https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5 Questions to write about while or after watching the film en-us 2020-10-06 17:49:16 UTC 2024-03-18 19:40:39 UTC hello@padlet.com cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807790030 Russell and Mena]]> 2020-10-06 17:50:04 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807790030 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807791344 Fernando and Rohan]]> 2020-10-06 17:50:20 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807791344 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807795389 Turvey and Lina]]> 2020-10-06 17:51:14 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807795389 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807798263 Anzo and Chloe W.]]> 2020-10-06 17:51:51 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807798263 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807800899 Chloe M. and Ibrahim]]> 2020-10-06 17:52:25 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807800899 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807804154 Max and Anwar]]> 2020-10-06 17:53:08 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807804154 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807806464 Liam and Amelia]]> 2020-10-06 17:53:38 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807806464 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807808957 Naagy and Jessica]]> 2020-10-06 17:54:10 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807808957 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807811405 Virna and Alex]]> 2020-10-06 17:54:43 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807811405 cecileevers https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807823307 Connect your reply to your question with the arrow function (click the three dots in the corner of the question sticky-note and select "connect to a post")]]> 2020-10-06 17:57:22 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/807823307 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/819955659 Virtually the entire film made me feel out my cultural depth. Part of that may have been due to the style of filming, but scenes like the early flashback, when the evil shaman had a spiritual duel with the camp leader, seemed very culturally alien to me. The biggest example is when they discuss things like the hatred that had settled on the community because of the shaman's magic. That kind of communal spiritual punishment is something I've read about in history books, but it's not at all a part of American culture. And I know this next example is a little trite, but the concept of multiple spouses was extremely difficult for me to wrap my head around. It got to the point where I was almost rooting for Puja, simply because, through my cultural lens, being married to a man with another wife would have given her grounds to behave the way she did.]]> 2020-10-11 19:29:45 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/819955659 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/822971210 Nanook takes a kind of 'slice of life' approach to its narrative, showing different elements of everyday inuit activities such as hunting, transportation, eating, etc. The focal point of Nanook is the Inuit lifestyle and its stark contrast to that of a western viewer. As a silent film, the characters never get to speak for themselves, instead they are described in title cards between shots. In Atanarjuat, the film's conflicts are solely between the characters, their lifestyle as Inuit people is not really put into question or placed against a white, normative center. The characters all have distinctive personalities—they are not tied to a totalizing portrait of all inuit people. ]]> 2020-10-12 21:49:07 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/822971210 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/826818215 My interpretation of what Ooloosie Saila meant by "being on the land" is to partake in Inuit customs that are rooted in interacting with the land. She mentions going to a nearby lake to ice-fish and pitching their tents in the summer. Both of these examples are also featured in the film. Hunting, foraging, building igloos and migrating form place to place depending on the season, would also be example of engaging with the land.]]> 2020-10-13 22:35:20 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/826818215 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/827241989 We see most types of housing mentioned in Saladin d'Anglure, including qaggic, tupiq tents, and igluvigaq. The qaggic is the set for several community scenes, including the first with the shaman from the north, the one where Atanarjuat fights Oki for Atuat, and at the end when Oki eats the rabbit. These scenes show most, if not all, of the community being present, reflecting the importance of community. These scenes also reveal, to some extent, the nature of politics and disputes during the times of shamanism. One dwelling that I found especially interesting was the igloo Atanarjuat builds at the end of the film with a floor of ice. This is seemingly another qaggic, as Atanarjuat claims to build it as a place of celebration, but in reality he is using this a cover to get the best of his enemies. The floor of ice is a key difference, perhaps separating the community from the violence inside. But also everything that occurs inside affects the community and the ramifications of these events have profound effects. This could be a reflection of the qaggic itself, or the idea of community behind it.]]> 2020-10-14 02:28:20 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/827241989 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830805695 Anzo covered most of the scenes with the qaggiq housing as well as shared a great perspective on it, so I'll talk about the other housing I noticed. There was the large tupiq tent where Atanarjuat and Amaqjuaq lived with their wives for a bit of the movie. It is also where Puja cheated and Amagjuaq was murdered. I believe the closeness of the sleeping arrangement, as all of them sleep right next to each other, speaks to some of the norms in the culture. For example, when polygny is practiced, each wife sleeps on one side of the man, and this shows they are each getting their equal share and also they are both catering to the man so he can have the luxury of having a woman on either side. Additionally, it shows the level of trust normally showcased in a family, as they have strong bonds and it would be very taboo for a person to break those  and cheat with someone else in the tent, especially because in laws are expected to not interact at all, which is why Puja's actions got her kicked out. Additionally, another housing we see is the igluvigaq of the family that housed Atanarjuat. Atanarjuat's presence in an igloo reserved for families shows how he was truly taken in by the family, explaining why they wanted to come with when he left.

