Reflection on “Cinematic Aspects of Cave Art”

The author noted, “Giedion had suggested that prehistoric humans had a unique vision of time and space.” Reflecting the contents of this article, How are cave painting and cinema similar or different in the experience for time and space?

I like how the author describes the cave painting in the article. At first, the author mentions a question: why our ancestors chose to paint in a dark cave, rather than draw in a brighter space? This question also arouses my curiosity about cave art by wondering if there are any meanings to drawing in a dark place. I also like how the author’s feelings changed during the process of the trip: didn’t get the meaning of the cave painting at first, observed it more carefully, and suddenly found delight when using the light to watch the cave painting. Following the author’s aspect, I also discovered the fun part of the cave painting and the similarities and differences between cave painting and cinema.

The differences are obvious to tell. From the time part, the cave paintings are the ancient cultural relic, while the cinema and movies are modern techniques. Also, the painting always resists when you are watching it, the speed and order of the story in the paintings depend on how you choose to watch it, while the movie video has its order, and you also cannot skip or change the movie speed in a cinema. From the space part, which is the same as the time part, that is you can walk around to observe different paintings in a cave, but you should sit down to watch the movie in a cinema.The paintings change with the caves’ shape, while the cinema’s space won’t change.

While talking about the similarities, it is surprising that we can find so many points. From the time, both paintings and movies create time-pass-feelings in the artworks, because they are both a way for people to record the things they’ve experienced. In other words, as long as there exists a concept of “story”, there will be a timeline for people to observe. And for the space angle, both caves and cinemas are dark places, and both paintings and movies are visual arts for people to watch. It is a surprising coincidence that “cinema” appeared a thousand generations ago. The author found this point when they are using the light of a lantern to look around the cave paintings, and the author found the appear and disappear paintings are just like a movie in the cinema, which also answers the initial question to some extent: “Why our ancestors chose to paint in a dark cave.” We can only guess the answer, but I think the reason for “creating a space to create a continued story” is a convincing point.