The Day after Tomorrow

Clip of The Day after Tomorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdxraskVoe4&feature=related

The movie, The Day after Tomorrow, is a science-fiction film that describes what will happen to the earth with two biggest problems: global warming and global cooling.

Walter Benjamin discusses how the camera and the actor work together in section VIII. He states that “the film actor lacks the opportunity of the stage actor to adjust to the audience during its performance, since he does not present his performance to the audience in person” (Benjamin, 7). In the scene, Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) drowned, but he was able to pull himself out. When watching the film, we do not know what the actor’s true feeling was. We do not know what he was thinking, whether he was scared or how scared he was. Though the action may influence the feeling of the audience, but it cannot show the actor’s own feeling. Benjamin states that “the audience’s identification with the actor is the identification with the camera.” The actor’s audience is the producer and the co-workers, and the audience of the film is us. Also, in the section IX, he mentions that the actor is not acting for an audience “but for a mechanical contrivance” (Benjamin, 8).

The main point of section IX is about “aura.” Benjamin talks about that the actor “has to operate with his whole living person”, at the same time, he expresses his true feeling (Benjamin, 8). When Sam calls his father, Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), he shows that he is nervous and afraid of what is happening outside. May be when he acts this scene, he is thinking about something that helps his action. The scene that Sam drowned, may remind him the feeling of drowning. Sometimes, this kind of feeling the actor has acted on or experienced before, leave them hard to forget.

In the section X, Benjamin states that in the film, “the reflected image has become separable” and “transportable” (Benjamin, 9). A film is made up with lots of separate scenes, and then put them all together. So, the actor in the film does not act from the beginning to the end in one performance, but the stage actor does. Section X also describes that the actor is not acting to mirrors (audiences) anymore, while actor “faces the camera, he knows that he will face the public”, and will soon be in the consumer’s market. Lastly, Benjamin discusses that “the film industry is trying hard to spur the interest of the masses though illusion” (Benjamin, 10). The film industry makes different illusions like “promoting spectacles and dubious speculations” to attract audience (Benjamin, 10).

In conclusion, Benjamin discusses the differences between the actor and the stage actor. Actors cannot show their feeling to the audience because it is filmed by the camera. However, the stage actors can because they actually interact with the audience.