]]> 2020-10-15 02:04:47 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830805695 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830890955 To "be on the land" is to interact with nature in a more traditional way, according to Inuit people. 
Some examples of "being on the land" are: thawing out the meat, fishing, and building tents. 
I considered "being on the land" to also include instances when Amaqjuat and Atanarjuat and their wives all slept in the same tent, when the wives went for a walk, and when the old couple picked eggs for their meal. ]]> 2020-10-15 02:50:31 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830890955 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830921237 To start off, the plot of Nanook was quite simple. The closest thing that comes to mind to compare it to is some slap stick comedy from the same era. I think they share a lot of elements with each other. Meanwhile, Atanarjuat actually is a movie. It has scenes full of emotions like hate and love paired with shots of the huge endless expanse of the ice sheets vs the tiny claustrophobic interiors of the igloos. The film offers people goals that are personal to themselves and not just generalized from the entire group (like "I'm hungry" as seen in Nanook). The use of magic and shamanism detailed through actual culturally significant practices and ceremonies adds a level of depth to the film which really draws in the viewer as they try and better understand the people's lives who they are getting glimpses into. This is radically different from Nanook where everyone just wants to avoid their impending starvation a little bit longer.]]> 2020-10-15 03:07:49 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/830921237 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831012198 Like in Saladin d’Anglure, women are shown in the film to wear jackets with large pouches to carry babies in. Children are also shown to wear jumpsuits with fur on the inside that cover their bodies from head to toe, as the reading describes. We also see Atuat wearing dirty clothing in Atanarjuat’s absence because she is deprived of new caribou skins, meaning, as the reading points out, that she must wear old clothes. Also, the ceremonial clothing with light and dark fur described in Saladin d’Anglure is shown on Atanarjuat and Amaqjuaq in the scene before they are attacked. The film also shows extravagant clothing on the shamans; their coats are adorned with animal fur and they wear necklaces of polar bear claws/teeth and walrus tusks/teeth. These accessories are very culturally significant because they symbolize the power of shamans and the role of animals as their helping spirits. Also, clothing directly reveals one’s social standing; Atuat’s rags show that she has lost favor with Oki and thus must struggle to have basic necessities. ]]> 2020-10-15 04:01:49 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831012198 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831067418 I would argue that Paul Apak aligns his objectives and filmic style in manner that matches the epic proportions of the legend of Atanarjuat.  However, I should note that in making this argument, I risk the outcome of grossly familiarizing this film with my cultural context.  In an interview with Nancy Wachowich, Apak described his objective of creating a film that would communicate cultural knowledge and offset the effects of colonial paternalism.  One can highlight this in the pacing and aesthetics of the film, I noticed a tendency for shots to oscillate between close-ups and much broader shots.  Broader shots can emphasize the landscape and also the pace of the plot itself.  For instance, Apak uses these types of shots to highlight the length of Atanarjuat’s twenty mile run and his ability to navigate the landscape and outmaneuver his assailants.  Similarly, close-up shots allow Apak to show emotion but also to feature the cultural knowledge of pre-contact clothing and practices, such as the shaman’s decorated caribou-skin jacket, the walrus tooth necklace and women’s face tattoos.  This film and Nanook of the North present different perspectives of the role of nature.  In this film, it seems less weight is placed on the practice of hunting itself, but rather on the social norms that accompany it, like the systematic sharing of seal meat or the role of women in preparing the hides.  Additionally, broad establishing shots reveal the landscape and the changes that take places over the seasons, which then highlights a pre-contact nomadic lifestyle versus one dictated by the European fur-trade as seen in Nanook.  Likewise, practices involving nature, like the building of the qaggiq are not simply depicted to describe building practices but are connected with one of their contexts as places of contests of strength. Lastly, it’s worth commenting on the final scene of this film where Apak highlights that while his film recuperates cultural knowledge from the past, it also does so with the hopes of reincorporating this knowledge into post-contact Inuit society and fostering more positive relationship between the Inuit in Igloolik and outsiders.  ]]> 2020-10-15 04:31:50 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831067418 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831094283  The first instance of significant dressing we see is the beginning scene when the two Shamans are interacting and Kumaglack is showing off his clothing with ravens woven into it and the other Shaman,  Tungajuaq, is wearing clothing with weasels woven into it. This clothing indicates that they are Shamans and the animals represent their helping spirits. We also see that the clothing worn by all the characters inside their tents is very plain and simple, which is because inside clothing is merely meant to be functional, as we also learn from Saladin d'Anglure. In addition, we see the waterproof clothing made from sealskin that Atanarjuat and Amaqjuat take off before sleeping after coming back from hunting. We also see the big pouches on the backs of women that carry the babies, and we see the jacket made out of drake skin that Uqi wears, which would indicate that caribou was scarce since drakeskin clothing was considered less valuable that caribou clothing. ]]> 2020-10-15 04:45:33 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831094283 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831094441 2020-10-15 04:45:39 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831094441 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831099552 As describe by Paul Apaq in his interview, there was a taboo relationship between a brother-in-law and his sister-in-law, who were not allowed to even talk to each other. Amaqjuaq and Puja were in-laws, and so their sexual relation was the ultimate violation of this taboo. Puja and his brothers (who committed crimes of their own) were later banished by their grandmother as punishment for their inappropriate actions. Just as described by Saladin on p.223, her authority as an elder was to be respected, and so Puja and his brothers were forced to leave. ]]> 2020-10-15 04:48:33 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831099552 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831188643 One aesthetic that I started to appreciate was the background music and I'm inferring that it is native Inuit songs and instruments on the soundtracks. Also, alongside the music would be shots of the scenery and nature, for example in the summer when there's a small meadow and the ducks are flying to set the scene for the viewers to understand the how much time has passed in the film. Although pacing of it felt kind of off because of our understanding of technology and CGIs currently, it fit with the filming and it felt as if time were arbitrary to the plot of the drama in the film for some instances. Like yes time passed, but the filmmakers were trying to tell a tale without adding fillers that would indicate time being passed. Last point but if I were to expand on that theory, I think the music and the shots of Igloolik and nature were those indicators of time passing and executed in a spectacular manner. Sadly, Nanook of the North was a silent film and the music used in it was native to European-civilized areas (if there were music I don't remember).]]> 2020-10-15 05:34:49 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831188643 lkaa2020 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831484856 The best word I can think of to describe the sounds of this film is "raw". The use of the native language and songs, and the background animal noises make the movie feel like a documentary. The "dramatic" music in some scenes like the one where Atanarjuat is running away reminds the watcher that it they are watching a film. However, it wasn't European Classical music like what we hear in Nanook of the North; the producers used what it seems to be the same drums played by a character in one scene. There is an obvious effort to keep every aspect of the film authentic. Therefore, the background music was not alienating; it contributed to the  Inuit character of the film. The effect that has on the viewer is an intensified insight immersion in the Inuit world, not only through the visual, but also the auditory medium.]]> 2020-10-15 07:52:33 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831484856 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831819291 Building off of Lina's point, I definitely agree that the sound in the film greatly improves the overall authenticity of the film, especially the loyalty to direct conversation through recording but also the background music. However, we also see this fusion between western filming technique and Inuit culture. Film, as a western media, is employed to illustrate Inuit culture in this case. We see this in terms of the shot angle, cutting, montages, flashbacks and so on. In terms of the sound, I don't think that all of them are raw. We see the technique of voice-over that helps Atanarjuat escape from the tent; we see the effort of foley artist in terms of mimicking the sound (ie. when Atunarjuat run on ice). But for the most part, raw sounds are incorporated.]]> 2020-10-15 10:59:09 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/831819291 https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/832770804 The unhappy marriage between Atanarjuat and his two wives Atuat and Puja might have resulted in disillusionment. In addition, Amaqjuaq was persuaded to go hunting with Puja, already breaking the taboo that in-lawes must never speak to one another. They end up having intercourse, thus further engaging in forbidden acts. 

Later, Atanarjuat strikes Puja when he catches her red handed with his brother.

The role of the elders was to be the voice of reason in the community. When Puja returned to her family and claimed that Atanarjuat tried to kill her, Panikpak (Puja's own grandmother) doubted the allegations. 

In addition, Panikpak is the one who confronts Oki (her own grandson) for raping Atuat. Again, this is the voice of reason because she dis not favor her grandkids over others. In a sense, she was objective in her judgement. 


As Jess mentioned, Elders in the community were to be respected. These elders possess an impressive level of wisdom. 

As Saladin mentions on pg. 223, he respect for elders was contingent on respect for children and animals. The role of the elders is to uphold ethical practices in hunting as well. They are the ones that teach the younger generations how to hunt properly. in addition, they hold the knowledge of the past, so they can share this history with the younger generations to keep their history alive. ]]> 2020-10-15 15:29:42 UTC https://padlet.com/cecileevers/33tj3hx1hrm5bug5/wish/832770804