Maya Deren, Pioneer of the American Avant Garde Movement: A Profile of the Artist and Her Prominent Films

In 1943, Eleanora Deren changed her signature for the last time when she took on the name “Maya” - the Hindu Goddess of Illusion (Clark, Hodson & Neiman,1). Four of Deren’s best-known films were produced between 1942-47, marking her emergence on the American avant-garde scene as a hugely talented yet extremely controversial filmmaker. They reflected the radical inspired thinking and unfettered imagination that became the trademark of her creative expression. Deren’s emphasis was on creating states of consciousness that went beyond the normal waking experience (Clark, Hodson & Neiman, 1). In a masculinist avant-garde world, she was a relentless advocate of the woman filmmaker fighting against the dominant representations of women (Geller, 140). While many have described her work... more

Cultural Influences on Narrative Structures in Popular Cinemas

On my very first viewing of the film Mulholland Drive (2001) I experienced an acute sense of discomfort, akin to that I had felt, when I had seen films like Run Lola Run (1998), Memento (2000), Amores Perros (2000) and more recently 21 Grams (2003) and Babel (2006). All uniquely brilliant films in their own right, the one factor that runs common through them is a deviation from the standard form of feature filmmaking –or the classical narrative structure as it is referred to. Multiple viewings and a couple of classes on film theory later, I understood that my discomfort arose from a sense of trying to fit that which I could not understand within the compartmental confines of that which I am accustomed to. In other words, a restructuring of the narrative paradigm I was used to viewing Hollywood films which created a distinctive ‘break’ in the viewing experience for me. Narrative analysis¹ is concerned with this very observation; it studies the ext... more