The Sticking Place Theatre and Film productions

A. Philosophical considerations

1
It is sometimes difficult for God to explain His role to human beings whose imperfect sense organs inevitably vulgarize the little they grasp. To their narrow sensibilities, His supervision of earth affairs seems at times capricious and perhaps sporadic. The existing injustices are too blatant, the problems too overwhelming; since He is just and all-powerful, how is one to explain their persistence and unchecked growth? We believe that some reflection as regards God’s situation, will readily rectify any misunderstandings.

2
God resides within the blinding centers of monstrous conglomerations of quasars – ironically only recently discovered by us – whose brilliance and behavior defy current scientific knowledge. Not subject to the laws of time and space, His area of competence encompasses the entire cosmos, extending beyond its origin and beyond its infinite expanse; billions of galaxies, trillions of stars – the few known to Man, the multitudes unknown.

         Since life is not unique to Earth, His reign also encompasses millions of other bodies on which it exists in forms alien to us and to those worlds where it is about to come into being. To create the full and subtle texture of life, He fashions not merely the evolutionary process, but also overpopulation, exploitation of weak by powerful, pollution, warfare, neuroses, generation gaps, avarice, ambition, cruelty, competition, ignorance, perversion, imperialism, smiling murders, unrequited love, atomic energy, sexual appetites, collective guilt and lack of sanitary facilities.

         It is very hot and terribly bright in the center of the quasars: God is indifferent to this. Light and heat extend billions of miles into the ultimate, frigid blackness of areas beyond; the density and motion of the quasars is unimaginable; God is unaffected by it. He neither grows old nor does He change. The creator of Time, He is outside of it (observing its passage in others with indifference) and coexists, in millions of civilizations throughout the cosmos, with dinosaurs, computers and machines we cannot begin to fathom.

3
Imagine then, if you will, the enormity of His task vis-à-vis deplorable conditions on Earth. From where He resides, He directs his massive glance (if that is the word for it) toward our particular planet. Of course, He only ‘spot-checks’ events, rather than cover each person, animal and thing on each planet at every moment.

         As He ‘looks’ toward the Earth, the entire action perceived by Him there remains in ‘Long Shot’; it is remote and small and while it is sweeping enough to take in whole groups, this very fact results in His seeing outlines only. Dimly, on the horizon, He will from time to time witness, in silhouette, a tragedy between two or three tiny figures, a murder perhaps, with tiny blood-spots to denote point of entry of a deadly weapon; He may see a nondescript human shape – perhaps of yellow color-run aflame through an area of jungle growth; He may see a train stop in the night in the glare of strong headlights, disgorging too many passengers who then are separated into two groups by black-uniformed attendants with riding whips in gloved hands. There are other such examples.

         From time to time, He sees the Earth’s sun reflected from golden cupolas of churches built from the money of the poor; He will see a knifing done by words in a glassed office, a statesman delivering an oration for peace in the midst of a war unleashed by him. By a simple (and slow) panoramic movement, crossing the earth from East to West within a few seconds, He will encompass tiny specks of enormous wealth – jeweled and erotic women, men of refinement, crafty millionaires surrounded but not threatened by masses of emaciated and broken bodies covered with feces and lice, strewn helter-skelter across hostile landscapes.

         Especially noticeable are battles and wars, because of the large number of people involved. The massacres seem extensive, but they occur – as does everything – at the very edge of a not entirely distinct horizon, against a bleak sky; the people involved, their fields or their cities, are very tiny indeed and not easily distinguishable even as to what side they are on. The battles He sees occur every few hundred years, with masses of soldiers swaying blindly back and forth over ill-defined, contested areas that frequently remain identical over the centuries. The fires of burning cities are spectacular in a miniature way.

4
Does God not have a zoom-type apparatus enabling him to ‘zero-in’ on a particular event, problem or tragedy? Indeed He does and it permits him to more effectively intervene since the geographical and especially the ideological details become more obvious. But by zooming in on one event in one place on one planet, its very increase in size within the viewing area tends to crowd out other events. This despite the fact that He ‘zoomscans’ and corrects thousands of situations simultaneously.

         Being all powerful, He does attempt to correct injustice and bring evil low, whenever misdeeds or misfortunes are thrust upon his attention by His zoomscan-spot-checking devices. Since His relation to the world seems purely visual, the wringing of hands or copious tears accompanying tragedy may attract the scanner more readily to a particular human fate.

         It cannot be denied, however, that at times God’s attention is drawn to other incidents occurring on other planets of either this or other galaxies; there, too, tragedy and a cruel fate may strike, though in shapes unimaginable to us. The scanning device is as universal and infinite as is its subject area, and adjusts automatically to these alien tragedies representative of qualitatively different life forms; nevertheless, the very process of ‘scanning’ implies selection, hence, inattention to other areas.

5
Considering the continuing prevalence of evil parading as goodness, exploitation as enlightenment dictatorship as democracy, lie as truth, it is questionable whether God’s scanning device is capable of reading thoughts. Though this subject requires further investigation, it is possible that the scanner works solely from appearances, removing only some more obvious acts of cruelty and injustice.

6
Of course, the origin of evil itself is uncertain. Since God could have avoided its creation, is it a challenge flung at us? Considering the world situation, this would be a highly vindictive act on the part of someone as constitutionally incapable of vindictiveness as of any other emotion. One cannot believe that one lapse with an apple could have been considered serious enough to create even one napalmed child, let alone the wars and tears of all existing worlds throughout eternity. Likewise, since we have already been created to be mortal, the addition of sin and evil would seem to add insult to injury.

