Catalina Andrango-Walker
Position
Paper
Charney, Leo. “Peaks and Valleys.” Empty
Moments: Cinema, Modernity, and Drift. Durham and London: Duke UP, 1998. 67-88.
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Positivism, the prevailing spirit of the nineteenth century, also helps
to explain “the energy, the purpose, [and] the charged moments” (80) that most
people associate with modernity, which had its birth during this same
century. Charney
maintains that this energy and purpose is pointless:Â that one cannot escape drift, which is to
simply do nothing.  Furthermore, much of
the energy and purpose of the modernity can be attributed to what Charney describes as “re-presentations” of reality, which
are nothing more than new ways to perceive reality.
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These re-presentations took several forms, including the Museum of Copies, wax
museums, public morgues and the first showings of cinema in Paris, among
others. With these, according to Charney, there is a “concomitant emphasis on the bodily and
visual experiences of the individual body,” (72) that is, that the perception
of reality was through both stationary and non-stationary means. While on one hand the circus was expanded in
order to increase the sensory stimulation experienced by a largely stationary
public, on the other hand the best amusement parks of that time featured
devices, such as roller coasters, that created a moving form of
participation. This last, in particular,
characterized what for many was their perception of the highs and lows of
modernity. Team based games, such as
football, baseball and basketball, were all developed during this same
period. Charney
finds the introduction of these games entirely expected, since each of these
games also provides for high and low moments. The cinema offers a particularly
relevant example of the re-presentation of reality:Â although the spectator is stationary, part of
the purpose of cinema is to create an illusion of movement.
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The nineteenth century also brought about an expansion of the industrial
revolution, and because of this, a heightened preoccupation with the management
of time and movement. Thus, through the
observation of common laborers, Frederick Winslow Taylor established the
precise manner that these should be managed.Â
He determined the exact positions necessary for the successful completion
of certain tasks and calculated the correct relationship between periods of
work and rest. Charney
believes, however, that TaylorÂ’s obsession
with control, as it has been with many others, was his downfall:Â as if through structure it could be possible
to vanquish the natural tendency towards drift.Â
As he says, “the ball inspector won’t die any sooner or any later if she
takes one minute more or less on break.” (81)
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In what ways does the way the structure of the article contribute to
distraction and what does it say about modernity? Indeed, whether stationary or mobile, active
or inactive, reality exists and cannot be controlled. By attempting to integrate rest into work, as
in the case of Taylor, or by
manipulating high and low moments, as in the case of team sport or cinema, time
is uncontrollable and is entirely independent of oneÂ’s actions or
inactions. This is the lesson of drift,
which happens even one does nothing.Â
Give in to it.