Ato, Atalho e Vento“: pathos formula in history of cinema

Abstract

The paper thematizes the concept of pathosformel, by Aby Warburg, in the reading of the film Ato, atalho e vento (2014), by Marcelo Masagão. Just as in the known Nós que aqui estamos, por vós esperamos (1999), Masagão makes, in this new proposal, a collage with 143 films. A striking feature in the montage of Ato, atalho e vento is the approximation of certain passages by similarities, whether in thematic, in form, or even in gestures. Thus we have species of sequences that cover the repetition of forms loaded with meanings, such as the act of “being photographed” or “escaping.” Following the Warburgian view, we could note in these sequences anthropological elements of our modernity through the pathos formula that the lms represent and suggest by the chain of images. We intend, therefore, to notice the relations between gesture, cinema and pathosformel to analyze with theoretical rigor the lm of Masagão. In addition to Warburg’s theoretical repertoire, commentators will be invited to rethink the Warburgian theory in the cinematographic key, such as Giorgio Agamben, Philippe Alain-Michaud and Georges Didi-Huberman.