The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899)

How do these films contrast with "the uses of cinema" as outlined in the reading?

The chapter The ‘uses’ of Cinema explains that the arrival of cinema created the possibility for new methods of mass communication. The reach of cinema and the fascination of the viewers with it, gives films the potential to perpetuate social and moral agendas; it has been historically used as a tool to achieve social conformity. The film Kiss in the Tunnel by George Albert Smith, and all the variations of this film that were produced at the time, are clear examples of how films tells viewers what they should desire and how they should do it. In Frank Gray’s analysis of the film Kiss in the Tunnel he argues that the film worked as, “advertisement for the actual and potential pleasures to be experienced on particular trains within the modern and sophisticated service offered by particular British railway companies” (59). The representation of class in the film Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) makes viewers desire the upward mobility that will allow them to achieve the luxury and comfort that the movie presents. It sutures them into the film by allowing them to expertice the class strata that they want to be part of, but cannot. As for the people who are already part of that elite, the movie tells them how they should desire by explicitly telling them what railway company they should travel with.

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How does the camera create unexpected intimacy in these films?

The kissing scene in the movie The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) allows the viewer to enter into a private space and be part of intimate moment with the certainty that they won’t get caught. This undetected and “safe” intrusion of privacy contributes to the voyeuristic aspect that sutures the viewers into the film; thus, in this sense the camera creates intimacy in the relationship the viewer has with the actors. The editing of the shots further contributes to this creation of intimacy. When the shot of train entering the tunnel is about to start Smith cuts to the shot of the couple in the carriage, this situates the actors and viewers in a metal space where they know, that in the movie, anything is allowed and could happen while the train is still in the darkness of the tunnel. This brief moment when the actors and the viewers are allowed a space of sexual freedom creates intimacy in the film and in the interaction the viewer has with the film.