Serial Metaphysics

1972 collage film by Wheeler Winston Dixon

Serial Metaphysics

A still from Wheeler Winston Dixon's film Serial Metaphysics

Directed by| Wheeler Winston Dixon

Release date

* 1972 (1972)

Language| English

Serial Metaphysics is a 1972 collage film by experimental filmmaker Wheeler Winston Dixon.[1][2]

## Summary

[edit]

An examination of the American lifestyle recut entirely from existing television commercials creating "a vision of the world as viewed through the eyes of the corporate sponsor with a target audience in mind".[3][4][5][6]

Ed Halter from The Village Voice stated that Wheeler's "loopy Americana remix grooves to an increasingly trippy reverb."[7][8]

## Production

[edit]

The film was edited down all in one night on New Year's Eve from 72 hours of TV commercials.[3]

## Reception and legacy

[edit]

The Whitney Museum of American Art[9] showed the film (twice in 1973 and 1974) where then-curator Bruce Rubin commented that Wheeler "is a masterful film editor. His sensitivity to the movement within the frame and of the camera itself allows for fluidity in his editing that is exuberant and refreshing. It is as though his films tap into our collective unconscious by exploring the surface realities that permeate our lives."

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey; Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2003). ""Every Frame was Precious": An Interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon". Film Criticism. 28 (1): 53–79\. ISSN 0163-5069. JSTOR 44019199.
2. ^ "Rare Chance for New Yorkers to See the Films of Wheeler Winston Dixon". FilmInt.nu. 2014-04-10. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
3. ^ a b "First Fruits of Inspiration: The Films of Wheeler Winston Dixon". FilmInt.nu. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
4. ^ "Wheeler Winston Dixon: From Ancient History to A Hundred Years from Today - LA Filmforum". www.lafilmforum.org. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
5. ^ "Wheeler Winston Dixon". MoMA. 2003-12-11.
6. ^ Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2003-09-17). Visions of the Apocalypse: Spectacles of Destruction in American Cinema. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-85048-3.
7. ^ Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (2010-04-04). "Community, Loss, and Regeneration: An Interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon – Senses of Cinema". Retrieved 2024-05-19.
8. ^ Halter, Ed (2003-04-08). "Radical Cheek". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
9. ^ Dixon, Wheeler W. (1997-01-01). The Exploding Eye: A Re-Visionary History of 1960s American Experimental Cinema. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3565-6.

## See also

[edit]

* Criticism of capitalism
* A Corny Concerto \- audio from the 1943 animated short can be heard in the film
* Gustav Holst's The Planets and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 can also be heard in the film

## External links

[edit]

* Serial Metaphysics at IMDb
* The entire film on the filmmaker's official Vimeo channel