Andy, I knew you'd like all that! Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected]
Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com Visit our new websites! www.mspresents.com, www.portraitofjason.com, www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, To see or download our 2014 Video Catalog, click here <http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/7896/files/2014MilestoneVideoCatalog.pdf?75> ! Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 4:50 PM, Andy Ditzler <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, Dennis, for this much more nuanced view on the Johnsons' films. > > Andy Ditzler > > On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 4:12 PM, Dennis Doros <[email protected]> wrote: > >> There's also many more considerations in this question as we have found >> out over the years. >> >> As Andy points out, the Martin and Osa Johnson theatrical films have >> some fairly racist elements to them. We released SIMBA as the most >> inoffensive (and their most famous) film and worked with experts of the >> area to see what they thought. Most times when we release these >> documentaries/docudramas (and we have a lot of them in our Age of >> Exploration series that is in its 25th year), it's that many of these films >> are seen now -- even if they have white directors -- as literally home >> movies. There are the great grandfathers, grand aunts that they have only >> heard about or seen in pictures up on the screen. Over the years, we've had >> hundreds of these phone calls from the children who are very thankful. That >> doesn't excuse any racism -- though some should be seen in context of the >> time they were made, we should also consider that they were racist even >> back then -- but it does add a layer. >> >> The second concept is that in these films, there are cultural artifacts >> that are very valuable to their descendants. Some of the dances, the >> rituals, the art have been lost to time and modernization while some were >> outlawed. You can't understand them as well in photographs or writings from >> the time. We have a film CHANG that a film historian insisted it was >> racist. When I explained that it's a national treasure of Thailand (at the >> time, this was 1994 or so) and that the King played it every year on >> television since it was so popular, the historian declared that the people >> of Thailand obviously didn't understand racism! >> >> The third and most important concept is that some of these directors were >> as "modern" as we are and as in love and respectful of the cultures and >> people. It's always a mistake to consider previous generations as more >> primitive or less socially aware. (We're not doing so great with race in >> America these days either.) So! although the Martin and Osa theatrical >> films did have some typical old tribesmen trying to play a phonograph or >> open a bottle of beer (Flaherty started this with Nanook) because that's >> what they thought the American public wanted, it's little known that they >> also had at least six different version of the films and their "scientific" >> versions that they did for the American Museum of Natural History are >> incredible records of "lost" tribes and rituals. You can see the love they >> have for the African tribes in these films and in their huge number of >> photographs (many of their trips were sponsored by George Eastman and >> therefore, Kodak). I have the George Eastman House laserdisc with about >> 6000 of their photos and they are incredibly moving. >> >> So, there are many racist films by white directors over the history of >> cinema (Adam Sandler and the Navahos, just last week!) but I do think that >> they need to be evaluated not only by film historians but also members of >> the tribe, people who know the cultures extremely well, etc. We really try >> to work with the tribes and people involved in these films before we >> release to make sure we are not doing anything that would displease their >> communities, and they always find something that we can do to be more >> respectful in our release. >> >> >> Best regards, >> Dennis Doros >> Milestone Film & Video >> PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 >> Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected] >> >> Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com >> Visit our new websites! www.mspresents.com, www.portraitofjason.com, >> www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, >> To see or download our 2014 Video Catalog, click here >> <http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/7896/files/2014MilestoneVideoCatalog.pdf?75> >> ! >> >> >> Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook >> <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter >> <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! >> >> >> On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 3:47 PM, Andy Ditzler <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Nanook of the North is far from the cliche of a white man adventurer >>> making an anthropological film in a faraway place. Although it's been >>> disparaged that way at times, notably by Fatimah Tobing Rony, the film and >>> Flaherty have also been vigorously defended as a primary example of "shared >>> anthropology," not least by Jean Rouch. Another foundational film from this >>> era is "Grass," by Merian Cooper who went on to make King Kong. Grass is >>> not a cliched film either, for that matter. (Not that these films are free >>> of problems.) For more explicitly egregious examples from this era, I would >>> look at the films of Martin and Osa Johnson, such as "Borneo." One of their >>> films is imported directly (perhaps in full, I'm not sure) into Ken Jacobs' >>> "Star Spangled to Death," which is where I learned about them. Important to >>> note here that Martin and Osa currently have a clothing store chain named >>> after them here in the U.S. The legacy continues. >>> >>> Also look at Bunuel's "Land Without Bread" for a very wicked and very >>> early parody of exactly what you're describing. >>> >>> It's