An Indigenous Films - Essay Example

NAME : XXXXXXXXXX TUTOR : XXXXXXXXXX TITLE : XXXXXXXXXXX COURSE : XXXXXXXXXX INSTITUTION : XXXXXXXXXX @2009 Introduction Indigenous films are films that depict Indigenous people, issues and stories. They are films which are mostly made by Indigenous Australians. Indigenous films made a small part of all Australian films; however, they form a significant part of Australia's culture. The representation of Indigenous issues and people in film provides an exclusive insight into the correlation of Australia with its Indigenous people and traditions. Indigenous films provide a means of expression for Indigenous experience and Indigenous culture. An indigenous studies background is necessary to situate Indigenous films in particular their historical and socio-political contexts. Indigenous films have been given numerous designations which lean toward homogenous films engaged in political and artistic antagonism with the conventional ones. These labels include Third world, fourth, postcolonial, multicultural, ethnic, anti-racists, among others (Meadows and Molnar 2002:10). The cinematic portrayer of the Indigenous people in films has its roots in over five centuries of Euro-Americans perceptions and misperception. Stereotypes in Indigenous films can be classified into three: mental, sexual and spiritual, the most meaningful being the mental stereotypes. Indigenous people are depicted in films as being primitive, intensively sexual and spiritual. The Indigenous people, issues and stories have often been stereotyped and marginalized in Australian society. Australia's film history paints a similar picture. Hence, Indigenous films have come out to counter these allegations and to paint a true picture of the Indigenous people and culture. For example the Film Liyarn Ngarn, which is written in the Yawuru language, means "Coming Together of the Spirit". It describes the thirty years’ undertaking of the Indigenous ruler and Yawura man, Patrick Dodson, to bring about a permanent and actual reconciliation between indigenous people and the white settlers. This film describes the destruction and cruelty bought upon Indigenous people in all areas of their every day life. The film also highlights incidences of injustices committed to Indigenous people when the son of an Indigenous English actor Pete Postlethwaite dies tragically. The aim of this film is to raise people’s sensitivity and outlook of Indigenous people (Bryson 2002). Indigenous films largely deal with cultural traditions, histories and contemporary experiences, often including elements of the oral tradition and folklore. Indigenous filmmakers have a right to either use their traditional language or that of their colonizers. However, films made in English have the capacity to reach a large audience than those made in Indigenous language. This is simply due to the fact that most Indigenous people do not understand their own language better as they understand English. However, using an Indigenous language means a higher degree of self-determination and decolonization in the process of filming and its cinematic result. In fact, Indigenous films are meant to preserve that pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to the other. Hence, it is desirable to make use of an Indigenous language to make Indigenous films than to use non-Indigenous languages. Producing films in Indigenous languages helps to prevent such languages from total degradation. Use of indigenous languages in films provides a means for publicizing Indigenous beliefs, traditions, customs and values as Languages serve as a memory bank of the beliefs, traditions, customs and values of the people. The use of indigenous languages in different forms and level in films also enhances the aesthetic aspects of the film. Such films can also be used in informal classrooms where students can be taught these languages. As a result, indigenous languages will continue to exit (Graham 1997:17). There is still a colonial mindset in the world of Indigenous cinema. Colonialism is based upon the idea of domination and superiority. In order to make their voices heard and explore decolonizing strategies, Indigenous filmmakers have to use colonialist modes of literary and filmic practices. They also have to make use of colonialist means of production such as film technology, including cameras, film materials, video tape, and digital film, editing boards, computers, television sets and projection screens as well as colonialist marketing systems like publishing houses, literary magazines, internet, distributing and broadcasting companies. Hence, they remain entangled in a state of dependency on hegemonic colonialist institutions and capitalist mode of production (Collins and Davis 2004). Indigenous films are hegemonic in nature. The Indigenous film industry play the hegemonic part by providing self-justifying stories in which colonist filmmakers expressed the colonizer perception. They do this by providing an optimistic turn of the chronological massacre of Indigenous peoples. They also reiterate the moral relevance of policies that gave the Indigenous people the right to own properties from. Indigenous films build on the tradition that most of the Indigenous people grow up with, for example the myth of homogeneity, slavery and inferiority of Indigenous culture; the heroism and honor of colonist residents; and the myth that Indigenous people are dominated peoples. It is not surprisingly then that most films in the period 1850-1890 highlighted the period when the Indigenous people were at their weakest and most distressed. These films send a common message that the Indigenous people ought to be killed and that Indigenous cultures would certainly vanish. For them, Indigenous cultures were outdated, inferior, and had little to offer to the modern world (Meadows and Molnar 2002:18). The oral tradition is fundamental to understanding Indigenous films and the way we experience truth, impart knowledge, share information and laugh. This is one of the strategies used by native filmmakers to eliminate stereotypes and validate the beliefs and practices of native people. Indigenous filmmakers uses oral traditions in the form of storytelling to strengthen the community’s sense of identity and serve as a political tool in the struggle for greater control over issues important to the community. Storytelling customs has been used to oppose colonial tales produced by Europeans who wanted to separate Indigenous people from their ancestral lands. The Indigenous people value their ancestral land and sea very much. For example, in the film Mabo-Life of an Insland Man, Indigenous Australians believe that their rights to land are inherited and are determined by intricate social procedures which are founded on customary values, relationship and marriage. As a result, Mabo fights for his land rights even to the point of going to the court (Ginsburg and Myers 2006). Indigenous films tend to reclaim their culture which we lost during the colonization process and tend to acknowledge the contribution of indigenous culture to the contemporary world. They also clarify misunderstanding and reiterate the contemporary understanding of indigenous culture. The film ‘smoke signal by Cris Eyre 1998 gently criticizes the white society and racist