8 - Collective Memories

By Jean-Dominique and Danielle

Introduction

The collective memories of our ancestors is getting lost throughout the passing generations and advancing technology. The question we must ask ourselves are: do we really need the information of how things were done by our grandparents and great-grandparents? The two documentary films “Pour La Suite du Monde” and “Les Voitures D’eau” are the first and last movies of a trilogy filmed by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault in the 1960’s. The particular interest in both films is the dying traditions of a community living on a small island in the St-Lawrence River, L’Île -aux-coudres. In the first film, “Pour La Suite du Monde”, Perrault and Brault approach the islanders and ask them to revive their old tradition of porpoise hunting. In the second film, third in the trilogy, “Les Voitures D’eau”, the film makers focus on the dying tradition of handmade wooden boats. Both films have a secondary focus on the lack or need of profit to perform each dying custom and the necessity to pass down knowledge from generation to generation. There are many reasons why past knowledge is being lost, some of which are portrayed in these films and were discussed in class. Now we will explore the topic further.

Part 1- Pour La Suite du Monde

“Pour La Suite du Monde” was directed by Pierre Perrault and filmed by Michel Brault in the year 1963. The film makers ventured to a small island in the St-Lawrence River named L’Île -aux-coudres where they collaborated with the islanders to revive the craft of porpoise hunting; a great tradition once popular for the islander’s ancestors. Three characters in particular held most of the interest in the film, Alexis Tremblay, his son Leopold Tremblay, the main liaison between the islanders and the documenters, and Grand-Louis Harvey.

Perrault and Brault began filming the small French community at the beginning of winter, a slow time for the islanders since all of the boats were retired while the river was frozen. This is when Leopold began taking action a planning his attempt to revive the whale catching. Leopold went to his father, Alexis, for assistance and a somewhat blessing on his pursuit, but what he received was discouragement and criticism. Alexis told his son that he would not be able to convince the elders of the community to help him with the hunt because there would be no money in the outcome, the elders wouldn’t be able to assist him physically because they are now old and tired, and that the younger members of the community would be unable to withstand the hardship of beluga trapping. Even though Leopold receive such negative enforcement from his father he brushed it off and continued to conduct his plans. Leopold went to visit other elders of the community who held knowledge of how to perform a hunt and asked them if they would be willing to support him financially, physically and with their know-how on hi exposition. Receiving positive feedback from a prime member of the older community, Grand-Louis Harvey, Leopold brought his plans to the people and asked in interested parties would take shares, donate money, to fund the hunt and if people would work with him. Also he announced that he reached out to an aquarium in New York that would purchase any live beluga they caught. With the older and younger members of the island working together the hunt is on. Starting when the ice melts leading up until the river refreezes, Leopold and other work long, hard days attempting to catch a porpoise. Managing to only catch and sell one of the whales the islanders are still thrilled that they could feel connected to their ancestors again and show their children what heritage they come from.

In class for week eight we discussed the difference of Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite, where Direct Cinema is in close ties with the observational mode of film and Cinema Verite is part of the interactive mode of film. “Pour La Suite du Monde” would fall under Direct Cinema for the filming is as though the cameraman, Brault, is a fly on the wall. However, as discussed in class, there is a tension between documentary and fiction since there is a loose script for the film; Perrault asking the community to revive the beluga hunt. We looked into authenticity and what it really means. When looking this documentary we have to think, where these scenes staged? and how each character is an actor at the same time. As a class we also went though all of the traditions and rituals seen during the movie. The biggest, and most relevant, tradition for the people of L’Île -aux-coudres is the porpoise hunting and trapping, however many others were seen such as the mid-lent festivities, dancing, the story about the role of the moon, the old fashioned style to the islanders clothing and many more. 

Part 2- Les Voitures D’eau

The documentary “Les Voitures D’eau”, filmed by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault in 1967, is the third in a trilogy filmed on a small island in the St-Lawrence River, L’Île -aux-coudres. The first of the trilogy is the film that was watched in class “Pour La Suite du Monde”. Perrault and Brault work again with Leopold Tremblay along with Laurent Tremblay and his sons, Aurele and Yvan, only this time focusing on the disappearance of the traditional use of sailing wooden ships.

For the small island surrounded by water, growing up on a boat is not unusual. Perrault and Brault began the film on a traditional wooden ship with Laurent talking about his love for being a sailor. At this point the river is beginning to freeze meaning that it is time for the sailor to retire their boats for the winter and begin any repairs that need to be done before it gets too cold. Amongst the men, mostly sailor, there is discussion about how expensive the repairs are for their wooden ships and how non profitable it is to continue sailing. Perreault follows the group of men as they build small sail boats from scratch and talk about the hardships and frustration that the sailors of the island are facing with steal boats putting them out of business. Each sailor expresses how he would not give up sailing because of his love for the sea, but other circumstances come into play, as the wooden ships reach a certain age they are not liable to get insured, making any damages that much more difficult to pay for, and the amount of debt that owning a boat puts them in. When the ice breaks life starts up again for the sailors. After Leopold and the group of men finish working of the sailing boats they take them out for a spin, racing and trying to make them “fly”. Finishing off the film, symbolizing the takeover of steal ships, is the burning of an old, damaged wooden ship, which owner could not offered to get repaired. Stated by one of the sailors “It’s good to be ambitious, but it takes to much money.”

