Wandering Gazes on the Screen: The American Material Environment in James Benning’s Films

The experimental filmmaker James Benning has a unique way of approaching American life through radical film language. My paper addresses the question how material culture and design appear in Benning’s early work. A recurring feature is his preference for depiction landscapes, buildings, objects, vehicles over human characters that support viewer identification mainstream documentaries. In first half paper, I present main stylistic features body work within context structural documentary filmmaking. Then provide detailed analysis three films: 11 × 14 (1977), Dreams: Lost Found (1984) Landscape Suicide (1986). show was able to create language with experimentations, long takes, wide shots offers perceptual experience goes against narrative traditions. Overall, aim this study art provides an epistemological insight into 1970s 1980s.