Todai-Yale Initiative Lecture Series -- Why is Slow Motion Sad? The Function of the 'Slow' in Poetry and Painting
Masahiko Abe - Associate Professor, English Department, the University of Tokyo University
Slow Motion is a technique in film-making by which the action appears slower than it actually is. It’s primary purpose is demarcation; it helps highlight a particular scene by revealing its details and showing it as ‘different’. But, interestingly, slow motion also seems to be colored by some sentiment, akin to what we may call pathos or sorrow. Why is slow motion sad? To address this issue, we look into the mechanism of the slow in poems and paintings, and consider how our reception of images is related to the sense of speed. 1) Ezra Pound, ‘In a Station of the Metro’ - The apparition of these faces in the crowd - Petals on a wet, black bough 2) Hagiwara Sakutaro, ‘The Death of a Frog’ (to be circulated) 3) A painting by Patrick Heron (to be circulated)