Like “Pour La Suite du Monde” this film also fall under the category of Direct Cinema. The sailors on the island are followed though out their winter lives and observed while they talk amongst themselves. Although there is more apparent interviewing going on by Perrault where some of the men will talk directly to the camera, acknowledging that they are being filmed and possibly answering direct questions. This causes more belief to think about the use of staging scenes in this documentary, which would stray from the category of Direct Cinema into Cinema Verite.

Full movie "Les Voiture D'eau"

Part 3- Reflection

Both documentaries “Pour la suite du monde” and “Les Voitures D’eau” are about the normal phenomenon of the abandonment of the tradition from the past through the present. In other words, it shows the confrontation of the past with the present. This confrontation can be explained by the fact that the lifestyle from “yesterday” and the lifestyle from “today” obviously are not the same.

Mme Alexis (Marie) Tremblay

These documentaries give us the opportunity to reflect about ourselves. Through the evolution of the world with the industrialization and the arrival of the technology, the mentality of people living on the world begins to change completely. People in our days are more independent and the world is more based on individualism than collectivism. We do not know our own neighbours because people are more selfish. In the past, everybody knew everybody in the villages. One fact that can explain this situation is that technology was not there and people was talking right in front the other person instead of being hidden behind a screen. Also, when people had troubles for any reasons there was always a kind of mutual aid between the villagers. The society of our days suffers in some point of a lack of communication. This lack of communication is one of the reasons that the traditions are slowly left in oblivion.

The documentary “Pour la suite du monde” opposes and wants to create awareness about the fact that some traditions are falling in the unknowing. Indeed, the filmmakers through their documentary wanted to revive a lost tradition from “L’Île-aux-Coudres” which was the whales hunt. The tradition was lost since 37 years. The title of this documentary which is “Pour la suite du monde” is a very powerful title because it summarizes on his own what the film is talking about. The documentary is about transmitting the tradition through the following generation. This fact means that the tradition will survive even if the time goes on. This documentary does not only revive the whales hunt but it will make this tradition alive for the eternity. Also, all the other traditions of the islanders (celebration of mid-Lent, Easter water, auctions, etc...) and the special language which they have “la parlure” will stay alive even if they are no more there anymore on the “L’Île-aux-Coudres”. Here is the meaning of this title, preparing the next generation to receive the tradition of the older generation.
The documentary “Les Voitures D’eau” denounces the collapsing of the little companies against the big ones. This film shows us that with the industrialisation when you are a small company, it is difficult to prosper because the world of commerce is controlled by the biggest companies. In this world the competition is very intense and this competition does not give any chance for the small companies to compete. Also, the industrialisation is the cause of the loss of many jobs because humans are replaced by machines. The big companies use machines instead of humans because they do not have any salary to pay and the machines allow to the companies to produce more because they work faster.

It makes open our eyes about the fact that we are just a number for the companies. They do not care about people. The only goal they want to accomplish is to make always more money with the lower costs.

Conclusion

The identity of a person is forged through the traditions and everything she has absorbed throughout her life (stories, language, religion, etc...). The traditions help to understand how a society or people of a village are living this way and how they acquired this lifestyle. In the film “Pour la suite du monde” the islanders are rediscovering the whales hunt which was abandoned during 37 years. By rediscovering this tradition, they will be able to transmit it to the next generations to come to perpetuated it. In this way, they transmit their history. In the film “Les Voitures D’eau”, the passion for navigation is transmitted from father to son. But, in our days, the times come harder due to the encroachment of the big companies and the succession is jeopardized. Both of these traditions are specific to the history of “L’Île-aux-Coudres”

Second movie in the Trilogy.

Full movie "Regne du Jour"

Tribute to Pierre Perrault

7 - Heroes and Quests

Heroes and Quests
by Marc-Olivier, Sébastien & Patrick

These blogs are going to discuss the different aspects of being a hero. In most cases a hero is a regular person who performs an extraordinary act. There are three phases of being a hero. They are separation, initiation and return. The first blog will discuss the film Touching The Void Directed by Kevin Macdonald. The second blog is about the documentary Man on A Wire Directed by James Marsh. Both of these films portrayed a hero. The final blog is about reflection and analysis. We hope you enjoy reading these blogs.

