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December 1993

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Subject:
From:
Robert Withers <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 27 Dec 1993 20:52:46 EST
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On Tue, 28 Dec 1993 14:36:12 +1200 Harriet E. Margolis said:
>> Robert Withers <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>>> For my introductory film course for undergraduate education majors (paired
>>> with an education course on literacy and whole language) I tried showing
>>> "Sherman's March" as an example of a kind of direct first person film that
>>> connects the personal and the political. The problem is, the film is
>>> about a half-hour too long and bogs down too much at first with an
>>> extended profile of a would-be actress who is not very sympathetic. So
>>> many of the students didn't connect.
>
> Ouch. It pains me to hear this, both because, as a Tar Heel (as is
>McElwee) SHERMAN'S MARCH _does_ speak to me, and because I'm currently
>planning to show it in our department's intro Hist & Crit course.
     I had trouble with this film the first time I tried to watch it myself.
Something about the pacing -- and that actress. But having tried again, I
found it compelling and unique. Every film class is different, though. The
group I showed it to was all-female, New York urban environment, education
majors. Some liked it, of course, but not enough got interested.
 
> If the Maori material sounds of interest, ask me about them
>in a couple of weeks. Then we can explore their availability in the
>States. Merata Mita, it may help to know, appears as an entry in _The
>Women's Companion to International Film_.
> TONGUES UNTIED is wonderful, but it is likely to pose problems,
>given its subject matter. It's certainly poetic, but not obviously first
>person.
>
     Yes, and the first person aspect is very important. It ties in with
things the students are doing in their paired education class, and it also
serves as a point of comparision with two other films I show, "Sugar Cane
Alley," which is a conventional realist narrative film based on a first person
memoir, and a video version of Anna Devere Smith's "Fires in the Mirror," in
which she presents a series of first person "impersonations" of people she has
interviewed about racism and the Crown Heights deaths and riots in Brooklyn.
So I was looking for something that was even more directly first person, and
also dealt with political/social issues. Don't know if your Maori film is
like that. But thanks for the response.
                                       Robert
 
Robert Withers
Film Department That was zen, this is tao . . .
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn, New York 11210 Bitnet: [log in to unmask]
(718) 951-5664 Internet: [log in to unmask]

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