A Cinematic Experience In Guy Vanderhaeghe's 'The Englishman's Boy'

A cinematic experience offers a false projection of the world that people have the desire to indulge in. In Guy Vanderhaeghe’s novel, The Englishman’s Boy, the portrayal of the film as a whole is consistent with Chance’s vision to rewrite the story of the Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 as a mythic history of the settling of the American west. Film has the power to access an aspect of reality somehow absent in other media. One could argue that film brainwashes people and alters reality when it is both projected and screened. Vanderhaeghe’s narrative oscillation and use of common literary techniques often foreshadow his film (Besieged) in many ways.
The narrative set in 1923 takes place in Hollywood, land of the film, where directors are referred

“Movies seem more natural than reality,” writes Cavell, “not because they are escapes into fantasy, but because they are reliefs from private fantasy and its responsibilities; from the fact that the world is already drawn by fantasy” (Cavell 102), the audience in Chance’s film seem to lose touch with reality while Besieged becomes the only reality they know. Chance declares himself a devotee of Griffith in believing that “the motion-picture camera would end conflicting interpretations of the past” because “all significant events would be recorded by movie cameras and film would offer irrefutable proof as to what had really happened” (Vanderhaeghe17). Although people are quick to fall victim to the intentional fallacy of film, there is always that chance of omitting an important significance that can change everything. Chance takes advantage of the audience knowing that what is seen on film projects a reality which viewers either accept or refuse and because “What’s up there on the screen moves too fast to permit analysis or argument” (Vanderhaeghe 107). Cinematic pictures are visible proof that cannot be argued (Vanderhaeghe 107). Time has the power to distort things, events, and facts. The camera can only capture so much, leaving room for the reality to alter. When Harry gives Chance his version of Shorty’s story, Chance insists that he rewrites it, saying, “Change the girl. The enemy is never human” (Vanderhaeghe