The Thirst for Image

When a thin strip of celluloid passed for the first time through a projector and cast the world onto a screen in a way that the human mind had never before seen a line of demarcation was drawn between the old world that had no more control over image than they did over flight and a new age that not only controlled what once was as fleeting as ghost but was bent on seeing everything that could be caught on film or video tape. This thirst for new images has become as addictive as air for some and just as ubiquitous.

The fact that some creatures have evolved without eyes and do without image throws into sharp relief that need of creatures that do rely on image because for those creatures, humans in particular , sight means survival. Somewhere along the line of evolution for us that ability to see became more important that the sense of smell or touch or hearing all three of which, although still very important to us, pale when compared to sight and indeed a very large part of the higher brain is devoted exclusively to processing images. Sight not only helped us avoid our natural enemies, but also become very efficient hunters and hunters like to control their world not be controlled by it.

Our present day thirst for image started in earnest when early filmmakers first began to point their cameras toward anything interesting. For them just capturing the natural movement of the world was paramount, but what they did as enough to get us started down the road to control of image that has allowed us to penetrate, and control, the joys and mysterys of the world around us and make manifest the secrets of our inner most dreams. This power of image fed the need of the human mind for control over life. We soon found out how limited our sight really is but instead of feeling limited we adapted the camera to do our seeing for us and to bring the image to our eyes and serve it up like a nine course meal. Who can forget the first time high speed photography revealed how a rain drop behaves when it hits a puddle or the slowed motion of a Humming birds wings.

News images on TV may be the most ubiquitous images of all time but the most telling images are still portrayed in film. Our desire for more and more special effects perhaps reflects our desire to become more than we are and move beyond our normal everyday lives to, become Superman, move beyond death, or simply have it all. At the root of it all lies the need for control and as evolution has made sight our most important faculty the human drive for mastery over our existence will make our thirst for more and more images something very few will resist.

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