Potemkin

The film The Battleship Potemkin defintely is intriguing in many aspects. I found it very interesting to view the film, focusing on the propoganda being presented. As I read the assigned reading for Wednesday I realized, even more fully, the extent to which the socialist ideals affected the making of the film, its whole purpose for even being in existence.
One interesting aspect of socialist film was brought to my attention through the document written by Eisentein himself, in response to a response on his film. He described how the films that he created were not just the work of one person, not even focused on one person, or one ideal or one subject. They were a montage of ideas as well as scenes. This idea of montage fits in perfectly with the socialist ideals. Each scene is beautiful in its own way, but the goal is to not notice it. The goal is to see the scenes all working together to create a harmonious whole. Seeing the way Eisentein viewed montage helped me understand why this type of film making was so popular in Russia. Not only did the movie itself support the Revolution, but the way in which the movie was put together supported the Revolution as well.
The other interesting thing I noticed through the article was the freedom that a socialist film may lend a director that our modern films may not. Within the modern Hollywood scene, actors and actresses grow their experience, earn more money with each film, and desire to be the center of attention. As a director attempts to put his ideas on screen, he has to take into consideration the fact that the actor or actress is the focus. It's fairly simple to see the degree of control the actors and actresses have by looking at their salaries. The director also has to worry about the writer, and his happiness. The writers are on strike in our country, and we have quickly seen television go down the drain. If movie writers go on strike, the same thing will happen in the movie industry. With all these worries, the director can not solely focus on his project at hand. With a socialist mindset however, the actor is focused on the good of the whole, not on the good of himself, and the writer is also focused on the goal of the project, not on his or her salary. The desire to create something, without individual concerns attached, opens up awesome doors for the director.