treatment of native Americans. Through the art of storytelling, the filmmaker takes the narratives of failure and victimization and turns it to one of success. In this film, the break up of the Victor’s family displaying the worsening relationship between victor and his son is a good depiction of the inadvertent complicity of the Native Americans in their own subjugation by the white society rendering them useless. This film also shows that the Native Americans have played an active role in their own history, their own often ingenious and diverse ways of resisting what turned out to be awful challenges. This film is wholeheartedly affirmative in nature showing that with responsible actions the Native American can effectively challenge the American culture, discover themselves, protect their heritage and culture and participate in the larger American society. The film also emphasizes the notions of redemption and reconciliation aiming at resolving the tension between a father and son. This movie has a universal theme of forgiveness and friendship which every person can indentify with. Indigenous films are meant to reconnect Indigenous people with their very old relationships and traditions. Indigenous films transmit beliefs and feelings that help revive storytelling and restore the old foundation. However, Indigenous filmmaking has tended to threaten the careers of Hollywood filmmakers who made a living by creating distorted and dishonest images of the Indians (Collins and Davis 2004). The invasive trope of colonial encounter, with its European focal characters and masses of silenced "others" that signify the unknown, reveals an underlying Eurocentrism in Indigenous cinema. Eurocentrism is a philosophy that prioritizes European and Euro-American history and customs as the fundamental, leading, and advanced measure of human achievement. Indigenous films depict the mystery of colonial move and experiences and they manifest cultural difference as being primitive. They thus express dominant racializing tropes that convey the cinematic creation of race in the social sciences to the accepted imagination through spectacular storytelling and cinematic exhibition. By being Eurocentric, Indigenous films tend to minimize the oppressive practices of Europeans, such as slave trade, conolialism and imperialism, by regarding them as exceptional, unplanned and conditional. Indigenous films tend to discuss cleavages of civilization, gender, race, class and state. According to Indigenous films, no race, class or state that is more superior to others whether in terms of knowledge, beauty or power. It is an object of knowledge obliquely link Indigenous society, the films, genre and diverse cultural differences (Meadows and Molnar 2002:15). Indigenous knowledge includes social, cultural and political features of a given region and it tend to challenge the western way of obtaining knowledge. In order to have a better understanding of the physical and social sciences in a varied cultural setting at this period of globalization, it is important to adapt an academic reform that supports indigenous knowledge. The depiction of indigenous traditions in films is an impetus for social change. They have the power to reach various communities and can have a significant impact on their lives. For example; the film Whale Rider is talks of the indigenous people and their great efforts to preserve their culture. Though this film is not meant to deal with the issue of indigenous Health, it describe the social and cultural factors which can negatively affect the health of the Indigenous people like congested and poorly constructed houses, unemployment, alcohol and drugs abuse, and poor eating habits. This film was set in Whangara, New Zealand and tells the tale of the life of Maori community frantically waiting for its new leader. A man who is believed will deliver them from darkness to light. According to the people in this town, all their chiefs come from the whale rider, as their original ancestor came on the back of a whale. Their current chief, Koro, is a man who is deeply entrenched to his traditions (Ginsburg and Myers 2006). Indigenous films also addresses the injustices committed against women. For example, in the film Moolaaade by Sembene centers on the injustice of female genital mutilation (FGM). In the film, Colle Gallo Ardo Sy says no to her daughter circumcision. As a result, four young girls going to hide themselves in her house because they don’t want to be circumcised. At a certain point in the film, one girl is unable to urinate after being circumcised, where as, other two girls decide to commit suicide rather than going through the circumcision process. This film advocates for the abolition of Female Genital Mutilation. In the same film, we also note that Indigenous men have more power than women and most often they suppress them, where as first wife has more power than second wife. This film endeavors to that raise the awareness of an injustice affecting hundreds of disfranchised women in many African countries. It also advocate for the need of better democracy where women are respected and allowed to participate in the decision making processes, especially on matters that affect them directly (Meadows and Molnar 2002). Indigenous films depict Indigenous people as being self conscious and responsive and not as a baffling or perilous. The purpose of Indigenous filmmakers describing Indigenous issues is to achieve their main aim which is reconciliation. Since 1920s, the Indigenous people have been portrayed in film. However, these films were made from a European point of view and hence, they come up with a demeaning view of the Indigenous people. Such films depicted the indigenous people as being mysterious, playful and threatening. They were also depicted as being primitive and inferior to the colonists (Langton 1993). In conclusion, indigenous films are films which are made by indigenous people and are meant to preserve and pass on their cultural and traditional knowledge from one generation to the next. They are intended to clear the false picture depicted by Europeans filmmakers of Indigenous people as being primitive and threatening. They address the injustices committed by non-Indigenous people against the Indigenous people. They are also meant to bring about reconciliation between the Indigenous people and the white settlers. However, the Indigenous films are on decline and therefore the government should consider subsidizing for the Indigenous filmmaking industry. References Bryson I 2002, Bringing To Light: A History of Ethnographic Cinematography at the Australian Institute of Indigenous. Canberra; Aboriginal Studies Press. Collins F and Davis T 2004, Australian Cinema after Mabo. Melbourne; Cambridge University Press. Ginsburg F and Myers F 2006, 'An Account of Aboriginal Prospect: Accounting for Aboriginal Art and Media', Aboriginal History; Volume 30; [95]-110. Graham T 1997, 'Trevor Graham on Mabo: Life of an Island Man', Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine; Issue 112; 17-18. Langton M 1993, ‘Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television...’  Sydney; AFC. Meadows M and Molnar H 2002, “Bridging the Gaps: towards a history of Indigenous media in Australia.” Media History; Volume 8 Number 1; 9-20. Read More