1-Touching the Void

Touching the Void is a movie directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced by John Smithson in 2003. This United-Kingdom product of 106 minutes carries us in Joe Simpson and Simon Yates attempt to climb the Siula Grande in Peru.

 In 1985, the two adventurers decided that they would climb this enormous mountain of about 6 344 meters of height. They first had to travel to Peru and after they had to walk miles and miles to reach a good spot to install their camp. Nobody had ever reached the top of the mountain. There was no rescue and absolutely no margin for error. They had some good experience in climbing. They finally started to climb the mountain. Everything went well in their climbing before reaching a great amount of snow at the top part of the mountain. They finally achieved to reach the top after some minor obstacles like the wind and darkness.

They had planned to descend via the north side of the mountain but that ended up as a bad decision. The descent was very difficult and they faced many obstacles. It was dangerous and steep. There were many crevasses that made their path complicated. They didn’t know what they would hit further and they ran out of gas. They knew they couldn’t survive a long time without gas so they accelerate their descent. Their bad luck wasn’t over. Joe slipped and had a bad landing that broke his right leg. They found a very clever way to continue moving on. They tied two ropes together and descent Joe slowly till the end of the rope. Then, Simon was reaching Joe and they kept doing that over and over. Suddenly, Simon didn’t have the signal of Joe to untie the ropes so that he could cross the tie through his equipment and continue the descent. He waited an hour and a half without any news from Joe. Joe couldn’t give the signal because he was hanging in the air over a crevasse. About to fall and tired, Simon decided to cut the rope. Joe fell in the bottom of the crevasse. Simon descended and saw the rope in the crevasse but he decided to move on without Joe that he believed dead. He finally reached the camp. Joe had survived and was stuck in the crevasse. He decided to go the bottom of it where might be an exit. It was a successful decision. For the rest of the descent, Joe crawled between the crevasses and he was completely frozen, he was dehydrated and he was starting to become crazy but he never gave up. For three days, Joe crawled and tried to reach the base camp. He finally reached it and screamed till Simon heard him and the impossible  happened they, both survived this miraculous adventure.

This movie is an alternation between a fictive representation of the events and an interview made with the two survivors and the one that stayed at the camp. We follow what happened throughout the movie with the comments of the guys saying what they felt and what they thought.

This week topic is Hero and Quests. Heroes are regular people like you and I, placed in extraordinary situations. Simon and Joe were ordinary people but were considered as heroes after they had survived to their adventure in Peru. Some people don’t recognize the hero or disdain him and that is what happened with Simon when people criticized him because he cut the rope. All heroes technically follow the same pattern. They all go through a circle explaining that they all live a separation (from their regular world) before living their adventure (initiation) and then come back to their regular world with a certain experience. It’s exactly what happened to Joe and Simon. They leaved their own little world for Peru. They walked miles and miles to reach their starting point (separation). They lived their adventure that became almost a disaster and they both survived (initiation). They came back to regular life and even continue climbing. They have growth from this.

2-Man on wire

The documentary film Man on a Wire is about a tightrope walker named Philippe Petit. He was raised in France with strict parents; therefore, he liked to push the rules to the limit. At seventeen he built a tightrope in the back garden. As he became better and better, he built higher and longer tightropes. He, also, started juggling and performing stunts while on the tightrope.  His tightropes looked exactly like the professional kind you’ll see at a circus.

Because he wanted to push the limit, he wanted to tightrope across places people would never imagine. The first place he tried to do this was at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, June 1971. It was a very successful event. Many pictures were taken and people were amazed. The next time he tried a big event was in 1973 near the Sydney Opera House in Australia. His friends and he rigged the tightrope wire at night. He walked and performed in the morning hours for everyone to see. These events were illegal and he was arrested. 

The main focus of this documentary is about how Philippe and a group of his close friends wanted to rig a tightrope across the two towers of the World Trade Center. Philippe would, again, perform early in the morning. He visualized this idea for many years before the twin towers were finished being built. This documentary tells a detailed story of Philippe and his friends quest to achieve the impossible event of Philippe tightrope walking a quarter of a mile above the ground.

This film was made by The British Broadcasting Corporation, with Nick Fraser as Executive Producer, and Discovery Films, with Andrea Meditch as Executive Producer. The British Broadcasting Corporation or the BBC is similar to Canada’s CBC or the United States PBS. All of these communication stations are partially funded with government money. Discovery Films is an independent film company which wins awards. Man on a Wire was directed by James Marsh, Produced by Simon Chinn and Executive Producer was Jonathan Hewes. This film was based on a book called To Reach the Clouds by Philippe Petit.

Philippe stopped at nothing to succeed at his dreams. No matter what he needed to complete this quest; almost as if it was an obsession. As a young person he did not want to conquer the universe he wanted, as a poet, to conquer beautiful stages. He believed that walking on a tightrope was framed with death. During the documentary, just before stepping on the wire he stated “Probably the end of my life. I could not resist it and I did not want to.”

