Integral Cinema Studio: The Altitudinal Lens (Part One)

Share

Groundhog Day (1993)

When we look at a cinematic work and endeavor to discern if it is “integral” or not, what we are doing is attempting to use the term in an evaluative mode as a kind of typological categorization tool. One of the major ways of typologically mapping the Integral structure of consciousness is as a particular level or altitude on the worldview line of development (the Integral Worldview altitude). For analytical purposes I would like to make a distinction between using the Developmental Lens to analyze a cinematic work’s various lines and levels of development versus using it as typology system to determine the particular altitude or level of development of the cinematic work as a whole “frozen-in-time” expression (artifact) created by an individual or group of continuously evolving artifact creators. This use of the Developmental Lens as a typology tool I am choosing to call the ALTITUDINAL LENS, since the central focus of classification is on the altitude or level of the work.

This is not a simple task, especially when we are working with cinematic artifacts. Firstly, while a cinematic work may be a complete “frozen-in-time” artifact, it is a temporal-based artifact, in that it is a work that has a temporal duration, so it can have its own evolutionary arc with multiple altitudes, within the boundaries of its duration. Secondly, as with all other works of art, a cinematic work has many elements within it that can act as purveyors of various fixed and evolving lines and levels of development (i.e., characters, themes, visual style, etc.).

Another factor in mapping the altitudes within a cinematic work is the various lines of development we want to track. Ken Wilber notes that the major line of development that is embedded in the creation of artifacts, including all cinematic works, is the artifact creator’s worldview, and as stated above, this is the line we are attempting to use when we try to qualify an artifact as being the product of an “Integrally-informed” expression (Kaplan, 2010; Wilber, personal communication, May 7, 2009). The worldview line is a cultural (collective-interior) developmental line that also has correlates in individual-interior (Circle of Care and Concern), individual-exterior (Fields of Spatial-Temporal Perception), and collective-exterior (Techno-Economic Structures) quadratic dimensions. Below is a table of these lines of development, along with the major altitudes or levels of development that are relevant to worldview embedding, correlated with the color spectrum scale (Wilber et al, 2008), which is one of the basic neutral altitudinal scales:

Table 1. Altitudes (Levels) and Lines of Development Associated with the Embedding of Cinematic Altitudinal Structures. Click image to enlarge.

Zones, which we previously explored (in The Zonal Lens Part One & Part Two), are a key factor in the process of how these worldview and other related altitudinal structures from the cinematic creator’s consciousness are embedded into a cinematic work: As we create, we have a 1st Person subjective (inside) intention (conscious and/or unconscious) behind all of our signification pattern choices in all four cinematic expression dimensions of text, image, sound and time;  and as we construct the 3rd Person objective (outside) structures of each of these dimensions of the cinematic work, these intentions become embedded within all these expressive dimensions. This embedding goes well beyond the level of narrative, visual, auditory, and temporal signification processes, transcending and integrating them into the underlying core meaning patterns of the cinematic work as a whole. For example, in the previously discussed film, Bee Season (2005), the expression of all eight zones in all expressive dimensions are rooted in an underlying construct-forming meaning pattern that holds that there are multiple dimension-perspectives of varying depth and span. This construct-forming meaning pattern is a reflection of an aperspectival field of perception, which is associated with an Integral Worldview or structure of consciousness (see Table 1 above), and its presence in this work suggests that one or more of the creators of this work was operating out of this particular worldview.

In addition to the underlying construct-forming meaning patterns, we can also narrow in on a particular embedding pattern and see how it plays out in the cinematic work. For example, the Circle of Care and Concern line of development can be clearly detected in individual character and character relationship development, as in the film Groundhog Day (1993), where the main character evolves vertically from egocentric to Kosmocentric altitudes or levels of development, along with their other corresponding worldview-related structures. Altitudinal embedding can also be detected in the set and setting of a cinematic work. For example, in the film Avatar (2009), the filmmaker depicts a powerful clashing between Magical (Tribal Alien), Mythic (Military), and Rational (Scientific) cultures and their related techno-economic structures, set within the context of the application of an Integral Worldview-related human-to-avatar convergence technology, along with an underlying Pluralistic Worldcentric theme of “Nature is precious, and we are profoundly interconnected with it.”

Avatar (2009)

This brings us to the expressive element of theme, which is a vital area where worldview and related altitudinal structure embedding can be clearly observed. Theme, as I am defining it here, is an overarching and underlying core meaning pattern that not is not only construct-forming, but also carries a value statement which acts as an embedded lesson statement within a cinematic work. Examples of worldview-related thematic statements, in addition to the above specific example from Avatar, include vengeance/vendetta-based stories with the Mythic Worldview-related theme of an “eye-for-an-eye;” evidence-based mysteries with the Rational Worldview-related theme of “reason can surmount any obstacle;” relational-based explorations with the Pluralistic-related theme of “truth and reality are in the eyes of the beholder;” and in evolutionary-based narratives with the Integral-related theme of “life is always evolving to deeper and more expansive levels of being and becoming.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Notes

1—These worldview Structure altitudes are part of the worldview line of development in the Lower Left Cultural Quadrant; adapted from Gebser (1986) and Wilber et al (2008). Note: The Transpersonal Altitudes (Indigo through Clear Light) are also referred to as the Super-Integral Altitudes.

2—The altitudes of Circle of Care and Concern are part of the moral line of development in the Upper Left Experiential Quadrant and are correlated to worldview structures in various sources, including Wilber et al (2008) and Esbjörn-Hargens (2009).

3—The Field of Spatial-Temporal Perception line of development is adapted from Gebser (1986). It appears that Gebser viewed these structures as individual-exterior dimensions of our being (i.e., how we physically perceive space and time) that were directly related to the worldview structures of consciousness. These may be correlated to higher brain functions/structures in the Upper Right Physical Quadrant (Wilber, 1995). In Table 1: Pre-Perspectival refers to the inability to be aware of or conscious of perception itself; Uni-Perspectival (1D) refers to the perception of only 1 Dimension of space or 1-Point Perspective; Bi-Perspectival (2D) refers to 2 Dimensional perception or 2-Point Perspective; Perspectival refers to 3 Dimensional or 3-Point Perspective; Multi-Perspectival (4D) refers to the 3 dimensions of space combined with the added fourth dimension of the relative nature of time, producing the perception of various perspectives relative to subjective perception within the constantly changing field of time plus space; Aperspectival (5D) adds the 5th dimension of the perception of the various perspectives and of perspective-taking itself; and Trans-Perspectival refers to the transcendence of all perspectival fields.

4—The Techno-Economic Structures is a line of development in the Lower Right Social-Systemic Quadrant and are often correlated to worldview structures by Wilber in various works. The higher altitudes of Convergence and Trans-Tech (Trans-Human) are currently emerging structures and these labels have been used by various sources but have yet to become fixed and agreed upon cultural constructs. However, the structures these terms refer to are commonly perceived to be part of these emergent altitudes (Kaplan, 2010; Wilber, personal communication, May 7, 2009; July 20, 2010).