Haile Gerima, born in Gondar, Ethiopia in 1946, is a professor at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C. The fourth of ten children, he moved to the United States in 1967. His father was a writer and his mother a teacher. He performed in his father’s theater troupe, “which presented original and often historical drama, always submerged in the genuine culture of Ethiopia.” Is genuine synonymous with authentic? Unlike authenticity, genuineness rests outside of discourse; genuine appears only in discussion. While Gerima studied at the Goodman School of Drama, he arrived at the conclusion that he could control more aspects of cinema than theatre so he pursued an MFA at UCLA where he produced Hour Glass, Child of
…show more content…
A black woman later identified as Mona appears on the screen. She is a model wearing a leopard printo bathing suit walking through the water along the Ghanaian shore. Her gaudy gold jewelry matches her tacky animal print beachwear. Her thick tube necklace complements her dangling earrings and her dark brown sunglasses bar the light, in this case symbolic of the truth. Her tan hat covers her relaxed hair and her red cover-up hangs at her elbows. Her bright, colorful makeup decorates her animated face. With a slim physique, she struts her way toward the camera in this …show more content…
Are these filmmakers concerned with notions of authenticity? Salem Mekuria wittily remarked that Adam and Eve were authentic and everyone else is simple an imitation.
Regardless, Gerima’s film, Sankofa, is a testimony to the bitter struggle of compromise and assimiliation minorities face when seduced by America, an aculturul land fueled by capitalism. He critiques Western values and by shooting on location offers a sense of thereness that lends authenticity to his argument. Though he is at times preaching to his audience, Gerima retains his status as an artist because of the formal elements of his work.
It appears Nietzsche’s binary does not provide us with an unflawed framework for analysis. Barthes’ argument, which exalts Antonioni, implicitly excludes work that could be categorized not just as third cinema or accented cinema, but as “imperfect cinema.” The artist, in this case, is not concerned with “good taste,” but instead with the question: what am I doing to overcome the barrier of the “cultured” elite audience that up to now has conditioned my work?” These filmmakers are taking the master’s tools and using them to “tell stories that have not been told,” regardless of how painful they may
A black woman later identified as Mona appears on the screen. She is a model wearing a leopard printo bathing suit walking through the water along the Ghanaian shore. Her gaudy gold jewelry matches her tacky animal print beachwear. Her thick tube necklace complements her dangling earrings and her dark brown sunglasses bar the light, in this case symbolic of the truth. