I agree with Ama and Ximena’s general thoughts on the differences in perception of mainstream and art cinema. I absolutely do not think that mainstream, commercial films should be deemed inferior to auteur, “art cinema”. Yet the interesting thing is that this is not a conclusion I would have made prior to taking this class. I think rather than examine the content of the films as a basis for comparison, examining the medium of film itself yields larger conclusions.
The concept of film being a representation of some sort of reality has been a major theme of this course, and has completely shaped the way I view film. In my opinion, every film produces a Leary-esque “new reality” to its audience. And this new reality is always enlightening, to some degree. Some, like Bazin may have supported films that were more of a representation of reality as we know it, but others, like Leary, encouraged seeking realities as far away as possible from ours.
Which presentation of reality is better? It is a bit unclear. I think “art cinema” like the works of Jean-Luc Godard, “Daisies”, “Persona”, or many of the other works we have watched in this class tend to present a reality that is farther away from our own. Commercial Hollywood cinema is generally more understandable, more relatable, and thus is a representation of a reality that a majority of people are already comfortable with and can comprehend. But this may not be such a bad thing. Leary argues that exposing ourselves to new realities actually expands our brain capacity and our evolution as a species. But again, a mainstream film does expose its audience to a new reality. It just tends to be more similar to the one we inhabit.
Thus I would argue that arguing whether “art cinema” or mainstream cinema is superior is rather futile. They both present different things and expose their audiences to different realities. Of course films can be compared on the basis of writing, acting, or other technical aspects, but I do not believe there is anything about the nature of a film that makes it inherently better than another. Ultimately comparing films in this way is essentially comparing realities, which certainly can only be subjective.