening-night selection, First Man, Damien Chazelle’s well-received biopic of Neil Armstrong starring Ryan Gosling, conservative media back in the United States seized on inaccurate reports that the film doesn’t show the American flag as proof that Chazelle’s film wasn’t patriotic enough. These claims were wrong: As many critics who saw the movie could attest, Chazelle does allow the flag to enter the frame (the argument then shifted to: Does he show the flag enough?) Chazelle himself insisted that the way he depicted the flag in the movie was not intended to be a political statement, but for a brief moment, as the Oscar-winning director’s choice of visual depiction was placed under an ideological microscope, we were all reminded of something crucial: All art is political, whether you like it or not, and every choice a filmmaker makes is political, too. Read More...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Monday, 17 September, 2018