November 17, 2002
Derrida and book shopping
I saw the biographical documentary on Derrida at Film Forum this afternoon, by myself because I couldn't think who to ask to join me (If you're into this kind of thing, contact me!). He acted the part well; recalcitrant about the details of his personal life, always pointing out the artificiality of the documentary/biography setup, rambling at length on minute topics and grand themes. It was quite entertaining, but of greatest interest to me, it turned out, was my own viewing; there is a schism during parts of film between word and image that I could not reconcile.
In between direct interview and lecture footage during which Derrida is speaking, a woman's voice quotes passages from his published texts. She speaks in English, and the image on screen is not accompanied by subtitles, as is other dialogue. I was unable to focus on the audio soundtrack of her reciting his words, unable to process their meaning because my eye was instead seduced by the image on screen. It was usually a tracking shot of Paris streets and my interest in the beauty of that city consistently won out over my desire to understand what the narrator was saying.
It is rare that I am able to dole out my attention in full, but rather can devote gradations to multiple objects/fascinations simultaneously. When there was text on the screen to read, I could simultaneously read and understand it while also processing what was happening visually in the background. Both cognitive processes were visual. When the text disappeared into the ethereal realm of the spoken word, that cognition was much more difficult. This is interesting to me, because it opposes the experience I had on Thursday night (see below post), when Buchloch's spoken words, accompanied by slide projections, made so much more sense to me than when I have previously attempted to read his essays. Do I learn better visually or aurally? If it's the former, was I somehow visualizing Buchloch's words as he spoke them? If it's the latter, was I 'speaking' the subtitles via an inner voice? I'm sure there are texts (audiotapes? ha.) about this kind of stuff, but for now I'm content to simply have the questions suspended before me.