Film Is The Tool And Ethnography - 903 Words

â€Å"In ethnographic film, film is the tool and ethnography is the goal.†[2] The film is the bridge that engages the audience, connecting them to a foreign realm, whether it be on the academic or entertainment level. Ethnography is a way for viewers to understand not only the customs of foreign individuals and cultures, but to explore their own traditions as well. Through film, the director decides whether or not to appeal to a designated audience. In the interest of aesthetic perception, films are prone to suffer from â€Å"reality-distorting techniques,†[2] altering what should be shown, creating a conventional way of viewing other cultures. In a way, films guide their audiences through how to perceive different ways of life, which causes social categorization. Ultimately, film might be one of the only ways for people to understand what lies beyond the interest of their own culture without physically injecting themselves into a foreign environment. A problem films fa ce is this checklist perception of how Westernized cultures view other cultures. As Heider put it, by focusing on how the cinematographic aspects of film should be portrayed, film directors tend to stray away from the accuracy of the cultures presented.[2] For example in Lost in translation, the film purposefully included scenes of the Japanese people as having a short-stature, being soft spoken, reading manga, being professional arcade players and having trouble pronouncing their l’s. These scenes illustrates howShow MoreRelatedCarol Stack’s Call to Home Essay1443 Words   |  6 PagesSuch change can transform a person to lose the values and beliefs they were raised with which consequently attribute to losing the bonds that they once held with their families. This is not the case with the families portrayed in Carol Stack’s ethnography Call to Home. The book depicts Southern African-American families living in rural, North and South Carolina’s towns â⠂¬â€œ which migrate to northern urban cities for economic opportunities – known as the Great Migration, and ultimately decide to returnRead MoreUnderstanding The Relationship Between Performance And Everyday Life Essay2001 Words   |  9 Pageskey of knowledge from the texts I have looked into to. From a broad range of texts to choose from this literature review will cover the relation between the writings and my argument. In Auto ethnography: An overview written by Carolyn Ellis, Tony E. Adams Arthur P. 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