not so much that a given film personifies the cliche >>> uncomplicatedly (though I'm sure we can come up with more examples of >>> that), but that much of documentary filmmaking practice to this day >>> replicates the conditions of early anthropological (colonialist) uses of >>> photography and film. Non-diegetic music (usually a giveaway), slow-motion >>> reaction shots currently in vogue (of a subject saddened by tragedy, for >>> instance), "secret" filming (often staged as such, of course) - all of >>> these contribute to othering and other forms of exploitation (often >>> ostensibly with the opposite goal, but nonetheless...). >>> >>> Some of the most shocking current videos are those made for the "social >>> experiment" trend on Youtube, such as: >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiWxrpikWgs or >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD1VT7YRJ5I. As with most things at >>> this level of toxicity, it would take awhile to unpack the interlocking >>> oppressions, both formal and societal, behind these videos and their >>> success. I will just note here that the self-reflexive techniques developed >>> by many 60s/70s ethnographic and documentary filmmakers in order to >>> critically examine the filmmaker's relation to subjects, are here deployed >>> for the opposite purpose. As I say, pretty toxic stuff. >>> >>> Regarding Jean Rouch, I might disagree with Jonathan that Rouch "turns >>> the 'other-izing' gaze of the ethnographic documentary to a group of white >>> Parisians" in Chronicle of a Summer. I think Chronicle is not about turning >>> the tables particularly, but about applying Rouch's concept of shared >>> anthropology in Paris rather than among the Songhay. If any tables are >>> turned in the film, it's on the filmmakers themselves, as evidenced by the >>> movie's final scene. Rouch's "Petit a Petit" (I think that's the one) does >>> have a hilarious scene in which Rouch's African collaborators take the >>> camera and mic out on the streets of Paris, turning the tables and treating >>> Parisians as anthropological subjects. They even take measurements of their >>> subjects on camera, in a parody of 19th-century anthropological >>> photography. >>> >>> I would agree that if you're looking for films that merit "the >>> collective eye-roll," Flaherty, Rouch, Gardner, Mead, Asch, Marshall et al >>> are not where I'd turn. >>> >>> Andy Ditzler >>> >>> >>> On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Jonathan Walley <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Jean Rouch and Robert Garnder come to mind. Both were prolific >>>> ethnographic filmmakers, but for Rouch I’d recommend *Chronicle of a >>>> Summer* (1960), *The Mad Masters* (1955), and *Jaguar* (1967), and for >>>> Garnder *Dead Birds* (1964). Chronicle is especially interesting >>>> because Rouch turns the “other-izing” gaze of the ethnographic documentary >>>> to a group of white Parisians. >>>> >>>> There are plenty of others, but Rouch and Garnder stand as the major >>>> figures of ethnographic documentary, at least as far as white male >>>> filmmakers are concerned (obviously Trinh Minh-ha and Germaine Dieterlen, >>>> among others, are important filmmakers in this canon, not to mention >>>> Margaret Mead). But I wouldn’t say that their films deserve a collective >>>> eye roll; if the genre has declined into cliche (I’m not saying it has, >>>> just that I don’t know) I wouldn’t fault these filmmakers. Certainly when >>>> the representatives of one culture make films about another there are all >>>> sorts of potential pitfalls, but Rouch and Garnder approached the task >>>> knowingly and reflexively. I don’t believe they worked under the assumption >>>> that their acts of “putting minorities onscreen” was a simple matter (and >>>> are the African men and women in many of their films “minorities?” They >>>> would be a members of a racial minority in the U.S. or Europe, but not in >>>> Africa, I’d say). >>>> >>>> Hope this helps. >>>> Jonathan >>>> >>>> Dr. Jonathan Walley >>>> Associate Professor >>>> Department of Cinema >>>> Denison University >>>> [email protected] >>>> >>>> >>>> On May 1, 2015, at 12:54 PM, Chris Freeman < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> I've seen them by independent filmmakers at micro cinema screenings. >>>> I mean what are the big ones that have come over the last 100 years of >>>> cinema that have made it a trope? I only know Nanook of the North. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Friday, May 1, 2015, <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> You seem to contradict yourself: you say 'whenever I see' etc, but >>>>> then ask 'what are some (of these films)'? If you know you've seen some, >>>>> how come you can't identify them? >>>>> >>>>> Nicky. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -----Original Message----- >>>>> From: Chris Freeman <[email protected]> >>>>> To: [email protected] >>>>> Sent: Fri, 1 May 2015 13:15 >>>>> Subject: [Frameworks] Ethnographic films / studies of The Other >>>>> >>>>> Whenever I see an ethnographic travelogue or some study of "the >>>>> other" by a white male at a screening, there's always a collective eye >>>>> roll >>>>> of "great, another white male putting minorities on the screen." I know >>>>> the trope, but I don't actually know any of those specific cliche films. >>>>> What are some? >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> FrameWorks mailing >>>>> [email protected]https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> FrameWorks mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> FrameWorks mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> Andy Ditzler >>> www.filmlove.org >>> www.johnq.org >>> Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> FrameWorks mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> FrameWorks mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >> >> > > > -- > > Andy Ditzler > www.filmlove.org > www.johnq.org > Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > >
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