Film-Philosophy
Journal | Salon | Portal (ISSN 1466-4615)
Vol. 7 No. 52, December 2003
Edward S. Small
A Reply to Kinsey
Tammy A. Kinsey 'Let us Never Speak of
It?: Edward S. Small's _Direct Theory_' _Film-Philosophy_, vol. 7
no. 51, December 2003 http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol7-2003/n51kinsey Tammy A. Kinsey's review
of my 1994 book, _Direct Theory: Experimental Film/Video as
Major Genre_, is a remarkably insightful, clearly written
response. Many readers who have addressed the book over the
past nine years simply misunderstood the work's thesis. (In
one case, it was employed as the core text for a University
of Florida class on 'Direct Theory', but ironically the
instructor's online explication of my neologism was, at
best, a good example of reception theory's discovered
diversity!) The writing of the book
began in the summer of 1990, but academic presses are known
for their dense bureaucratic viscosity. Though reprinted in
1999, I was only able to deal with cosmetic corrections.
Many of Professor Kinsey's questions and concerns were ones
that I myself have repeatedly considered over the past
several years. The issue of cognitive science is a curious
example. Personally, I am very interested in cognitive
science as a methodology for film studies, and I have
presented and published papers on this issue. In fact, I am
one of the founding members of Joseph D. Anderson's
'Institute for Cognitive Studies in Film and Video', which
began when he was my close colleague here at the University
of Kansas. Further, during the formal development of my
manuscript into a book by Southern Illinois University
Press, Anderson's outstanding 1996 book, _The Reality of
Illusion: An Ecological Approach to Cognitive Film Theory_,
was contracted by the same SIUP editor, James Simmons. Joe
and I go back a long time (see p. 74ff of _Direct Theory_ on
_Alpha Mandala_), and we almost daily discussed not only my
project but his, as we worked together on matters related to
the institute (now called the 'Center for Cognitive Studies
of the Moving Image' at http://www.uca.edu/org/ccsmi).
Thus, my lack of address is paradoxical. In part, I think I
sought to keep my semiotic methodology separate from his
cognitive science one. On the other hand, during the past
year or so I have realized that my concept of
'Technostructure' is remarkably consonant with Saussure's
lemma that any change on the plane of the signifier is
inextricably interwoven with changes on the plane of the
signified. (See 'Beyond Abstract Film', my review of Malcolm
Le Grice's _Experimental Cinema in the Digital Age_, in this
December 2003 issue of _Film-Philosophy_ for a more detailed
address of this insight.) After all, from a cognitive
science perspective, words (written or spoken) are largely
processed by the brain's left hemisphere, while pictures
(moving or still) are largely the province of right-brain
mentation. Also related to 'Beyond
Abstract Film' is my book's (dated) failure to address the
technostructural changes and exchanges of this really
extraordinary current revolution, which will doubtless
change the entire corpus of motion pictures as we know them
during the course of the current century. I recall how my 1999
revision of _Direct Theory_ just missed Figgis's _Timecode
2000_, for example. Perhaps Kinsey's kind review will help
prompt a second (revised) edition by my publisher, so I can
attend to these very matters. For the time being, I am still
trying to teach students that unless they realize both the
experimental and documentary modes are coordinate with --
not subordinate to -- the fictive narrative feature, they
will never really understand them, nor the precious
heuristic vantage that derives from their particular
marginality. University of
Kansas Lawrence, Kansas, USA
Copyright ©
Film-Philosophy 2003 Edward S. Small, 'A Reply
to Kinsey', _Film-Philosophy_, vol. 7 no. 52, December 2003
<http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol7-2003/n52small>. Join the _Film-Philosophy_
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