"How to Pay Attention: The Ear and the Eye Can Be Trained" by Mark Bauerlein
"How to Pay Attention" by Mark Bauerlein
In this breakout, we're going to watch movies—or, rather, scenes and sequences that do the opposite of what video games and TikTok do. I mean those moments when the action slows, images stand out, and the form of the filmmaking acquires an independent value. Scenes will include those from
Citizen Kane,
Vertigo,
L'Avventura, and
L'Eclisse, which have precisely this training effect on the eye and ear. Call it the learning of attentiveness. The premise of the approach is that habits of mind are developed not abstractly, but through experience. The cell phone has damaged attentiveness; we need counter-exposures to reverse the damage. Our session will give attendees brilliant and effective examples of them.