Thomas Edison's short film from 1899 "New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, no. 2" represents both the nature of early cinematic production, before the advent of narrative film, and an interest in the modern city that we began to trace last week in our discussion of nineteenth-century Paris. In this two-minute clip of a train crossing Brooklyn Bridge, what does the filmmaker seem interested in capturing for his audience? How does the film figure the city of New York in a way similar or different from the representations of industrialization and growth apparent in the works of the Impressionists? And how might we understand Brooklyn Bridge as a modern counterpart to the Gothic cathedral?
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Thomas Edison's Brooklyn Bridge
Thomas Edison's short film from 1899 "New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, no. 2" represents both the nature of early cinematic production, before the advent of narrative film, and an interest in the modern city that we began to trace last week in our discussion of nineteenth-century Paris. In this two-minute clip of a train crossing Brooklyn Bridge, what does the filmmaker seem interested in capturing for his audience? How does the film figure the city of New York in a way similar or different from the representations of industrialization and growth apparent in the works of the Impressionists? And how might we understand Brooklyn Bridge as a modern counterpart to the Gothic cathedral?
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The 1898 film “Train Entering the Railroad Station,” comes to mind when viewing Edison’s short film from 1899, “New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, no. 2.” The camera positions are almost exact opposites, one filming a train entering a station from the perspective of someone standing on the train platform, and the other from the perspective of the train entering a city, yet both represent film as a powerful medium to depict the simple action of a train in motion. Having the camera on the front of the train allows the audience to experience entering New York from outside of the subway cars. Before these films, other than actually riding on the train, there was no other way to capture the movement and feeling achieved by film. Instead of being a stagnant shap-shot, the film captures something extremely new, revolutionary, and previously unachievable without film.
ReplyDeleteindeed, one interesting aspect of Edison's film is that it is shot from the perspective of the train as a machine and and mechanical innovation rather than from the perspective of a viewer looking out its window -- this emphasizes both the new potential of film to capture a moving image but also the engineering and technological innovation of the train and bridge themselves.
DeleteDue to the difference in the mediums of painting and cinematography, films are ale to portray industrialization in motion, however, without colors compared to the impressionist paintings. Additionally, impressionists in the 19th century tend to portray the combination of beautiful natural landscapes with industrialization, while this short film only includes the skyscrapers and steel structures to show the industrialized aspect of New York.
ReplyDeleteGothic cathedral serves as a path to enter another world, the divine world. Similar with the Brooklyn Bridge, it serves as a path to enter the world of industrialization, of machines and mass productions. Both the image of Gothic Cathedrals and that of the Brooklyn Bridge symbolize human's ability to create and their hope to change this world, in both spiritual and concrete ways.
Really nice analysis, especially of the relation between the bridge and the Gothic cathedral, as both are structures that embody mankind's aspirational desires, whether in spiritual belief or in the furthering of modern industrialization.
DeleteThe filmmaker seems interested in capturing the pure, raw experience of travelling across the Brooklyn Bridge. Film is a different medium that can give the audience a very different experience from a painting. The way the film is shot allows the audience to feel as if they are on the train, experiencing various different sights while the train moves across the bridge. This allows the audience to be more easily integrated into the film than just looking at a painting. The film depicts New York City differently from the Impressionists paintings because instead of having a few smokestacks in the background, the film emphasizes the how one is completely surrounded by the presence of industrialization. Characteristics of industrialization such as steel and machinery are the primary objects that maintain a strong visual presence throughout the film. The Brooklyn Bridge connects the industrialized world with the world around it, and the sights of industrialization surround those who ride the train across the bridge. On a similar note, the Gothic Cathedral connects the divine and earthly realms and worshippers are surrounded by the religious characteristics of the cathedral.
ReplyDeleteAnother good observation about how Edison's film differs from Impressionist paintings, which hint at industrialization through train smoke or factories but never engulf their viewers in an industrialized urban landscape to the extent that that Edison does in "Brooklyn Bridge."
