Jenn Thảo Nguyễn

Introduction:

Ideology, defined as “a set of beliefs, especially one held by a particular group, that influences the way people behave”, underpins the skepticism in Jean Louis Baudry and Sergei Eisenstein’s empirical analysis of cinema. In “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematic Apparatus”, Baudry examines the implicit ideals embedded within the cinematic apparatus that construct the illusion of subjective perception. In “The Dramaturgy of Film Form”, Eisenstein likens montage editing to language, arguing that the deliberate collision of images exposes spectators to their own ideological conformations. While Baudry sees ideological recognition emerging through apparatus-revelation, Eisenstein locates it in the conflict of dialectical montage.

Baudry’s Film Example:

The tension between cinema’s capacity to condition through subjugation, as well as the ongoing significance of film’s ideological apparatus, is uniquely examined through the case study of Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell (2012). In her film, Sarah Polley weaves together archival footage, talking head interviews, and her father’s voiceover narration to construct a cohesive narrative of her late mother’s life. The film introduces a “transparent apparatus”, as Polley is shown adjusting the camera or directing her father to reread a line in the recording booth – revealing her manipulation of visual and narrative perception and interrupting the viewer’s identification as a transcendental subject. What makes the film particularly compelling in relation to Baudry’s apparatus theory is its final revelation: the archival footage audiences had accepted as authentic is, in fact, staged reenactments. The seemingly aged footage – complete with scratches, color fade, and film grain – reveals Polley directing an actress hired to portray a younger version of her mother, a face viewers had assumed belonged to Diane Polley. This second revelation not only exposes the apparatus of digital editing but also demonstrates how readily we resubmit to another cinematic ideology – namely, the perceived truth-value of celluloid associated with historicity. The film thus enacts a two-fold deception, highlighting the paradox in Baudry’s claim: apparatus-revelation may educate spectators by disrupting their identification with the transcendental subject, but each revelation simultaneously conditions them for resubmission.

*Full TR paper available upon request