Locative Media & The City

It is strange that I found out that Jacque Tati designed and constructed the whole city for playtime in my third time viewing it. In viewing the film this last time along with reading Lynch’s “The City Image and its Elements” and Debord’s “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography” I saw, from a production designer’s perspective, the city as an element of metaphor. Playtime’s artificial city reflects Tati’s observation of modern society. Tati presents a monotonous, transparent and alienating space where the individual is integrated in a nihilistic existence.

The regularity of the materials and shapes used in the construction of the city creates a generic view of modern society. As Lynch describes, the landmark is a point of reference, and Tati, by showing the reflection of the Eiffel tower on the modern glass building, identifies the city as Paris. By using generic modern city structures Tati transforms the lives of Parisians into nonspecific urbanites.

Tati gives glass a dual function. First it helps create a sense of transparency and secondly it also functions as a barrier by blocking sound. This creates an illusion of connection but in reality establishes an alienating distance between individuals.

Tati’s use of glass reminds me of the work of architect and installation/video artist Dan Graham. As Tati presents a space where individuals observe and are observed, Graham works with themes such as the relations between subject and object in space by using glass structures and the alternation between transparency and reflection. In an interview by Pietro Valle, Graham states, “I'm interested in inter-subjectivity, exploring how a person, in a precise and given moment, perceives him/herself while at the same time watching other people who in turn are watching him/her.” This feeling of surveillance is a prominent and growing dilemma in today’s concept of modern society in public as well as private space.

The restaurant scene in Playtime presents a postmodern deconstruction of space. The absurd happenings that lead to the breakdown of the space reflect the denial of rationalism. An element of falsehood and irrationality played a role in this breakdown by breaking common expectations. The doorman using just a doorknob to give illusion of a door and the woman gliding across the room is an example of these falsehoods.

Geographical environment is effected by the emotions and behaviors that spring from human interaction. As Debord states, “Psychogeography could set for itself the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” I have always thought that macro and micro images are similar. I also think that nature images could be both similar and different to urban images. There are similarities in patterns of tree branches and traffic patterns with the streams of roads that mark the city. In considering the cognitive map we can understand mental space in terms of network and human relationship