Cinema and Education
By Andrea Esparza Belmonte
The purpose of this document is to briefly describe the relationship between cinema and education, which is essential for justifying the objectives and actions of Ollin Detlani. For this, the bachelor’s thesis “Distribution of the Sensible and Emancipated Spectator: Cinema as an Education of Perception. An Analysis from Jacques Rancière” is referenced. At Ollin Detlani, we recognize that cinema, as an artistic practice, is not a language exclusive to a few but is available to all viewers, regardless of their social background. Since our project is based on recognizing the potential of the target audience—namely, the country’s Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities—we firmly believe that anyone can encounter and appreciate a work of art independently and, consequently, that anyone is capable of educating their perception through cinema. Therefore, in the cinemas built by the organization, a careful selection of films will be made, as one of our goals is to shape the audience not as consumers but as spectators of cinema as an artistic practice.
With the education of perception, it is affirmed that cinema, as an audiovisual art composed of visual imagery, sound, and editing, has the ability to educate viewers’ perception. It changes perception, sensitivity, and the way individuals relate to the world and to others by enhancing faculties such as perception, imagination, curiosity, and attention—which are central in education—since, in the time and space cinema allows, it is possible to cultivate an attentive and curious gaze toward the shared world: “Moreover, this gaze has a critical and reflective character regarding the causes that cinema, as an artistic practice, problematizes.”[1] For this reason, it is necessary to recognize the value of spectator activity, as everything that they accomplish by incorporating a space of free inactivity into their routine, which invites passivity and contemplation, is of great importance, as that is the condition in which we all learn and come to know the world.
The impact of films on children, young people, and adults—the intended recipients of the project and who comprise the target audience—lies in that they “move their spectators because the thought of another human being about a world that is common is manifested there.”[2] As mentioned before, anyone can encounter and appreciate a work of art independently, which implies being capable of building a dialogue with it, of translating and experiencing what the artist seeks to communicate to the viewer. Here, translation refers to the intellectual work of interpreting, understanding, and completing others’ ideas, of providing one’s own explanations, and thus sharing personal ideas, whereby “a deformation of self and personal sensitivity takes place […] because it is not possible to perceive oneself, others, or the sensory world in the usual way after engaging with a work of art.”[3]
Additionally, one of the most valuable faculties enhanced by cinema is imagination, as the fictions created by cinema and the images it provides to the viewer’s imagination are essential to imagining and perceiving reality in different ways. In terms of bringing cinema closer to Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities in the country, it is important to specify that imagination is far from fostering a denial or escape from reality. On the contrary, this faculty allows for the construction of another reality, a more desirable one, that of empowerment and fulfillment of the communities, as the images it projects to the viewer are the same images the viewer will project onto the world and that will guide their journey through it. In this sense, cinema has the capacity to educate perception because it transforms the individual’s perception: “Briefly put, the education of perception is a matter of educating perception itself. Thus, cinema educates perception and does so through perception.”[4]
Finally, an essential aspect of the project should be mentioned regarding the cinemas as symbolic temples of faith in the future, based on the idea that “cinema as an artistic practice explores the satisfaction of the desire for stories and narratives to strengthen the invention and projection of future lives.”[5] Although other means could be considered to bring cinema closer to communities, the cinema itself is of utmost importance for its technical dimension, as a film acquires different meanings depending on the space in which the images are projected. The cinema, due to the size of the image, the darkness, and the silence that the space promotes, represents the distance and attention this artistic practice demands from the viewer, whose experience is radically different from watching cinema through other devices and spaces.
[1] Andrea Esparza Belmonte, “Distribution of the Sensible and Emancipated Spectator: Cinema as an Education of Perception. An Analysis from Jacques Rancière,” bachelor’s thesis in Pedagogy, Mexico, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2023, p. 94.
[2] A. Esparza, “Distribution of the Sensible and Emancipated Spectator…”, 2023, p. 95.
[3] Idem.
[4] Ibid., p. 107.
[5] Ibid., pp. 94-95. References consulted: Esparza Belmonte, Andrea, “Distribution of the Sensible and Emancipated Spectator: Cinema as an Education of Perception. An Analysis from Jacques Rancière,” bachelor’s thesis in Pedagogy, Mexico, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2023, pp. 116.