Robert Panico

11-11-08

Thought Paper

Wenders�s Windshields

Alice Kuzniar begins her essay with a reference to Jean Baudrillard. He theorizes that the rearview mirror of a car encapsulates the American fixation with hyperreality. The mirror distorts reality through its convex design, giving the impression of a faster speed of the car. This also reflects (no pun intended) the distortion of cinema itself via the camera lens. Kuzniar then postulates that car mirrors and windshields act as framed screens or television sets in Wenders’ films with images flashing on them.

Wenders has a obsession with the cold and distant mindset that has spurred from the use of television and its distortion of reality. In his films, he typically has main characters that are so estranged from reality and interaction with others that the windscreens of their cars serve not only as their focus, but their only method of experiencing reality. Evidence of this appears in Alice in the Cities when Alice and Philip hold up a photograph of the house they’ve been searching for and see a mirrored image through the windshield. In other films such as Tokyo-Ga, a television set propped next to a windshield aligns the two with flat image much like Alice.

Kuzniar cites Wenders himself about his theory on America and its fascination with images. To him, his characters sit much like a theater patron, experiencing the unfolding images without interaction. This illustrates what Wenders claims is a negative effect of technological revolutions, causing people to lose touch with reality and rely on pure, impersonal image.

Questions:

• Alice in the Cities ends with the characters breaking the glass barrier and coming closer with reality. What exactly does this rare entrance into reality mean?

· To what degree is our culture trapped in Wenders’s nightmare as he theorizes?

• Comparing Goddard to Wenders, both deal with illustration of reality. While Goddard attempts to make obvious the reality of filmmaking, Wenders tries to show how film’s lack of reality is a negative attraction. Whom do you side with and can both theories intermingle?