Recently in media and society class we screened a film called Cave of Forgotten Dreams by the one and only Werner Herzog. This memorable film documented a team of scientists who traveled into a cave to research the oldest known man-made engravings. The cave perfectly preserved these figures over 30,000 years. Just the thought of witnessing something so historical and so significant to human beings is enough to give one the chills of amazement, but to visually see the paintings and people experiencing them first hand was even more astonishing.
In relation to media and society, these wall engravings symbolize the first possible example of media. Media is defined as a means by which something is communicated or expressed. These paintings were exactly that. An ancient human being thought of an idea, went into the cave, and expressed his idea through a tool onto the wall. Due to the perfect preservation, us human beings can still visually interpret the same meanings as the people did 30,000 years ago. Due to the ability to interpret, we know the paintings show animals of the time, and one portrait of a woman. If you think about it, that is beyond amazing.
The film was not only amusing mostly due to Werner Herzog's style and entertaining voice overs, the content was literally incomparable because there are no older cave portraits. Great film, and even better content.
No comments:
Post a Comment