The main concept we covered in class was that heroes are regular people who achieve incredible goals. Philippe spent many years and many trips back and forth from France to New York City to plan this performance. Again, it fits the pattern of heroes because he had a separation from his world to go to New-York, he lived his moment on the wire and it changed him, but he still believes it was the right thing to do.  He believed “If I die, what a beautiful death” it was an exercise of his passion. He was an amazing athlete and performer who wanted to have a stage like never seen before. His talent was not only as a tightrope walker but as a visionary. He could see the impossible and convince other people to help him achieve it. This is the characteristic of a true artist and hero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zegboN3w1Dw (To watch! What is a hero?)

3- Personal reflection

Touching the Void and Man on Wire are quite emotionally strong movies. They document events that seem almost impossible that they could have occurred. But they are very real. In order to succeed at their established goal, both Joe Simpson and Phillippe Petit, the heroes of these stories, had to go through their own unique and difficult journey. The obstacles that they must overcome are terrifying and put their skills and determination to the test. 

In both documentaries, a dream to conquer the unknown and undiscovered pushes the hero to leave on his quest. In Man on Wire, Phillippe Petit’s dream almost seems like an obsession. He already dreams up his “Coup” before the Twin Towers are even built. All that he does, he does with his goal in mind. This shows that the most important thing to do is to dream about what you want, and then to strive to achieve these dreams, because once you accomplish them, it will bring such joy and exhilaration that it will change your life forever. Petit says, “I cannot just calmly recall the adventure”, “I have to relive it truly”, showing just how significant and overwhelming his experience was. His life was forever different after having crossed the tight rope between the two tallest buildings in the world (at that time), another step had begun.

 This is similar, but not completely the same in Touching the Void. Joe Simpson achieves his initial goal of getting to the peak of the Siula Grande, and feels great accomplishment, but that is not where his real journey begins. Only once he injures himself badly during the descent down the treacherous mountain, and then falls into the perilous crevasse, does his adventure truly start. The whole religious allegory in the crevasse, which could be referred to as the Valley of the Shadow of Death, makes us wonder about religious belief, life and death. Who would we turn to in our time of despair? What would we think about? Joe turns out to be a complete atheist, and feels abandoned and alone. He gives up on life, and the only thing that drives him forward towards getting off the mountain is the thought of not wanting to die alone, but with someone at his side. This demonstrates that people really need one another, they are not meant to be left alone, mostly during such difficult times. The fact that Joe makes it to almost the base of the mountain is just amazing and awe-inspiring. Human determination should not be underestimated. It is what made Joe and Phillipe’s goal and dreams possible. One must first dream, and then do everything in order to make it possible. Patience is often necessary, as some things may take a lot of time to do.

Following your dreams and passions will bring feelings of great joy and accomplishment in your life. Going away from our safe, ordinary, every-day lives and going somewhere or doing something that requires you to take risks and live in the moment is how these heroes think is the best way to feel alive.

To be a hero requires determination, perseverance and hard work. It can also entail a bit of luck and a strong belief in achieving the goal. Joe Simpson in the film “Touching the Void” had such a strong desire to live. He walked down a mountain with a broken leg. In the documentary “Man on A Wire” Philippe Petit showed how dreams can become a reality. He performed an amazing feat. Both of these men are heroes in their own right. No one has ever done a task as extraordinary as they have. 

6 - Sound, Silence, and Music

By Chloé and Marina 

Introduction

            Although every documentary filmmaker is known to have an aim and purpose to their film, they wouldn’t be able to convey the message without the help of sound and music. These two play a huge role in the film industry since it directs us to the way the filmmaker wants us to understand everything. By watching Berlin: Symphony of a Great City with our own choice of music, we got the chance to experience a documentry film in a whole new way; the way we wanted to see it, with the message we wanted to learn.

Part 1- Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

            Berlin: Symphony of a Great City is a silent movie directed in 1927 by Walter Ruttmann. The 64 minute movie displays the life in Berlin city at that time. The movie is separated in five parts like a symphony and its acts. The movie starts in an interesting way, a camera attached to a train captures images of the rural side of Germany and it leads us to Berlin's train station. It brings us on a tour, we will spy upon common people mostly unaware of the camera. Our journey in Berlin beggins; it is five in the morning, few drunk people on their way home wander in the streets. Men owning commerces wake up and start heading to work. Policemen make sure everything is fine. Berlin is still asleep, no cars, only the skeleton of the city. At 7 o'clock, the city wakes up, cars, tramways and school kids appear in the streets. Women are also shown at work, whether at home cleaning, as typist or as phone operator. Kiosques open and happy children play in the streets as they get crowded. It is now 12, lunch break for everyone. Animals get fed in zoos, workers eat in the cantine and some richer folks eat in restaurants. After lunch, sports tournaments are organised, people rassemble to play games. Some prefer to take naps! In the fifth part, it is night time. Everybody is enjoying themselves, clubs are full, shows are presented in which some ladies are displayed in big underwear (it was considered very daring at that time).  Casinos, drinking bars, nobody stays at home, they have fun as a community. The last image is of lights on a tower shutting off, as the cycle starts again.

