the flicker

"Viewers would term the experience of watching the film 'masochistic'." I found the readings on The Flicker interesting in terms of the open interpretation. I am prone to migraines triggered by light so I agree. I can only watch about 5 seconds of this type of film before turning away, even shutting your eyes doesn't stop the film's effects. The only reason I would continue to watch is if I intentionally wanted to give myself a major headache. Even though the film only consists of black and clear frames every viewer is going to see something unfamiliar, the inability to process the changes makes me feel like my brain is frying. This makes me think, are these perceptions really visually induced mini mind melts? The aim of the film is to free the viewer of the film maker's perception and make the personal experience the focus, "The pursuit of a 'de-automatized perception' that would interrupt and prolong the habitual processes of vision and thus render them newly conscious, transforming perception into appreciation". The intended effects on my vision result in a nightmare of transformed perception that my own mind produces. The marriage of art and science is explored in terms of experience perception but unexplained in terms of how the mind is being affected.