Museum Of Modern Arts Response

On Friday, we went to the Museum Of Modern Arts and viewed films that spanned from the early 20th century. Many films on the floor have spanned from simple home videos of a couple and their kid to unused footage. In addition, we were introduced with an article written by Judith A. Howard called “Social Psychology of Identities”. Within this article, we read about different identities and cognitive concepts that can be classified as social, ethnical, gender, sexual, class, and Age identities. I can interpret that the goal of this article and the purpose for it was that it is meant to demonstrate different constructs of identity that we as human beings have to take time to self reflect and ask ourselves who we are. After self reflecting, we would then understand who we are and can adapt to our environment and recognize other identities as well. In short, the article attempts to make us understand the culture around us and then understanding and adapting to other cultures. From the home videos that were presented during the trip, there were three videos that struck out to me more than the rest of the videos.

Firstly, the first video I saw was the one in the back to the left corner. The video was titled, “Miscellaneous reels” and it was shot in 1977-1978 by Joseph Szkodzinski. At first glance, the video itself is conveniently told  by the title. Because of how the shots were filmed, one can make the assumption that the footage is useless and there is no context to the clips. However, while looking through other films and coming back to this one, the film made me look at it differently. At first, when I saw the film for the first time, I noticed there were shots of the city life with cars going down the street and people walking in the streets as well. When I came back to it later on, I noticed there were more shots of the countryside with trees, mountains, and wildlife. Shortly after looking at it the third time, I noticed that the film had a flow to it that made sense. While looking at it as it shot from countryside to city, I made an assumption that this took place in upstate New York because of how Szkodzinski managed to get shots of the city and the countryside. In addition, I believe that he wanted to show us the two different types of cultures that are very close to each other. 

Another video I found interesting was a film titled, “Christian Boys/Clergy” The film doesn’t have a identified filmmaker, but it is classified under the Commanda Collection and it was filmed in 1948. When I saw the film, there was a family that was celebrating in a parade and then the family celebrated near a lake. One thing that struck me about this film like the majority of certain films is the consistency of showing community and the culture that surrounds the community. Despite it being a home video and it not having any intention of showing meaning, it is up to one’s interpretation of the film to see what it means to them. Another film that goes hand in hand with, “Christian Boys/Clergy” is another film that is set on an island in the south seas. The film is titled, “Best South Seas” and like the other film, it has no identified filmmaker, but this film is now under the Charles L. Turner Collection and it was filmed in 1937. During this film, it shows the natives to the island taking their stock of pigs somewhere and one pig simply refuses to go along. Eventually, we see a group of guys with one girl in the middle make a formation and start dancing. They have floral necklaces on and hay skirts and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and having a good time. Like the last film, This film gives off a similar vibe of community and how the power of cinema can be so powerful that it can make this harmless home video and somehow get put in the museum of modern arts.