“EXCUSE ME, EVERYTHING IS NOT ALL RIGHT”: On Ethnography, Film, and Representation

Lutkehaus, Nancy

doi:10.1525/can.1989.4.4.02a00060

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…O'Rourke is widely recognized by anthropologists as an “ethnographic filmmaker” and is perhaps best known for Cannibal Tours (), in which he documents European tourists’ encounters with people they identify as “the primitive” (e.g., Hermer 2009; Lutkehaus ; see also Chio this volume). O'Rourke characterized his filmmaking as “telling a story in factual form” (Lutkehaus :433–434). His description indicates that he saw ethnographic and documentary cinema as tied to both reality (or “facts”) and fiction (or “story”).…”

Section: On Ethnographic Filmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting, Dramatizing, and Representing China's Porcelain World in Broken Pots Broken Dreams

Gillette¹

2014

Visual Anthropology Review

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In this essay, I argue that a successful ethnographic film, like a good story, responds both to its film subjects and to its audience's expectations. I discuss why I made a film about Jingdezhen's porcelain workers (as opposed to a text) and the relationships, goals, ideas, and constraints that influenced the final film. I contextualize my process in a broader discussion of documentary and ethnographic filmmaking, looking at representation in documentary, sensory anthropology, and the conventions of Western dramatic writing.

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Section: On Ethnographic Filmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting, Dramatizing, and Representing China's Porcelain World in Broken Pots Broken Dreams

Gillette¹

2014

Visual Anthropology Review

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“…He considers its truth to be created and its authenticity constructed (O'Rourke, 1999). However, scholars consistently characterise it an ethnographic film (Bruner, 1989;Lutkehaus, 1989) while moreover, the film achieves to depict the Iatmul people in such a way that provides ample material for ethnographic study. In other words, even if O'Rourke's intention was to create a documentary -fiction film his methods of production are such that the end-result is perceived as ethnographic rather than fiction.…”

Section: Cannibal Tours -Analysis Description and Interpretation Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors have discussed the film on various aspects of tourism manifestations (Burns and Figurova, 2005;Burns and Lester, 2005;Bruner, 1989;Lal, 1991;Lutkehaus, 1989;MacCannell, 1992;Ota, 1994;Yamashita, 2003). For example, MacCannell (1992) draws on scenes from the film to describe what he calls the 'ex-primitive'; Palmer and Lester (2003) discuss tourist photographic behaviour, while Burns and Figurova (2005) describe the encounters between hosts and guests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Re)viewing Cannibal Tours: lost in translation

Burns

Zafiri

2012

IJTA

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The film Cannibal Tours powerfully portrays the impact of tourism in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea through an array of host-guest encounters. Using text from the film as data, the present paper reveals new insights through a close analysis of the English subtitles given as translation for the Italian and German tourists. The subtitles are examined at three levels of equivalence to establish translation strategy and impact. The whole text is also be submitted to analysis using the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method. The findings have far-reaching implications on several levels. First, they are insightful for the study of tourism in developing destinations. Second, they confirm the significance of using visual data for research in the social sciences. Third, they demonstrate that translation in films can impact heavily on film meaning-making and viewer perception.

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“…1 The interanimation of fiction and reality through film is exemplified in the work of ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch, who employed "ethno-fiction" as a strategy to cinematically address the fluidity between human imagination and social life (for more on Rouch, see Feld 2003;Ginsburg 1996;Rouch 1978;and Russell 1999). Filmmaker Dennis O'Rourke also rejects the division between fiction and non-fiction film, coining the term "documentary fiction" to identify his intratextual examination of his complicity in a system of power affecting those whom he films (for more on O'Rourke, see Geiger 1998;and Lutkehaus 1989). 2 Although I have confined my in-text examples to films with which readers might be familiar, it is important to note that "indigenous media" now includes exciting innovations in radio and television programming, museum exhibition and high art production, and the very recent uptake of online communications and digital archiving.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing the Rules of Engagement: How Rabbit‐Proof Fence and Whale Rider Forge a New Dimension of Ethnographic Media

Thorner¹

2007

Visual Anthropology Review

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Full‐length, independent feature films Rabbit‐Proof Fence and Whale Rider, both released in 2002, chronicle the journeys of young indigenous female protagonists as they struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds to meet their destinies. The narrative and technical components of these films share striking similarities as they construct stories that are profoundly local, yet widely resonant. This article argues for the consideration of films as both social process and cultural product, deeply embedded in dynamic social worlds. These films signal the emergence of a new model of film production in which directors foreground their responsibilities as producers of knowledge and embrace the intersubjectivity of contemporary indigeneities. At the same time, these films and their directors are at the forefront of shifting understandings in circulation, necessarily in dialogue with proliferating examples of new indigenous media, and capitalizing upon new technologies in ways that innovatively include viewers in debates about cross‐cultural representation and the role of film(making) in social life. In this newly engaged model of production and circulation, the social relationships forged between filmmakers, actors, viewing publics, and many others, take on unprecedented significance in constructing indigeneities in specific national contexts.

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“EXCUSE ME, EVERYTHING IS NOT ALL RIGHT”: On Ethnography, Film, and Representation

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Documenting, Dramatizing, and Representing China's Porcelain World in Broken Pots Broken Dreams

Documenting, Dramatizing, and Representing China's Porcelain World in Broken Pots Broken Dreams

(Re)viewing Cannibal Tours: lost in translation

Changing the Rules of Engagement: How Rabbit‐Proof Fence and Whale Rider Forge a New Dimension of Ethnographic Media

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