Orson Welles: “F For Fake” (analysis) What is real?
Film is an optical illusion capable of distorting time and space into a manufactured reality through the vision of the filmmaker. We tend to forget this when becoming immersed into this medium. Which brings up the question, what is real?
Due to circumstance it is common courtesy today in the 21st century to wear a mask. We wear a mask to protect ourselves against the unknown. We are afraid in public of what other people would think if our masks were off. People are just like that. Some may call this deceptive, unauthentic or fake, but we wear our masks regardless. Even back then it was just as true. Back then fakers were fooling the public with illusions. Orson Welles’s popularity grew with the help of a large scale hoax in 1938. His 1973 docudrama was a film that was aware of these illusions.As Welles demonstrates his act for magic tricks he pulls a greater trick off. He breaks the rules of magic and shows the audience the behind the scenes life of a faker. Orson questions the legitimacy of these forged artworks and asks us, what is real? If it looks like a Picasso and it sells like a Picasso then isn’t a Picasso?
“F for Fake” explores fakery and asks us on a larger scale to look out for fakes in our own day to day lives. Welles asks us does something need to be authentic if it makes money and convinces people that it is real? Or…
