“What is realism, really?” Blogpost

READING SUMMARY

Overall, realism is seen as messy and not pretty, though this is just an assumption. The forms of realism depend on apparent spontaneity. Reality and life are unplanned in general, so films use three kinds of apparent spontaneity to add realism: visual, verbal, and narrative. Visual spontaneity consists of imperfect camerawork, like being sloppy on purpose, and spontaneous interactions (such as the president interacting with real people, unscripted). Verbal spontaneity includes actors thinking of personal experiences to add emotion and improvising lines to sound more natural and, therefore, realistic. Narrative spontaneity is slightly different; it means that boring life events are left out most of the time, and only things that are ‘narratively significant’ are included. However, ‘real life’ digressions make film more realistic. Films, photographs, and television are already seen as more realistic than other arts, since we trust that they catch true and real actions, even though they often do not. The realisticness of films also has to exist in the audience’s mind, since it relies on people’s basic understanding of how filmmaking works. For video games, realism depends on the density of picture information, meaning that software is used to make the digital world look more detailed and real. Films, though, should not break the “general sense of how the world works,” as that makes it unrealistic (29). Even if they do break this general sense, films should have dramatic realism, which assumes that the world is a consistent place (follows the rules of the made-up or fictional universe). Keeping films realistic is difficult though; they will never truly be realistic, as they typically ignore the cameras and the audience watches as an invisible observer. However, acknowledging these things destroys the realistic picture of the film. Overall, realism depends on the audience’s knowledge and the media’s technique, like spontaneity. The audience must believe that films are somewhat realistic to work.

OUTSIDE EXAMPLE

I watch a lot of television shows rather than movies, and one of my all-time favorite shows is the Office. I prefer more realistic shows instead of sci-fi or fantasy, and I always saw the Office as pretty realistic (to a point). It’s set in a typical office building in Scranton, Pennsylvania with characters who face normal workplace dilemmas, such as an incompetent boss (although these things turn into larger, funnier issues by the end of each episode). The characters are also seen as ‘real’ people, as the show is a fake documentary, so we see the characters facing realistic and emotional struggles. The Office, by using film techniques to create realism, is a funny yet overall realistic television show.

READING CONNECTION

The Office is one of my all-time favorite shows, and although it is a fake documentary (fictional), it appears to be decently realistic. It both breaks and uses these techniques of realism in film. For example, in times of chaos on the show, the camerawork is purposely sloppy, though planned, of course (visual spontaneity). Sometimes filming is clearly being done in secret and from a distance. However, the cameras are acknowledged every so often, and although this would break the realism of most films and television shows, it adds realism here. The characters are then seen as real people who, like most of us, don’t want to be filmed all the time. Narrative spontaneity is also used, as some of the boring events of everyday life are included in the show, though then turned into interesting events. Most typical boring office work, though, is left out. The Office is unique, as it appears to be more realistic than other shows yet still acknowledges the audience and cameras.