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| Staroye i novoye [The General Line] - Sergei Eisenstein (1929) |
I am in the process of formalising the literature review for my thesis in order to satisfy myself and others that my research explores new fields and I am not treading a well worn path. Prior to this point the literature review did exist but it largely resided in my own consciousness and was not systematically recorded.
As I begin writing my mind wanders and I begin to think about how my research has progressed from initial interests into a more defined subject. Looking back I recall the unnerving feeling of starting off with an idea of your interests but not how you will explore them. A combination of recalling this journey, coupled with a more in depth understanding thesis subject causes a scene from Sergei Eisenstein's 1929 silent film, The General Line, to spring to mind. In this scene, approximately mid-way through the film, the collective farmers begin manually harvesting a field using scythes only to be usurped by the modern technology of the tractor. For me it is specifically the image shown above of one of the farmers clearing a path towards the horizon in a seemingly endless field that seems metaphorically apt for this process of refinement.
