Week 11?

note: I have no idea what week it is now.


Modernism and Movies
This week we will be examining the films Monterey Pop (1967) directed by DA Pennebaker and Playtime (1967) directed by Jacques Tati.


Compare and Contrast Monterey Pop and Playtime
At a first look, these two movies are completely different and seem unrelated. For most part, this is true. Monterey Pop is a documentary about the Monterey Pop concert while Playtime is clearly a commentary on the failings of modernism. This modernism is in the sense of the international style, mostly propagated by the Germany Bauhaus School. A crucial aspect of modernism was universalism, the way of designing something so that it is timeless and not as attached to culture, because it appeals to everyone. However despite differences in content, these movies both offer reasons why the concept of modernism fails on a personal and human level. Monterey Pop is filmed in the midst of counterculture, a determined movement against corporate and sameness, while Playtime exhibits what it would be like in a (almost) completely modernist society, where everything is universal and blends together in a world of gray.

Playtime doesn't have so much as a plot and is more of an exploration of a modernist world. This is made up of situations that occur within this world, and is made to point out how far modernism is removed from humanity.  Monterey Pop doesn't have a plot either, and is just a series of shots documenting people in the event and some of the bands that played during the event. However, the scene in each movie is very different.  Playtime features tall gray buildings with many glass panels. There is a scene in the movie where Monsieur Hulot, a character in the film, gets confused as to how to get in the building because there are so many glass panels. This shows how modernist design is not meant for human interaction and the design only ends up confusing. In Monterey Pop, everything is mostly open and outdoors. People are lying on the grass, sitting in chairs listening, or eating at their leisure. Everything seems relaxed and happy; it is a nice sunny day, whereas the sky is hardly seen at all in Playtime. All the scenes in Playtime seem to show why modernism fails, whether it's a character confused as to why something was designed this way, or the design is unintuitive and unnatural. This never appears in Monterey Pop; there are even times when people enjoy the sort of messiness and disorganization within the show.  People are able to spread themselves out, while in Playtime people seems to be stuck in boxes or running into things.  The way things are in Playtime seem efficient and fast, but are cold and unsympathetic; another example is when Monsieur Hulot is looking for the man with the folder, and is lost among the cubicles, while the man gives files to another person in another cubicle after calling him from another cubicle.  It feels all very extraneous but tight, and very impersonal.  This is completely the opposite in Monterey Pop when a band is playing. Here music is broadcast directly to a large crowd, and no matter what someone is doing, whether sitting or getting food or talking to someone else, the music can always be heard.

Overall, countless examples and difference can be drawn between both of the movies, and some more differences at listed below in the bullet points.

• Monterey Pop
• Space
• Open park, Crowded with all kind of people watching the concert, picnic setting
• Events
• Concert, Sleeping in tents, food, partying
• Clothes
• "hippie clothes," one piece gown/dresses, jeans, casual suits
• Objects
• guitars, drum set, plastic chairs, tents, blankets
• Colors
• browns, greens, oranges, blues, reds, very colorful in general
• Materials
• plastic, cloth, fur, fabric, metal, denim, nature
• Playtime
• Space
• organized, empty or crowded, same
• Events
• meetings, tours, waiting, attempt at dinner/party
• Clothes
• grey or black suits, grayish clothes
• Objects
• chairs, glass doors, garbage/ashtrays, machines, umbrella
• Colors
• greyish colors, limited other colors
• Materials
• metal, neon lights, glass, plastic, vinyl