Word: viewers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...chapel completely decorated in powerful renditions of the life of the Virgin Mary and the Passion of Christ. In each panel a few simple figures anchored in the foreground vividly act out the joy, grief, fear and pity of the Christian story. Giotto's gift lay in transforming the viewer into a participant: people felt as if they could touch holy figures Ruskin once called "Mama, Papa and the Baby...
...makes a valiant effort to portray Angela as a tough woman who's not too proud to beg for her children, but wasted are her sharp, delicate eyes and wonderfully expressive mouth. In fact, the occasional, accidental spurts of beautiful acting she is allowed only serve to frustrate the viewer even more as she struggles to do what she can with her underdeveloped role. In one scene, we see the hard set of her firm chin break for a moment, and this barely perceptible tremor is basically the only memorable aspect of her entire performance...
...Unfortunately, the plot and screenplay detract from the film's artistic merit. James Schamus' screenplay might reflect the language of the Civil War, yet the dialogue is entirely self-important and melodrama destroys any stake the viewer might have in the plot. Lee wishes to establish the North as a human presence, so Roedel reads some found union letters to the camp. Similarly, Lee has Roedel and Chiles talk under the stars to emphasize the characters' brotherhood...
...spring approaches, the film seems to grow longer and longer. Lee allows an artificial sense of dramatic climax to unfold with the 1863 Bushwacker assault on Lawrence, Kansas. The viewer expects Holt and Roedel to perish in a tragic death in battle so Lee can make some sort of universal claim that war is pointless. However, Roedel and Holt merely receive injuries and miraculously, find themselves at the Shelley farm. Images of Jewel breast-feeding her child again distract the viewer and destroy whatever dramatic tension remains. In a contrived plot twist, Shelley maneuvers herself into matrimonial bliss with Roedel...
...sure mark of a good piece of art is that it tempts the viewer to touch it. Unfortunately, we usually only encounter art in museums and galleries, where the alarm goes off if you get too near (once, at an exhibition of Jacques Lipchitz sculptures, the frustration of this got the better of me and I had to plead for mercy with the guards.) Some art awakens entirely different desires, compelling the viewer instead to talk about it, to stare at it, to look away from it, to imitate it or to think about it. The work by Museum School...