A Study on the Cinematic Act of ‘Ostension’
Still of the Brunswick Estate as ‘Coruscant’ in Star Wars: Andor set within my own image when visiting the film location.
Something that always fascinated me in film and architecture is that like many people, one thing I like to do when I travel….is visit film locations… and maybe even recreate the moment. In a picture a video? Short film? Something about it screams : remake it, relive it.
There’s this exhilarating feeling of recognising locations used to film some settings, and then have the urge to visit it. Some of these places and buildings have become so famous through their recognition when they first appeared on screen such as classic film locations within Star Wars, where buildings like the cave dwellings of the native Berber population in the deserts of Tunisia are now famed to be the home farm of Luke Skywalker and is now recognised as a tourist attraction with around 100,000 visitors a year.
‘Tatooine’ film set in Tunisia. Image courtesy of StarWars.com
But why do we visit them?
During my thesis research for my Master’s in architecture, I found an interesting phenomenon which could give insight into our acts upon witnessing and experiencing film locations. This term is: Ostension.
Ostension refers to the presentation of a narrative being shown as a direct action, rather than a narrative being told. It refers to the presentation instead of the representation through storytelling. (1)
Ostension originates from the Latin ‘ostendere’ meaning “to show” and was derived from the early studies into folklore, legends, and horror. It has been used to initially examine legend-related Halloween atrocities, in this case, could be described as cases of criminal ostension. (2) Fictional media affects how people act in real life, as the imaginary is something that can be shared and the recipient mind is not immune to its influence. An example of this ostension can be found in studies of the after-effects from the horror film The Exorcist (1973), resulting in the world incorporating elements from the fictional practices of the film into exorcism. (3)
Ostension in Science Fiction
Recreating the sequence of events from Star Wars: Andor at the Barbican, London as part of my thesis research.
When addressing ostension within fictional narratives like science fiction, it can be argued that whether the stories of these images are believed or not, such veracity is secondary to the discussion of their possibility.(4)
Cinematic ostension recognises an audience by encouraging some form of post-presentation debate regarding the authenticity of the legends presented. In the event of visiting Star Wars: Andor filming locations for my Master’s research and thesis, for example, the desire to experience or carry out a recreation of the image parallel to what is seen on screen is an act of ostension.
The Feedback Loop
The cycle of recording and sharing film locations I visited after recognising them on-screen resulted in online communities committing the same acts of ostension.
The fascination to visit film locations by the audience, to re-create images and share them is also in parallel to the act of visiting ancient sites and archaeological landmarks, which arguably can be defined as a form of ostension. This relationship with places we witness on screen and later are determined to experience in real life further blurs a factual-fictional line of events.
No matter how deeply grounded in a reality we are, when we, as spectators are presented with a sequence of events and actions within a place we recognise, there is no escaping the act of ostension. Whether fictional or not, through recognition of an image, we act on the narrative and share it- until it transforms into a new form of media presented to an audience and eventually falls into a growing feedback loop.
References:
Koven, Mikel J. Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2008. P.137
Koven, Mikel J. Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2008. P.137-140
Admin, MonsterTalk. ‘S03E10 - The Exorcist Effect Part 1’. MonsterTalk (blog), 3 December 2023. https://www.
monstertalk.org/s03e10-the-exorcist-effect-part-1/.
Koven, Mikel J. Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2008. P.138 http://archive.
org/details/filmfolkloreurba0000kove.