Abstract

In this paper, we tried to find out what is the cinematographic reality conceived by André Bazin. To this end, we examined the process of his long exploration of realism, focusing on his film criticism. Through this, we read his deep concern that the film medium, which is more imitative than any other medium, would not become artistic but rather stimulating mimicry. When photographs or movies first appear, people have been interested in saving money by simply storing scenes in front of them or imitating stimulating scenes before realizing their artistic value. In this way, Bazin warned us that when the cheap pleasure derived from the simple imitation of fact is concatenated with the logic of capitalism, the film falls into a subordinate medium and drops the value of human beings indescribably. He therefore argues that cinema must transcend simple imitative dimensions by exploiting various abstract expressions in its own language. His works about the realism in cinema is meaningful in that the value of true realism of the movie is important to build up humanism today in respect that the movie raises extensively the logic of capitalism through visual pleasure.