Comment on Capturing the Friedmans

In the documentary "capturing the friedmans," it shows a theme of realism with the use of homevideos. It shows various homevideos of the Friedman family during the wait of Arnold Friedman's trial. The way it shows the homevideos and newsreel makes the documentary more real. In "capturing the friedmans," they interview detectives that were on the case but also so show videos and news interviews of the past during the actual event. That makes a greater impact with them talking in the past and present about the same moment.

Comment on "Through Navajo Eyes"

The part in the book that stood out to me the most was when the navajo elder Sam asked, "Will making movies do my sheep harm " and asked if it would do them any good. He was answered that nothing would happen to the sheeps and then he asks why make movies then? Sam did not even have sheeps at his place but the question he asked raises an important question that all film makers should ask themselves. How does film effect the filmmaker, the ones in the film and the viewers? When making a film it should make an impact not just aesthetically pleasing.

The Battle of Algiers

In the film, "The battle of algiers," it depicts the war for independence in French Algeria. I think the director did a good job with filming it with many non-actors and people playing themselves. This formed a realism that made the film seem like a newsreel and documentary. This filmic effect gives alot of depth to the movie and makes it very meaningful to me. Instead of watching a movie with acting and blatant blowup scenes, i felt an understanding and compasion for the Algerians. The most memorable scenes for me were of the algerian city life and public riots because of how real it looked. The director also does a good job not glorifying a side and choose one over another. All though my sympathy went towards the Algerians, the film did not side on the algerians being the good and french being evil.

Reading Response to "An Ethnographic Filmflam"

In John L. Jackson Jr.'s essay, An Ethnographic Filmflam, he discusses about how digital video technology during fieldwork opens up empirical and theoretical space for the relationship between anthropologists and the viewers. This article highlights the culture and society in Harlem, which he studies a local tenant activist and follows her around with a camera. He metions using ethnographric fieldwork, which is a genre of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of a specific culture. He says that in order to thoroughly understand life-ways of a specific cultures, it would have to be as though one were looking through the natives' own eyes. I agree because i think you have to study that culture and lifestyle for a long time before truly and completely understand that culture. And when you fully understand, you would feel like you were one of the natives.
"It is this secondary impulse, the move from emic to etic comprehension, which grounds anthropological claims about scientific knowledge production" Studying a culture from being on the outside is totally different from being the inside. When being on the outside you comprehend what you see and judge on what your lifestyle is like. But being on the inside you view it and understand what is going on.