I am presenting on Godard and how McLuhan uses the example of Godard's film Breathless in his book.
Before McLuhan's inclusion of a frame from Breathless in The Medium is the Massage, he talks about the idea of amateurism as being removed from the same environment as professionalism. This detachment from a need to stick to the conventions of the art allow the amateur to create in ways unknown to the professional. I found that this concept of amateurism connected quite well to the approach Godard and many other filmmakers had during the French New Wave. The movement itself was founded on creating an approach to creating film that resisted the traditional approach of French and Hollywood film. In this way it was an inherently amateur approach to film yet it provided a freedom to those who partook in it which allowed them to create great art.
Neat summary. I like how you describe it as resulting in a sense and feeling of freedom, although it was an amateur film.
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