Human in Peter Watkins’ Cinema Wandering in the Commune (of Paris 1871): Monograph

Man is a medium through which phenomenon finds meaning, and thus will be accepted as cultural matters by others. Eliminating man could mean the destruction of culture and meaning from “self” and “other” perspective. But in the mainstream cinema human not only isn’t considered as a medium which carries meaning but also is reduced to a mindless consumer. Therefore industrialized cinema can be largely understood as anti-culture rather than cultural; because the phenomenon has only a mechanical encounter with “man” instead of making meaning. In contrast, there is an independent cinema that focuses on “man” and his ontological relationships. Peter Watkins is a filmmaker that considers “man” in all aspects of form, process, and production. A case study of “La Commune” had been conducted in this article with a participatory observation method that the filmmaker considers for the audience. A monograph with subjective wandering in the film was also done. Results indicate that by breaking the monoform Watkins considers “man” as the medium that gives meaning to culture through factors such as breaking the hierarchy in filmmaking, involving actors in the process of research and improvisation, giving roles to the audience by creating spaces for study and critical thinking, etc.