Disclaimer: this reading response is probably going to be a little “I” oriented, but this is my internet journal so I think that that is okay…

I tried to keep an open mind while reading Burian’s article about Laterna Magika but after the first four pages or so I started to get frustrated that I was actually reading this article.  Burian accomplishes to very simply describe what Laterna Magika is, where it originated, who some of the big names are, and then lists in great detail simple examples in history of notable Laterna Magika performances, or times when the form slightly changed.

I do not want to sound bitter and angry, and to be honest I actually think that the idea of Laterna Magika sounds pretty cool and I would love to see a live performance of it.  Having said that, I did not enjoy reading Burian’s long winded descriptions of past performances that I feel I cannot really gather the full description of from a brief text.  I felt like Burian’s most descriptive analysis of the artform was a very short section where, to paraphrase, she (I don’t know if Jarka is a man or woman’s name) says “When combining two media you must be very careful and some critics say it is impossible.  Laterna Magika succeeds in combing two media, and it is good and interesting.”

To conclude, I would love to see a performance of Laterna Magika.  I think it would be an interesting experience and I’m sure it is an art form that beautifully combines two media that I find very entertaining.  However, I did not particularly enjoy reading Burian’s article describing this form of film/theater that is really only predominantly used in Czechoslovak  and what appears to have no real evolution of audience similar to what we have been describing in class.  I am very curious to see how are discussion will go in class about this reading, and how we are going to tie it into what we have been looking at.