Массовые сцены как способ манипуляции сознанием зрителя

Abstract

The essay explores the significance of mass scenes in the history
of cinema. It analyzes the directorial style of Sergei Eisenstein and his concept
that the human mass becomes observable only with the invention of cinema.
The image of the mass is created by the editing. Long shots transform the
real human mass into an infinitely growing mass, while close-ups destroy its
image. Film editing involves the audience in the creation of the mass: each
foreshortening offers a new vision of the people united in the mass. Mass scenes
of the film allow the spectator to become infected with the ideas of the mass and
to experience the increase in emotions inherent in a crowd. The film appeals
to the spectator whose properties are predetermined. The spectator agrees to
the viewing conditions dictated by the film and dissolves in the spectacle. The
full involvement of the spectator in what he sees on the film screen is the main
feature of cinema. Therefore, the manipulation of the spectator’s consciousness
during the film screening is inevitable. Due to the psychological characteristics
of their perception, mass scenes are one of the most powerful ways to control
the spectator's emotional and intellectual reactions.