By: Taylor Morris
What role does the viewer play in the
importance of ethnographic films?
Ethnographic films
have played a major role in examining many unspoken assumptions and biased
opinions. The viewers relationship to film is an important one. The goal of an
ethnographic film is to try to connect with the audience, get the audience to
understand what the film is about and what they will take away from the film.
When viewers gain an understanding of the reception of ethnographic films.
Scholars have had an interest in exploring the roles of how gender, ethnicity,
age or culture.
Viewers
have an important role in how, what they learn and what they contribute to
films. Producers make cultural assumptions about their viewers assumptions.
Attempting to understand the reasons of a film is quite difficult. Many viewers
already assume before looking at a film what it will be about and assume about
the people, events and places that are shown in the film. The goal of
anthropological communicate is to make the audience aware of their
ethnocentrism. If a film is more open and easier to connect, viewers will
better understand the message of the film.
Production
of ethnographic films is market driven in the United States. Funds are available
because there is a belief that there I a television market for the product. No
one makes a full time living in ethnographic film production. The logic of not
knowing anything about anthropology to make an ethnographic film is
unacceptable. Most producers have no real knowledge of anthropology or
ethnographic knowledge of the people they wish to film. They often make up for
this by getting knowledge from an anthropologist about the culture to be
filmed.
Those
who want to produce ethnographic films for television need to learn more about
television audiences. Being knowledge about video/film production is important
for anthropologist to produce ethnographic films in a sophisticated manner.
Some argue that ethnographic films should be produced for the classroom. It is
possible anthropologists and producers to make a informed decision on these
films should be constructed and filmed if they want to get their viewers to
understand their anthropological intentions.
Bibliography:
Staiger. J. (1992),
Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema,
Princeton.
11 comments:
I think ethnographic films sound interesting and easy to get engaged in. It is vitally important to the wellbeing of the film that both the producers and actors have anthropological knowledge of the culture they are portraying. Ethnographic films are an aid in the classroom but should not be limited to school.
Makayla Peterman
I believe that producers should become more educated on the people that are in ethnographic films and their culture. If producers became more educated about the people and their culture before filming it may help make the film better than what it would have been without the proper education.
I enjoyed reading this blog. I was not too familiar with ethnographic films until recently in my anthropology class. I was not sure what to expect, but I have to say that they are amazing to watch. They are so informative and I love how deep anthropologists go into the different cultures.
Kahla Perry
Hi my name is Avery Davis, I find that this blog is interesting and it stirs a question in mind. Is the Marvel blockbuster: Black Panther considered a ethnographic film? Although its a superhero movie but it has a lot culture in it.
Avery, that is an interesting question. Unfortunately, Black Panther is a fictional film in many respects. While the film does feature genuine elements of African cultures they take various elements from different cultures and put them together. The film is praised for featuring African cultural elements, but the notions of Wakanda and that culture are fictional. Therefore it is not an ethnographic film.
Hi my name is Tonii Saffore. I like that you mentioned how ethnographic films are based on the perceptions of the audience. This is true and can potentially be dangerous for the group that is being filmed. the reason why I say this is because filmmakers and producers will tend to add "extra" in order to make the film more favorable to the audience and in return doesn't correctly show the history and traditions of whoever is being documented
After taking this course thats when I actually started enjoying Ethnographic Films. They can be interesting and fun to watch. I also do agree Jessica Tyree, the way you can improve on films is by studying the different people in their culture. Without knowing any information on that group of people, creating the film can become a challenge.
Hello I am Natasha Terrell, I have recently discovered ethnographic films. I didn't really understand at first what they had to do with anything but after watching a few I got the point. Some of them provide quality information about another culture and some of them may have a little different meaning. In all, I enjoyed some of those films because of the information they provided.
So you’re saying that African cultures were based of a real culture that a Marvel movie has the potential of being a enthnographic film?
I also didn't really know about ethnographic films until I took anthropology courses. Know I am very much a fan of them because you get to learn so much about other cultures and places you may not have known about before.
Taylor, I love how you gave very good detailed information about ethnographic films before explaining the importance of the viewers. I also like your last comment you made by letting us know you once didnt know of the importance yourself. It shows how you can relate to us readers.
-Jasmine Busby
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