Echos from the Silent Era, 2008 (Dokument)

Archive plan context
Universitätsarchiv der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien 3 Publikationen 3.1 Bücher / Periodika 3.1.1 Wissenschaftliche Abschlussarbeiten 3.1.1.2 Dissertationen Die Wiener Manufakturzeichenschule (1996) Echos from the Silent Era (2008) Emergency empire. Transformation des Ausnahmezustandes (2008)

Information on identification
Archival Material Types:	Buch
Title:	Echos from the Silent Era

Information on content and structure
Publikation: Gruppe:	Diplomarbeit/Dissertation (DIPLOM)
Publikation: Typ:	Dissertation
AutorIn:	Genevieve Sandberg-Diment
Creation date(s):	2008

Identification area
Identification code:	46236-D
Language:	Englisch

Area of information

Beschreibung:

"Echos from the silent era - an archive-based observation of the lives and work of several notable filmmakers ; particularly a few who happened to be women, during the silent era from 1896 onwards"

The dissertation examines the transition from silent to sound film in the early 1900’s. The resulting shift from a visual paradigm to one that relied increasingly on language and dialogue is documented in trade magazines and critical journals of the time. Also documented is the fact that many of the silent stars (particularly women) lost jobs and prominence because of voices or foreign accents as the skills of pantomime gave way to memorizing and delivering lines. Documentation contemporary to the transition indicates that business pressure within the film industry forced changes to be brought more rapidly than they might have been otherwise. It took only a few years for the film industry to adopt the new narrative structure almost exclusively and, in the process, to re-define how the medium of film would be predominantly used.

Yet sound technology was hotly debated by consumers, critics and producers as the change was occurring. According to an article in a 1928 issue of "The Bioscope", the "talkies" were so contested that an entrepreneur selling earplugs outside a theatre that was showing one of the first sound films sold one million pairs to filmgoers. Yet these debates contemporary to the transition, and ideas about the universality of silent film, a medium that stretched across language barriers, as well as speculations that sound films would actually bring an end to the global film market, seem to have been forgotten. Unearthing documents contemporary to the transition (circa 1910 - 1929) is a critical part of the dissertation, as is a focus on the work of women filmmakers during this period.

Following the near overnight "success" of sound films, global icons like Keaton and Chaplin who had entertained audiences with aristocrats too out of touch with daily life to know how to boil an egg and ragged tramps who trip over their own shoes while running from the police, were gradually replaced by screen personalities recognized not by their antics, but by their one-liners. These new icons often symbolize, not a flight from authoritarian forces, but an embrace of a heroism asserted through violent conquest. In an age when social Darwinism is once again gaining acceptance, is it mere coincidence that the unathletic tramp and the klutzy aristocrat/intellectual have been replaced by towering blonde muscle-men action figures leveraging lines like "Go ahead, make my day", and "I’ll be back"?

Yet, as Chaplin showed with his last stand against the monopoly of the talkies, (he details his struggle to finance and publicize his 1931 "City Lights", in his autobiography), persistence can reveal another side to the story. Claims by distributors that the public was no longer interested in silent film were negated, wordlessly, with a "long unbroken line that went around the block", of people waiting to see "City Lights" in the theatre Chaplin had rented for this purpose.

gsdiment@gmx.net