         A more likely alternative has God, at creation, drawing different models of Man, and then creating our race by mistake from a discarded sketch erroneously returned to His desk from a wastebasket bulging with flawed designs. This episode should not be considered as an argument against the infallibility of God; it rather indicates that when one is in charge of a universe, one's attention at times is apt to wander.

B. Aesthetic considerations

1
In accord with both its subject matter and modern cinema trends, the film has no plot in the conventional sense. The very concept of plot is alien to God’s non-anthropomorphic approach. The bible is the work of men and could not have been ‘composed’ by God. Discontinuity, intermingling of past, present and future, abrupt and ‘unmotivated’ changes of locale and action (cf. Godard, Resnais, New American Cinema) are the hall-marks of divinity. The film explores states of existence and is an ‘atmospheric’ rather than ‘narrative’ work.

2
It is proposed that God never be shown; no film frame can contain Him. It is likely that even 70 mm film could at best capture a hint of one segment of a fleeting movement undertaken in a fraction of one second of His infinite existence.

3
It is necessary that the entire film be shot in extreme Long Shot, perhaps with special lenses to further reduce the size of the individual figures appearing dimly on a horizon approximately 1/32nd from the upper edge of the frame.

         The exclusive use of Long Shots in a film is very unusual; it has an alienating effect without removing the viewer from observation of and responsibility for the action. The effect becomes even more pronounced after the film has been projected in this fashion for eight to twenty hours. There is frequent, agitated motion, but only on a tiny area of the screen and in miniature form.

         ‘Slow’ or ‘rapid’ panoramic Long Shots, in which the camera moves horizontally in uninterrupted manner either to right or to left, are also indicated at times, continuing for considerable periods, but neither ‘slow’ nor ‘rapid’ are to be understood in conventional (human) terms: to approximate the truth of God's scanning (rather, to reduce the margin of inevitable human error), very extreme slowness (Warhol, Mommartz) or speed (Breer) are indicated.

         The only exception to the Long Shots are zoom-shots providing temporary close-ups of single events to the exclusion of others.

4
The use of ‘establishing’ shots (to show the locale and framework of subsequent action) is discouraged, since it would imply divine preplanning of what is essentially a random scanning process involving statistical probabilities.

5
Individual sequences (such as battle scenes or flaming natives) could be shown for several hours, both for veracity and frequency of actual occurrence.

         A few scenes in which fate is cheated, the Mafia vanquished, the Rich punished, could be inserted briefly. Some lengthier episodes of love, warmth, bravery, loyalty must appear, even perhaps a hint of a break-through to a more permanent, man-instituted justice.

6
A generally somber tone, as befits the subject, is indicated; this is also why black-and-white film should be used. The predominant tonal values should be varying shades of grey that blend into each other and blur the outlines of what in any case can only dimly be perceived.

7
The ‘acting’ of the earth-people can be either neutral or very violent; it is in any case hardly noticeable. The rare exceptions are the close-ups in which exaggerated, melodramatic emoting certainly increases the possibility of divine observation and intervention.

8
In general, however, the tempo of the film should be measured and majestic.

9
As is God, the film should be silent. Music would only multiply the unfortunate anthropomorphic aspects inherent in the use of man-made ‘visuals’ to approximate those ‘seen’ by God.

10
In this latter half of the twentieth century, any film about God should be American-made; both our proselytizing activities on behalf of truth and our concomitant power permitting us to implement our visions are too well-known abroad to allow any other alternative.

         The film, however, should be shot on location (Vietnam, Mississippi, South Africa, certain Arab towns); but there is no reason why Lincoln Center or Appalachian dwellings could not quite properly be used as backgrounds for tragedy or deception.

         While an enormous mass of newsreel and television material could easily be obtained for this film, its use in this instance is questionable: it is too fragmentary in nature, does not generally fit our prescription for Long Shots and clings too tenaciously to adjacent commercials.

11
The cumulative effects of hours of massive demonstrations, killings, betrayals, battles, assassinations, tortures and the tears of mothers would be enormous; the oppressive weight of the visual evidence, noticeable even after only a few hours of viewing, would be of faint indication of the burdens imposed upon God (by whom?) who must witness such events through infinity.

12
The commercial potential of the film is considerable; peasants in underdeveloped countries will cherish its simple but inescapable metaphysical implications; student and intellectuals in technologically advanced societies its deceptive subtlety. Sadists will appreciate its cruelty, mothers will emerge with new insights; it may even be considered a woman’s picture, though men will readily identify with victims or executioners, depending on personal preference. In the educational field, its use is especially indicated for courses in philosophy, history, Black studies, guidance counseling and ethics, but classes in avant-garde cinema will also be interested.

13
With some justification, the possible use of lengthy ‘film loops’ has been suggested for this project, to cut down production costs and also for philosophical reasons. For example, only one hour of film need be produced and could then be repeated as often as needed; after all, the rise of modern democracy and sanitary facilities has not significantly altered the nature of tragedy and exploitation. The author feels bound to state that while this would indeed reduce costs, its exclusive use would contradict the evidence of history which includes choice and improvisation. By seeing the disquietening conditions of God’s work and its inherent technical limitations, we may even be impelled in the direction of greater human intervention in human affairs, making God less necessary and permitting him to direct his already flagging interest toward other cosmic challenges.

14
The proposed duration of the film is infinite, for greater veracity. The film thereby becomes a living monument to the dilemma of God, viewable by successive generations. Particular seats could be reserved to individual family groups for several centuries ahead. As the simple experience of attending the film becomes habitual, hereditary and an object of anticipatory family discussion, the screening begins to partake of a rite and the cinema finally becomes transformed into a temple, though not necessarily a home of worship.

 

© Amos Vogel, May 1970
All rights reserved by the original copyright holders