Week 7: Revision Padlet by https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2 Charlotte, Leah & Alice en-us 2021-03-11 15:34:20 UTC 2025-10-15 19:26:59 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f469-1f393.png Us VS Human 'Other' charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1298641829 The creation of ‘Otherness’ within documentary filmmaking can be based on Western dominance in the film making industry. Beattie explains how “within the Western perspective of ethnography, the Other has been positioned as different and, implicitly, inferior.” (Beattie, 2004: 45), in ethnography the canon positions the audience through a western gaze. Common conventions of this is through the stereotypical white male narration usually through the form of an omniscient voiceover, detailing scenes and speaking for the subjects. Focusing on human subjects, the Western gaze is used for entertainment purposes with limited interaction between subject and audience. Typically seen with interviews conducted through directors rather than directly addressing audiences through eye contact or narration. Trance and Dance is a clear example of how subjects are observed and spoken for like that of animal documentaries. Basu argues there are “power inequalities between those controlling the means of representation and those represented in ethnographic films.” (Basu, 2008: 96). These representations of those featured in ethnographic films can be damaging, particularly to marginalised or minority groups. Reinforcing conceptions such as the human ‘other’ as exotic and majorly different to the rest of the world.  This can be witnessed within Nannook of the North and films around Indigenous and native people.

]]> 2021-03-11 15:43:31 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1298641829 Us Vs Animal 'Other' charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299437715 The representation of animals within documentary filmmaking can be associated to that of human ‘Other’. While looking into animal documentaries such as Planet Earth, the audience become placed within the animal world usually unreachable. Becoming intimate with places and animals voyeuristically in their natural state and habitats. Mills explains issues within this style of observation of animals due to “the individuality of the animals onscreen is denied, and they are instead employed to represent the entire species to which they belong.” (Mills, 2013: 106). Rather than exploring the subject as an individual, audiences are encouraged to see them as a representation of their whole species. Also commonly witnessed within animal documentaries is anthropomorphism, in which gives animals human characteristics through narration or during postproduction. This allows audiences to connect with subjects as if they were humans, making them more relatable therefore ‘authentic’.  However Mills argues we should move towards “reframing the animal as a subject, and ‘conceptualiz[ing] agency itself as more than simply a property of the human subject form’.” (Mills, 2013: 107). Resulting in representing animals as more than human entertainment but as their own subject with limited human interference. This can be witnessed within Le Quattro volte. McMahon states “Le Quattro volte suggests ways in which cinema might reimagine the distribution of power and agency beyond the violent asymmetries of species divisions.” (McMahon, 2015: 113). Unlike films such as Blackfish, McMahon explores how this film recentralised animal subjects without putting human subjects at the forefront of the narrative. 

]]> 2021-03-11 18:02:21 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299437715 charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299644556
  • “the individuality of the animals onscreen is denied, and they are instead employed to represent the entire species to which they belong.” (Mills, 2013: 106
    • ]]>     2021-03-11 18:41:45 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299644556     charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299654078 power inequalities between those controlling the means of representation and those represented in ethnographic films.” (Basu, 2008: 96)]]> 2021-03-11 18:43:28 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299654078 Mills, Brett (2015) ‘Towards a Theory of Documentary Representation of Animals, Screen 56 (1), pp. 102-107 charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299661219 Key Arguments
    1.      Importance of Narration- Attenborough role creates a huge selling point and represents telling truth telling. Audiences told to take narration as matter of fact creating meaning behind visuals and creating definition behind animal behaviour. 
    2.      Role of Scientists- Nature documentaries create element of truth through the role of scientists however this is not the case with human documentaries. Reinforces idea that scientists/ science creates authority and audience do not need to think for themselves nor create their own opinion.
    3.      Individuality of Animals- Species are represented not as individuals but as species and collective, with one animal or group being shown as a whole species.

    4. Move Towards Human Documentaries- Documentaries should move towards human techniques through focusing on individuals and thinking with them. Reframing animals as a subject rather than observation. 
    ]]>     2021-03-11 18:44:49 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299661219     Basu, Paul (2008) “Reframing Ethnographic Film ” in Austin and de Jong (eds) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives, New Practices charlotte_duffy1 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299674276 Key Arguments
    Documentary Tribe showcasing what ethnographic film is not- due to the use of no real anthropology techniques being used.
    · Dominance of ‘Us’ representing fantasy of contrasted representations of ‘Other’ subjects- showing indigenous peoples as being closer to their stereotyped identity- Western Ideology.
    Successful ethnographic consist of anthropology techniques- such as examples mentioned in which the researcher proves a more participatory film, involving them becoming part of culture. Rather than visiting or observing.   
    ]]>     2021-03-11 18:47:17 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299674276     The Gaze https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299787269 The gaze is a term that refers to and describes how viewers engage and view visual media. Through the use of the term gaze it stimulates a power relationship between who is looked at and who is the one who is looking. 
    The gaze essentially, (viewpoint/eyewitness) allows 
    us to look through the lens of the one who is control onto the subject matter,.




    ]]>     2021-03-11 19:08:56 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1299787269     Performance w13048042300 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300082369 Performance, as one of the core presentation methods of non-fiction films, is often questioned because of its authenticity, but it is still often used in documentaries. And it plays an important role in different application scenarios.

    “The logical extension to an analysis preoccupied with the idea that a documen tary film can never simply represent the real, that instead it is a dialectical con junction of a real space and the filmmakers that invade it, is the non-fiction film explicitly focused on issues of performance. ”（Bruzz，2006：P153）]]>     2021-03-11 20:14:22 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300082369     Rehearsal w13048042300 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300269880 In the field of documentary creation, performance has always been a unique documentary technique. People generally call it "real reproduction", which mainly refers to the important plots of the passage of time being played by others or using modern technology to reproduce certain specific history Sexual moments, to emphasize the image narrative.]]> 2021-03-11 21:07:38 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300269880 Performative Documentary w13048042300 https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300297877 Descriptive behavioral documentaries subjectively amplify real events in shooting techniques, which deviate from the style of realism. Emphasize the subjective expression of the creator. This type of documentary is often very close to avant-garde movies. Masterpieces such as "The Tongue Doesn't Knot" by Marlon Riggs]]> 2021-03-11 21:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/charlotte_duffy1/7ithkbyutruh17u2/wish/1300297877