I’m late on this anime, and thanks to TheBigN for telling me to watch this. Anyway, BigN was mentioning the difference between Sora’s affinity for sketching vs. “Camera-Girl’s” preference for the camera.[1] In essence, we have the issue of subjectivity (sketching) vs. objectivity (photography).
The photograph is interesting, as Barthes put it, because of its inherent paradox. The reality that is presented in the photograph is objective. So in this level[2] all the meaning of the image is denoted by the visual aspects – the content of whatever is in the photograph. However, there is a second layer – the cultural connotations that are present within the signs that are visible within the photograph. Thus the paradox: an image whose meaning is wholly saturated within itself has yet another layer of cultural meaning – it has two meanings, or two layers, in photoshop lingo, and has then an objective denotation and a subjective cultural connotation.
It is this connotation that serves as the artistic tool for photographers.
Drawing, on the other hand, allows artists for an unlimited subjective potential. Sora is not bound by the limitations (nor enhanced by) of the objectivity of the camera. Whereas photography is the subjecification of objectivity, graffiti acts as an objectification of subjectivity; more importantly, it is the concretization of identities and emotions into a tangible product. In the case of photography, it is the opposite motion; it is the serendipitous location of a medium for identities and emotions. While in both mediums artists seek to represent themselves, drawing does so by concretizing the self while photography seeks to “selfify” the concrete.
These two models of representation fit with the personalities of Sora and “Camera-Girl” quite well, as BigN was pointing out as well. Sora is shy because she’s investing her identity into her drawing: she makes it visible and thus liable to the gaze of society. “Camera-Girl”, on the other hand, is outgoing because she searches for the image she wishes to “selfify,” or absorb into her self, and so her ordeal is not as “personal”.[3] The structure of Sketchbook’s narrative [thus far] also complements this model, since we hear the Sora’s internal thoughts via voiceovers.
The first screencap provides an interesting quote. (1) Sora can’t “capture” the tempo of the sparrow’s dance because her canvas is the one that’s doing the “capturing.” That’s taking it literally, perhaps too much so. (2) A little less literally, it’s probably hard for a single frame to contain all the visual elements of tempo and velocity, yet this is all subjective and based on talent. (3) Single frame images include photographs, too, hence Sora’s video camera window shopping – yet the reversed LCD screen tells us more than just the technological difference between video and still frame. Video is motion, and it implies the flow of time – the development of identity[4]. It’s fascinating to take note of Sora’s disorientation towards movement, as she romantically finds the still image all that more encapsulating. Video is really just a string of hundreds of images, yet we perceive it to be one long movement, and so we are desensitized to the fundamental basis of movement, which is still the single frame, and always will be.[5]
Still going off (3), I really enjoyed this metaphor because I didn’t get it at first. When Sora tries to get all the components of the udon into one spoon, it’s signifying the complete encapsulation that a single frame has over the “wait” factor of video. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to get all of the udon’s taste in one bite!” – well, besides that, the picture on the right could even serve as an udon still life portrait. And of course, with the contagiousness of still frame over video, the two other girls decide to give it a try. Randomly, I’m remembering the juxtaposition of Hiro (manga artist) and the video guy (video, duh) in ef.
>
This one short scene is [can be] incredibly deep, and no, I’m actually not being pretentious here for once, as this subject[6] (no pun intended) has been written to death. Here we see Sora…well, that’s obvious, but from where are we seeing her? We’re seeing this presentation of her – since the image of herself on the video camera screen is just a replication – between herself and the screen. That is the position of the viewer.[7]
>
However, now that the frame of reference has taken a few steps back, we see both the physical Sora and her digital (no pun intended, sorta) presentation via the video camera. Even more coincidental is when she says, as shown in the picture on the right, “But I guess something just isn’t right.” What isn’t right? The fact that, despite the video camera being pointed at the location of the imagined-viewer, “we” still can’t see “ourselves” on the LCD screen? The phantasmal nature of the viewer, perhaps, but what’s of more interest behind the “wrong feeling” is the incongruence between Sora’s narrative-position relative to the position of the viewer. Sora is speaking – to whom, “we” can’t entirely be sure – but insofar as her narrative is personal and internal and the “first person,” the visual frame of reference of the entire anime should also be in the first person.
The last part (at least of this post, mind you) reverses everything. Now we have the representation of Sora, not to be confused with Sora’s representation. The latter is possessive, the former isn’t. Before, most of the time, we had Sora’s voiceovers directing us, yet this scene lacks any whatsoever, and we’re left to guess what in the world she means by those oh-so-cutesy noises she makes. I don’t have anything conclusive or warm-and-fuzzy to say about this, so yeah, that’s it, pretty much.[8]
Responses
Cuchlann: The argument that photography is objective is an old one, and not really one I buy into. The photographer has a range of methods to use; the same object, with the same lighting, can be portrayed in different ways with in a series of photographs.
Not that this actually affects what you’re saying in any way. Comparing sketches and photographs, you’re still right, relatively speaking – the latter is *more* objective. ; )
Lelangir: Cuchlann: hmmm. that’s a hard comment to reply to. I’m done some photography, but I’m not a photographer, so that’s probably the root of my stance on it. I was thinking about whether or not we could really separate the photograph from the art of photography. On one hand, we can’t, seeing as though dividing the ends from the means is just like throwing up a convenient curtain. On the other, I’d be tempted to say that with the end of the process comes the end of the artistry, but not the art itself. I still think that the photograph is wholly objective because despite whatever effects you add, what’s displayed on the paper is what happened in reality. The artistic approach to photography its connotative value – it is impossible to alter the denotative, as it wouldn’t be “photography” in the strictest sense of the word. That’s the limit of the camera. It can only capture reality. Yet that is its strongest point as well.
I was visualizing the medium of art, in this case, as a siphon or funnel, and the self as water. Yet we need to take into account gravity. In the case of drawing, the self is above the funnel and so it flows through it and onto the the blank canvas. In photography, you have reverse-gravity and so the concreteness of reality is “funneled” through the photograph and into the self – it is “selfified,” but the reality and photograph never actually “move” – what we’re really funneling is the inherent “selfness” that is evident within reality. It’s just matching up pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – the inner self has to align with the “outer self” in order for photography work, to “feel right.”
edit: so just to clarify once more: here’s the paradox (I think): Photography is different than the photograph, yet we cannot separate the ends from the means. It makes sense, but, simultaneously, is impossible. argh.
Itsubun: Good elaboration on the inverse concepts that Sora and Camera-Girl signify for the different representational medium. Great juxtaposition of screenshots, they helped me to visualize some of the other ideas in your post with a different level of clarity. Hm… I want to read more of your thoughts on the purpose/intention behind this anime’s manipulation of the disparity between different POVs, behind and in front of the 4th wall. Damn it, I have not seen Sketchbook, but after having read this I definitely want to give it a try so that I can have a more productive conversation with you [read: so that I will actually know wtf you're talking about XD].
Have you seen the rest of this series? And if so, will you be posting any more entries on this?
[1] I wouldn’t be surprised if this topic has been written to death.
[2] Or order of signification
[3] I know this contradicts what I was talking to Mike [yeast] about earlier but I don’t feel like getting into the logistics [anti-matter] of it all…and on that note I find juxtaposing yeast and anti-matter to be completely hilarious.
[4] The chronology of the self.
[5] This stream of thought resonates with my comment here.
[6] Subject in and of representation.
[7] It would have been several orders of magnitude crazier had the windows in the Sora’s background been mirrors.