            Throughout the film, the population seems mostly unaware of the camera except at one point when a woman jumps from a bridge, the scene was obviously staged. This movie was particular because there were no speech nor noises, only music in the background that was not recorded with the movie; it was commentative and extradiegetic since the music does not actually come from what happens in the scene. It is also asynchronous since it did not happen at the same time except at one point, the image was one of a man ringing a bell on a tramway and at the same time, the music did a "bell like" sound which went well together. We can not really say music was contrapuntal because the medley playing at the time was well agenced with the story. When listening to our own music, we feel it did not go well at all with what was presented and it made us see that music was not always a good thing since it was more of a distraction.      

      

            A man who shared the same opinion, named Stan Bakhrage, made a silent movie entitled Window water baby moving of his wife giving birth in 1958, enlighting us as to what difference does soundtracks make. The lack of sound in Stan's movie makes viewers focus even more on the images that are already pretty shocking for most people. Sounds are not required, the movie is brief enough to captivate the viewer throughout the whole screening. A soundtrack is in someway a cushion to fall back to when tired of looking at the screen. It distracts us and make the presentation more agreable and "easy". It sometimes also reinforce the feelings projected by the movie. In Berlin, there was not really much action but in certain movies, even just the trailer, music plays an important role. The movie 9, made by Tim Burton in 2009, is a great example of that. Even though barely any words are spoken, the difference is felt when watching with sound and without.

            As we include an other sense, it brings an other dimention to the movie as well as continuity.

continuity.

Part 2 - Night and Fog

         The 1955 French documentry short film, Night and Fog, was directed by Alain Resnais, and written by Jean Cayrol, who was sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and survived. The 32 minute french documentry shows the audience a clear understanding of how the victims of the Nazi Germany concentration camps, that took place from 1933-1945, were treated by using horrid videos and photos.

            The documentary begins by filming a beautiful landscape where the narrarator, Michel Bouquet, describes as being an area where people drive past, and a village where people spend a vacation. He then suddenly tells us that this beautiful place was once a concentration camp. The camera passes through the wired fence and into the building where hell took place in 1933.  Images of the prisoners working, dying of thirst, were shown in black and white right after showing the buildings where they slept in the present day in color. Michel Bouquet explains that the 70 pound workers were being watched every step that they took. Everytime they tried hiding for just a few minutes for rest, or running, they were killed. At some point, they were gathered altogether, where they were “inspected and frisked” before sending them back to the camps. A picture of a tally of the victims is shown with the numbers being as high as 94, which is the amount they killed in one day for several rubbish reasons.  Prisoners that weren’t good enough to work, were put into a cabin-like box, where they died with gas, and their bodies were then stacked on top of one another as if they meant nothing, which is how Alain Resnais ended the film.

          

            The documentry ends with Micheal Bouquet saying “we turn a blind eye to what surrounds us, and a deaf ear to humanities never-ending cry.” The point he is trying to show the audience is that with our busy lives, we think that our world is hard, when the truth is that thousands of people died trying to survive during the Holocaust in the concentration camps. In today’s society, we get breaks during work, whereas these prisoners were killed for even taking a break for a few seconds.   
                

            Throughout the film, Alain Resnais goes back and forth from black and white to color images to clarify that he’s showing us the past compared to the present. He chooses to do so, because he wants to show that the place that now looks like a landscape to spend a vacation was once a place where hundreds of prisoners were put into a train for nights against their will, where some starved to death. Others were even shot as soon as they stepped off the train for going mad and being too weak. Resnais uses black and white to clearly show the audience that we are lucky to have such a beautiful landscape as a vacation spot, while the victims had that same beautiful place as a torture spot. By comparing the same landscape from now and then, the director is trying to convey that we shouldn’t take things we have for granted; those innocent victims would do anything to live the peaceful life we are given. We should be grateful for what we have, especially for the people who died trying.

            Sound was used very creatively in Night and Fog since it gave the images an even more dramatic push. The audience was able to be more into the film than they expected since the music went so well with the images presented. Although, without the narrarator, Michel Bouquet, the viewers would not understand what is going on in the film, they would only be watching the horrid videos and images, without understanding the purpose.

Part 3: Fear.

