The quarrel over realism in art stems from a misunderstanding, from a confusion between the aesthetic and the psychological; between true realism, the need that is to give significant expression to the world both concretely and in its essence and the pseudorealism of a deception aimed at fooling the eye (or for that matter the mind); a pseudorealism content in other words with illusory appearances. -- André Bazin, The Ontology of the Photographic Image

[Please note: Ontological Enhancement Device (OCE) is required for the proper reception of the life-enhancing images that follow. Click on images for full lifeworld experience.]

If kids played baseball on the street, this is what it would look like:

Or if housewives watched TV, this is what it would look like:

I'm told that smoking reefer is something akin to the following:

Before September 28, 1987 -- when the holodeck went online -- kids used to do this:

I always felt the problem with Max Ophüls was that his objects lay dormant on the screen:

Did Robert Bresson ever achieve this level of realism?

Jean Renoir is famous for using depth of field, but he's "quadrophonic" vinyl compared to the 5.1 surround of the following:


These are animals:


Realism or surrealism?

Now you see it, now you don't:

They take an axe to head, but keep on coming with a machete:

Books hurt them:

They hang from rope:

They get stuck in traffic:

They fall down:

They enter through windows to get the girls they love:

They look like their parents: