Suture

After reading about Suture and its place in cinema as well as the blog, I feel conflicted about the idea. As our reading notes, Suture confers subjectivity on the viewer. I don’t think that this concept exposes us to anything new. Just as we discussed with the auteur theory and ideology, there is always some sort of agenda or perspective being sent to the audience. Also, though I do recognize that a sign of a good film is to sit through the entire piece without once questioning the character’s decisions or pointing out pesky plot holes, I don’t necessarily agree that it means the audience has been duped and manipulated. I think it is entirely possible to become enraptured in a film and later analyze scenes and tease out the director’s motivations. In fact, I think most great art, though we appreciate it, makes us think and challenge our own beliefs about the subject.

I think that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a good choice for this week’s film as the plot plays with the concept of suture. Here we have the audience watching a group of angels who are watching the life of an average family man. With us watching from the angels’ perspective but still being sutured into the activities of George Bailey, the audience is remains aware of their spectator status while still being stitched into the action.