Tricked into truth : why we fight and Frank Capra's movements of the mind
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2019
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Between 1942 and 1945 Hollywood director Frank Capra produced a series of seven films made for the United States War Department and designed to educate and motivate American civilians and service people regarding Americaβs role in WW2 and Americaβs relationship with those it was fighting with and fighting against. Entitled ππ©πΊ ππ¦ ππͺπ¨π©π΅ (πππ), I contend the series represents an underappreciated and under researched foundation of post-WW2 avant-garde cinema where a filmmaker usually associated with traditional values (Gallagher 1981, p. 21) and a commercial and establishment position (Girgus 1998, p. 58), changed the course of American experimental, avant-garde and found footage film.
My research explores and defines Capraβs new form of collage and found footage-based cinema via the principles of geometry, music and mathematics pioneered by Capra in his production of ππ©πΊ ππ¦ ππͺπ¨π©π΅ and the creative impact of this work on American post-WW2 avant-garde cinema and βsampleβ culture of the 21Λ’α΅ century.
This thesis applies the formal parameters of ππ©πΊ ππ¦ ππͺπ¨π©π΅ to key works from the found footage tradition in order to demonstrate the ways in which Frank Capraβs forms, structures and strategies connect with the screen geography, geometry and psychology of avant-garde film. This thesis makes the case for renegotiation of Frank Capra, experimental filmmaker, and demonstrates the influence of his ππ©πΊ ππ¦ ππͺπ¨π©π΅ series post-WW2 and contemporary avant-garde film cultures.
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