            Through this movie, we visited the daily life of citizen of Berlin in 1927 and I could not help but to compare with the modern way of living. Some workers woke up so early and left for their jobs where they worked hard all day long. As soon as they got a break, they would meet and play together. They lived at their fullest, as a community. Today's generation, with computers and television, children are born and raised in a community focused on the individual. This behaviour is also caused by fear, we fear our own neighbours. Media scares us with shocking images of shootings, roberies and sicknesses, for example, Sandy Hook's shooting.  In the movie, we saw female dancers taking off their skirts to be left in some big underwear and at that time it was very revealing. Nowdays, bathing suits are more sexy than their underwears! Women are no longer as prude and they reveal their body so easily for the purpose of commercials or just in everyday life, some might be considered "objects".

On a positive note, great advancement was achieved in the work field; women can occupy almost any job they want and in the same conditions as men. In the last part of the movie, we can see young folks having a blast in a pub dancing. Partys today are now mostly just an occasion to get drunk and "hook up" with people. Of course those are generalities and not everyone live like that! Even more, throughout the movie we barely get to see the inside of a private residence so the sample of people portrayed was biais. As every documentary, you can't alway show everything, and the movie would not be as interesting nor as flattering if it was any ordinary day.

In conclusion, Berlin: Symphony of a great city and Night and Fog opens our eyes on several aspects of filmaking. The fact that there was no speech in Berlin is a new experience that was quite interesting and educative. There is not a good or bad way of selecting a soundtrack, whether there is sound or no; it all depends on the director's intentions. As for Night and Fog, the fact that there was a narrarator explaining everything the whole way through, made the audience learn more about the Holocaust, and opened our eyes to a new way of looking at the world.

5 - Stereotyping: "The Celluloid Closet" and "Reel Injun"

Stereotyping: "The Celluloid Closet" and "Reel Injun"
By Chris, Christophe and Nathalie

Stereotypes in Movies
     Over the years, people have evolved their ideas and views and society has for the most part become more accepting. We may not always realize it but everything around us greatly impacts how we view the world. In the last hundred years, movies have created stereotypes surrounding different groups of people. For the purpose of our blog we will explore two social minorities that are still prominent today, the LGBT and the Native American community. The documentaries being discussed explore stereotypes in films surrounding people belonging to these groups.

"The Celloloid Closet" - Exploring Sexuality  
     The American documentary film that we saw last week in class was “The Celluloid Closet” directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman in 1995. The movie discusses how Hollywood motion pictures present homosexuality in the movies produced between the years 1920 and 1981. Different actors explain how homosexuality is seen in movies during the 1900’s by giving personal interviews. We can see how homosexuality evolved in time through different scenes from different movies.
     Through these movies, the audience saw how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender actors were shown and treated in different periods of the 1900’s until today. In the 1920s many films presented homosexuals as comics, which made the crowd laugh. This brings about the first stereotype surrounding homosexuals in movies, the sissy. A stereotype is an idea about a person or group of people that is widely agreed on. The sissy is a male character who acts very feminine, and it is never outright said that he is gay. Most people felt uncomfortable seeing characters of the same sex having emotions towards one another on screen. During the same time period, the Hays code was set up with a set of rules in order to respond to the community values and these rules could not be violated by any way. This code made certain elements in movies restricted: open-mouth kissing, lustful embraces, sex perversion, seduction, rape, abortion, prostitution and white slavery, nudity, obscenity and finally profanity. In the 1900’s, the Catholic Church had such a powerful control over the opinion of population that everybody was under their control. They were deciding on how people had to live their life, like going to the church every Sunday, how many children a family should have, etc. This is defined as hegemony through ethnocentrism, because it is a catholic group that decides the rules that everyone is obliged to follow. Hegemony is defined by the influence a group has on society and how it reflects a way of thinking by showing that it is the only possible resolution. In 1934, the Catholic Church rated movies not only based on the content but threatened a massive boycott against movies which included some of these restricted elements. In the 1950’s, two other prominent stereotypes emerged. The homosexual was presented as the victim and the villain. Characters playing gay or lesbian roles were presented as the bad guy, they were being killed and even some committed suicide. In society at this time, homosexuality was tolerated as long as it stayed behind closed doors and that it was not obvious to the public. For example, in one of the movie we see two lesbians coming out of a room when the husband of one of the women appears in front of the door and we can feel that the two women seem very close to one another. We feel the proximity and intimacy between them. These movies made it seem like all homosexuals would be condemned to a hard life, such as having trouble to find a job, trouble in founding a family, ostracism and exile from society etc.
     People’s views on homosexuality have been greatly influenced by the opinion of the Catholic Church and this impacted the stereotypes in film. In 1961, Hollywood producers were tired of producing movies with all the restrictions considered as taboo. Therefore, all restrictions for movies were removed except sex perversion. In early 1970, in movies, homosexuals were seen as people who were sad, because they denied their sex orientation and suffered from a low self-esteem. Even worse, it was showed as a mental disease. At the same time, homosexuals who frequented bars and displayed their sex orientation could be arrested for their disrespectful act. The first movie that celebrated homosexuality was ''Cabaret'' in 1972.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYZ8cqMLuQg
      In this movie we can relate to the notion of “gayness can be a fluid position”, because the three main characters are very happy with their relationships, even if two gay men are together and one of them is also heterosexual because he as relations with his wife. This movie presented images of gays who were having a normal life and were happy, just like any heterosexual couple. In the 1980’s, when actors played homosexual role, people began to question their sexual orientation. This type of double standard continues today. In the 1990’s, the movie “Philadelphia” showed homosexuality should as something normal and that it is a personal decision to choose who to love. The movie is about two gay men in love and one of them has AIDS.
     Today, Hollywood producers and some people are still uncomfortable with homosexuality on screen. Some movies have started to integrate the LGBT community more and more, portraying them as being no different than everyone else. Today, more and more actors and famous people do not hesitate to proclaim their sexuality, like Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres and a lot more. Although homosexuality is more accepted today and the Churches influence is decreasing, many countries still do not recognize gay marriage. Even a country like USA who claim to be so advance and developed, same-sex marriage is only legal in 9 out of 50 states.

