Ruby Chapter 4
From the Ruby reading, how did Napoleon Chagnon help in the filmmaking aspect?
He had very little input, but Asch would ask for transitions and he would give them to him, when he got stuck and asked for advice he was always helpful. He did not have much of a role in the editing, because he did not want it. All he wanted was to make self-contained films with very long narration
He was very busy and did not have time for things
What were some of the things that Chagnon studied during his time with the Yanomami? Give at least 3.
Travel habits, technology, use of hallucinogens, agriculture, intellectual life, social/political structure, patterns of settlement, division of labor, marriage practices, trading, feasting
What were some of the problems that the Yanomami and other researchers had with Chagnon?
He attributed to the ferocity of the Yanomami
Bribing children and capitalizing on animosity between individuals
How does The Ax Fight accomplish what edit-exercise films do?
They demonstrate how the same footage can be edited intro very different versions of the same event
How have events happening within the western world impacted the film?
We saw a lot more violence happening because the Vietnam war was happening during this time. It focused on the violence.
Why was Chagnon not allowed back in Venezuela after doing his first set of research?
The turmoil his visit would provoke was too great.
How do people view the collaborations between anthropologists and filmmakers?
People would see the filmmaker as the author of the work, and anthropologists would only be asked to provide field rapport or transitions.
Sometimes the final product of a film can be embarrassing to the anthropologist.
How does giving these different cultures vaccines have a major impact on the society?
They were giving these people vaccines to see how it would affect them and make it better for those in different countries that do get these vaccines. Although this helped in the advancement of medicine it can be detrimental to those that are receiving a vaccine for the first time because their body isn’t used to being introduced to these diseases.
How does having multiple screenings before the film is finished be beneficial or how can it also be hurtful? Can editing it too much take away from the film’s educational purposes?
It takes away from the original footage because you are cutting so much of it out that you can’t actually tell what is happening. In the film The Axe, he edited it so many times and left all three versions in but each revision made it harder to tell what was originally happening.