Use of indigenous languages in films provides a means for publicizing Indigenous beliefs, traditions, customs and values as Languages serve as a memory bank of the beliefs, traditions, customs and values of the people. The use of indigenous languages in different forms and level in films also enhances the aesthetic aspects of the film. Such films can also be used in informal classrooms where students can be taught these languages. As a result, indigenous languages will continue to exit (Graham 1997:17).

There is still a colonial mindset in the world of Indigenous cinema. Colonialism is based upon the idea of domination and superiority. In order to make their voices heard and explore decolonizing strategies, Indigenous filmmakers have to use colonialist modes of literary and filmic practices. They also have to make use of colonialist means of production such as film technology, including cameras, film materials, video tape, and digital film, editing boards, computers, television sets and projection screens as well as colonialist marketing systems like publishing houses, literary magazines, internet, distributing and broadcasting companies.

Hence, they remain entangled in a state of dependency on hegemonic colonialist institutions and capitalist mode of production (Collins and Davis 2004). Indigenous films are hegemonic in nature. The Indigenous film industry play the hegemonic part by providing self-justifying stories in which colonist filmmakers expressed the colonizer perception. They do this by providing an optimistic turn of the chronological massacre of Indigenous peoples. They also reiterate the moral relevance of policies that gave the Indigenous people the right to own properties from.

Indigenous films build on the tradition that most of the Indigenous people grow up with, for example the myth of homogeneity, slavery and inferiority of Indigenous culture; the heroism and honor of colonist residents; and the myth that Indigenous people are dominated peoples. It is not surprisingly then that most films in the period 1850-1890 highlighted the period when the Indigenous people were at their weakest and most distressed. These films send a common message that the Indigenous people ought to be killed and that Indigenous cultures would certainly vanish.

For them, Indigenous cultures were outdated, inferior, and had little to offer to the modern world (Meadows and Molnar 2002:18). The oral tradition is fundamental to understanding Indigenous films and the way we experience truth, impart knowledge, share information and laugh. This is one of the strategies used by native filmmakers to eliminate stereotypes and validate the beliefs and practices of native people. Indigenous filmmakers uses oral traditions in the form of storytelling to strengthen the community’s sense of identity and serve as a political tool in the struggle for greater control over issues important to the community.

Storytelling customs has been used to oppose colonial tales produced by Europeans who wanted to separate Indigenous people from their ancestral lands. The Indigenous people value their ancestral land and sea very much. For example, in the film Mabo-Life of an Insland Man, Indigenous Australians believe that their rights to land are inherited and are determined by intricate social procedures which are founded on customary values, relationship and marriage. As a result, Mabo fights for his land rights even to the point of going to the court (Ginsburg and Myers 2006).

Indigenous films tend to reclaim their culture which we lost during the colonization process and tend to acknowledge the contribution of indigenous culture to the contemporary world. They also clarify misunderstanding and reiterate the contemporary understanding of indigenous culture. The film ‘smoke signal by Cris Eyre 1998 gently criticizes the white society and racist treatment of native Americans. Through the art of storytelling, the filmmaker takes the narratives of failure and victimization and turns it to one of success.

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