"Reassemblage"

In class I mentioned that I found the way this was filmed to be objectifying and uncomfortable, and then although there was a follow up class on this topic I was feeling ill from the vaccine and could not make it. I don't know what was said on Thursday but I think this is a good place for me to elaborate on my opinion, now that I have more space to clarify and more time to consider my opinions on the topic.

I think in many ways this documentary was successful. It is certainly more respectful than a traditional documentary, and points to a lot of inconsistencies and flaws in the genre as it is typically actualized. However, I think that some of the choices of close-ups and specific activities were, in my opinion, overly focused on the aspects of the culture which are most different from western culture (exposed breasts, outdoor physical activity as a part of daily necessity, and even purely percussive music. In focusing on the aspects of this culture which are most different from what is familiar for a western audience, it sensationalizes it. This sensationalizing of foreign culture "others" it, making a spectacle out of something purely because it is different. This sort of exoticization is how stereotypes and premature opinions are born.

Additionally, while the lack of clear and clarifying commentary on the situation does help solve msome problems present in the genre, it also dramatizes the exoticism. It suggests that the footage at times does not need explaining but is understandable at first look, which in my opinion, is diminutive. Not that everything needs an explaination but the decision to use repetition and silence so frequently almost says to me as a viewer that there is nothing that can or should be said about what is on screen, which I am skeptical of. 

I do think overall the choices made in this film are effective in certain ways and there is a lot of value in looking at this work, but the detail of exoticization stands out to me so much because it seemed from some of the opening commentary that the goal of the film was specifically to avoid such a strong western gaze, which, in my opinion, was not successful.