     "Reel Injun” is a 2009 Canadian documentary film, directed by Cree Native, Neil Diamond. The film documents the stereotypical images that we have come to believe as “true”, about the Native North American Indians. “Reel Injun” depicts a century of Hollywood’s cinema and media shaping the way people all over the world view the Native American Indians from “Sitting Bull” to “Crazy Horse” making them into legends on the screen, but at what cost?

The film opens as Neil Diamond explains how he watched Cowboys and Indians on their reserve in their church basement as a boy, “Cheering for the cowboys, never realizing we were the Indians”. Diamond drives a “rez car” to the North of Canada and travels across the United States on his way to Hollywood.
The world is in love with the Hollywood Indian shown as spiritual, noble and free. In the late 1800’s, Thomas Edison makes the first silent penny machines with movie images of Indians. The Native American population starts to decline and the 7th cavalry attacks at Wounded Knee where they kill 300 men, women and children. The Indian becomes a Hollywood Hero during the silent era in the 1930’s. The movie “The Silent Enemy” (1930) is made to show the starvation and the death of the American Indians. It stars Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, who shortly after commits suicide when Hollywood finds out he’s part black. Hollywood glorifies ceremonies of Indians giving animal names to their tribe members and summer camp leaders glorify Hollywood’s hegemonic ideals of savagery to young boys. Henry Ford produces “Stagecoach” (1939),





one of the great western movies of all time. Hegemony is shown throughout history with the savage portrayal of Native American Indians in cinema, further condemning the Natives by modeling all movies to depict the same thereafter. Jesse Wente, Ojibway Film Critic, talks about the strong impact that “Stagecoach” had on the American population.
Many movie stars played native roles like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Elvis Presley and Burt Reynolds. “We couldn’t find a real Indian to play the part” (Clint Eastwood). In reality they were looking for the Hollywood image or myth of an Indian, not a real Indian, maybe that’s why they couldn’t find one. Pocahontas was another Hollywood myth created for Americans. In the 30’s Indians were treated like props, stereotyped with Head Pieces, Head Bands, Indians Clothing and Wigs in every movie. It became the norm for Indians to wear Head Bands when in reality it was to keep their wigs from falling off.
The Cowboys like John Wayne, “The Duke”, ichnographically one of the greatest actors of western movies, played extremely violent parts, yet it was accepted by American’s as normal behavior towards Indians. John Wayne symbolized the idea that Americans were unstoppable. It was believed by Americans that they were the true Americans, not the Natives and it was the Natives that stopped them from settling in their own country. Iron Eyes Cody was another iconographic symbol in Hollywood films because he fit the Hollywood images of what an Indian was supposed to be. Even though he lived his life as a Native American, his nationality was Italian. In the sixties, westerns were out and hippies were in, trying to imitate Natives living like free spirits. Sacheen Cruz, Littlefeather, arrives in San Francisco, mistaken for a hippie. John Ford produces “Geronimo” in 1962. Native Americans started to assert themselves more politically and more forcefully. John Trudell, Lakota Activist and Poet, speaks for Native Americans, “This is a country where all men are created equal. It’s the land of the free, and the home of truth and justice and liberty for all. We want to know why that doesn’t apply to us?” (John Trudell, 1970).
Indians were ashamed at the way Americans looked at them. Native Americans were examined by the world through an ethnocentric perspective. “The Born Losers” (1967) fought back with Billy Jack fighting for the right kind of justice for Native Americans. Shortly after, the Native American’s took a stand and fought back at Wounded Knee in 1973 against FBI. At the same time, Marlon Brando made a stand when he asked Sacheen, Littlefeather to represent him at the Academy Awards, refusing to accept his Award in protest of the mistreatment of American Natives in Hollywood and to make a stand for the Natives at Wounded Knee.
Using marginal voices from “Little Big Man” (1970) to “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), Natives started changing the way the world viewed Indians. “Smoke Signals” (1998) and awards won at the Cannes Film Festival for “Atanarjuat” (2001), portraying an iconic image of a Native American running naked and free.