DeleteAfter watching the YouTube clip, the relationship between the train going through the "tunnel" and the Gothic cathedrals become apparent. Both have a barrel vault that is meant to surround the viewer to engage them in a certain experience while in the train/cathedral as well as lead their eye forward to what lies ahead. In the case of the train in the Brooklyn Bridge, the "vaulting" that is created by the steel of the bridge leads the viewers eye forward in anticipation for what will be at the other end of the tunnel. After the train leaves the other end of the tunnel, one can see the residential and established New York. The relationship between New York and the bridge is important as it shows the mix between the more modern bridge and the less modern surroundings of New York at the time. Whereas now, New York is filled with high rise, or at least higher then back then, buildings, in this clip, most of the buildings are lower and look original to the area. This is similar to the way some impressionists like Manet in his "Argenteuil" show the industrialization that is happening in the background. There is a sense of originality but it is mixed in with a more modern aspect leading the viewer to realize the changing times that the piece was created during.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, Harry, about how the structure of Brooklyn Bridge itself actually refers to the pointed arches of Gothic cathedrals and thus situates a reference to historical notions of technological achievement within the new urban landscape of NYC.
DeleteIn Thomas Edison's short film from 1899 "New Brooklyn to New York via Brooklyn Bridge, no. 2," the filmmaker makes a few key decisions on how the audience is meant to perceive New York. The movement of the camera shaking the frame helps give the impression of the viewer on the train riding through the city. In a way, the viewer trying to understand a fleeting experience of a train ride is completely in-line with the ideas of the Impressionists. Also similar to the Impressionists is the way industrialization is portrayed in interesting juxtaposition with the organic ideas and ephemeral experience of the train ride. While the Impressionists portray industrialization as new but not necessarily negative in contrast to nature, here industrialization is much more negative. The tall smokestacks and smoke seem monolithic and constant in a way that seems eternal and building in grander and grander proportions that will continue to take over the New York skyline. It is gray and all-encompassing, without the possible equilibrium between itself and nature like in other Impressionist works. The Brooklyn Bridge could be seen as a modern counterpart to the Gothic Cathedral in the way that the architecture is a way to help humans connect with the atmosphere as they travel outside but in a structure that takes them upward. This is similar in the Gothic Cathedral helping convey humans to a higher divine plane through the focusing of light and space that reaches upward.
ReplyDeleteSavannah makes a great observation about how the camera's shaking and movement help to make this film a visual attraction that dramatizes the movement of the train within the city's landscape. The ascending effect of the bridge, particularly the moment when we get a view of its vertical arches above, definitely implies the desire to ascend to new heights of modern innovation, just as the Gothic cathedral did in medieval towns across Europe.
DeleteSeeing this video makes me very nostalgic for home coming from Manhattan. The Brooklyn Bridge was initially built in order to unite Manhattan and Brooklyn, as ferries were not the safest ways of transportation between the two boroughs. Finally completed in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge has stayed one of the most iconic pieces of architecture in New York City. The filmmaker seems to want to capture the journey itself from Brooklyn to Manhattan for his audience. We, as the audience, are facing forward and are traveling in the direction we are facing. In this position, we are able to see everything first. It feels like the audience is discovering something new for the first time. I think the film figures the city of New York in a way similar to the representations of industrialization and growth apparent in the works of the Impressionists. The movement is a prominent theme in both. Both also stick human beings alongside these new industrializations. The Brooklyn Bridge could be understood as a modern counterpart to the Gothic cathedrals, because they both share the design of pointed arches. In the Gothic cathedrals, they would lead you into particulars spaces. They do the same on the Brooklyn Bridge, as they are the audience's initial entryway into either borough.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Julia, a significant part of the film's attraction is the sense of discovering for the first time this major new achievement in engineering and architecture within Manhattan. For viewers of Edison's film elsewhere in the country, who had not yet made the train journey between Manhattan and Brooklyn themselves, it must have been breathtaking to see.
DeleteJoseph Brasch
ReplyDeleteThe film seems interested in depicting the mass industrialization that was abundant in New York City. Instead of showing picturesque views of the water or the city, it shows metal structures that encompass the viewer. The impressionists showed industrialization creeping into the serenity of the natural world, but this video shows that industrialization is no longer in the background, but rather, it's everywhere in urban life. Along with the similarity to gothic cathedrals in the pointed arches, the experience through the tunnel also manipulates the natural light in a similar way to the cathedrals.
Nice contrast with the Impressionists, Joseph, and you are quite right that there is a reversal here from industrialization creeping in to the natural landscape and the spaces of the old city, as opposed to the new emergence of the modern city at center stage.
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