Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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process which includes a craft component (e.g., rules of thumb), the more general
principles according to which the work is composed, and its functions, effects, and
uses. Any inquiry into the fundamental principles by which a work in any
representational medium is constructed can fall within the domain of poetics.” (1989;
371) [parentheses in the original]
Barry Salt utilises a “statistical” approach 3 to poetics, saying “It should be
obvious that the terms used for analyzing movies are those used by their makers in
putting them together, and indeed the only rational approach in general terms is for
the analysis to reverse the construction process used in creating the work.” (2009;
125) This is a statement with which I identify, although my methods differ from
Salt’s in a sense: I utilise statistical methods regularly, as they are particularly
illustrative of construction, but statistical methods do not dominate my analysis, as
do Salt’s. However, he acknowledges, in part, that a segment of his goal is to
identify aesthetic value: “The most rational and objective criteria for evaluating
aesthetic worth are, in order of their importance: 1. Originality, 2. Influence. 3.
Success in carrying out the maker’s intentions.” (143)
I would like to momentarily differ with Salt here, by saying that I find
filmmaker intention fairly irrelevant; the text is an individual source of enjoyment
and experience. For example, I personally find Donnie Darko (2001; dir. Kelly)
extremely enjoyable, though, according to the director’s commentary on the DVD it
deviates from his original intention. However, Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut
(2004; dir. Kelly) is far less enjoyable, and, in my view, clumsy and dull. So, I
3 Salt’s statistical analysis, as it is referred to by himself, Thompson, and others, involves breaking
down the aesthetic elements of a film into calculable units, such as shot length, numbers of reverse
angles and point of view shots, etc. He then develops his arguments based on this research, often
using charts and graphs to explicate his findings.