Neil Diamond’s “Reel Injun” takes a subtle look into the evolution of Native Americans going back to the days of silent films up to present time. He tries to shed light on the stereotyping in cinema, and the misled worlds understanding of the Native American Indians, which perhaps, has condemned their culture forever. Facts were given, myths revealed, but the next time you sit down and watch another Western, will you even think about this documentary or will you just watch a western with an ethnocentric perspective, the way Hollywood has wanted you to view Native Americans? Hollywood’s dominance in the world will make this myth very hard to shake.
“The mightiest nation in the world tried to exterminate us, Anglicize us, Christianize us, but we just keep going and going”. Charlie Hill, Cree Comedian.

Reflecting On Stereotypes
     Throughout the years, documentary films have evolved. At the root, they teach us about life. This is seen in both “The Celluloid Closet” and “Reel Injun”. These movies explore popular stereotypes that have been around for many years and are still predominant today, encouraged by the filmmaking industry.
     “The Celluloid Closet” shows us how movies from the last century have created a wrongful image of what it is to be homosexual or transgender. The three main stereotypes of the sissy, the victim and the victimizer have subconsciously affected people’s views on the LGBT community. Many of the movies mentioned in this documentary associate being homosexual or transgender as a death sentence. Either you will hurt or be hurt. We know that too many times, when children come out to their parents, their parent’s initial reaction is concern for their child. Our society has created a negative view on homosexuality, where being LGBT will lead to suffering and hardship. “The Celluloid Closet” opens the viewer’s eyes to many stereotypes that we unknowingly think about when watching homosexuals on screen. It was interesting when they mentioned how we always question whether or not the actor playing the homosexual is actually gay in real life. But we never second-guess actors playing straight roles. This movie shows us how easily we are influenced by what we see in movies.
     Neil Diamond’s documentary “Reel Injun” explores stereotypes surrounding aboriginal people. Similar to “The Celluloid Closet” this documentary brings forward many issues that most people didn’t know about. This documentary also talks about how movies portray natives, which is mostly as warriors or very spiritual people. Although this information is not false, it separates native people from everyone else. These stereotypes categorize them as beings different from humans.
     Both documentaries make several links between movies effect on views of homosexuals and Indians. Movies have a great influence on their viewers. When people go see movies or read books it is natural for them to link themselves to certain characters, based on similarities they notice. For people belonging to LGBT and Native community it can sometimes be hard. If most of the perceptions of them are negative or false, they themselves will start to believe it. This can be very destructive for youth who are dealing with discovering their sexuality. In contrast to Native American children who watch these movies and can only identify themselves with other Natives, when in reality they are just like any other children.
     In the last couple of years, homophobia has become a major issue within youth and schools across the world. Suicide among children and young adults facing homophobia from their peers has become much too prominent. Not only do fictional characters in movies affect societies views on homosexuality but as well as actors and other celebrities that we look up to. Although more and more celebrities have started “coming out” it is still considered a taboo.
This article is very interesting as it explores how some of the biggest names in Hollywood are still resisting exposing their sexuality:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/homophobia-in-hollywood-why-gay-movie-stars-still-cant-come-out-of-the-closet-8455751.html
     We know that stereotypes are ideas that are generally agreed on by the people in society, created from fear or hatred or ignorance. If we know stereotypes are for the most part false and generalizations, why do people continue to accept them as fact? However, what is a world without stereotypes? People make assumptions and judgments all the time. These documentaries show us, that without even realizing it, many of our stereotypes come from the movies. Hollywood has created an industry that to this day is still is “uncomfortable” with eliminating many of the stereotypes they have created. The most shocking is that even the movies that try to break away from the unjust perception produced are for the most part made by people directly affected by those stereotypes. Movies continue to portray the gay as a sissy and the Indian as a warrior. And viewers continue to laugh at them, cry for them and hope for them.

Looking Back
In conclusion, both these documentaries were very successful in exploring stereotypes in movies. We tend to overlook what is presented to us in movies, because technically they are fictional. But as we all know, and as we have discovered by watching “The Celluloid Closet” and “Reel Injun”, movies can greatly impact their audience. We all like to relate to the characters we see on screen. But what happens when the only characters we can relate are portrayed negatively or falsely? It is important to recognize the progress that has been in eliminating discrimination and prejudices towards certain people. However, we must also think about what still has to be done to create equality.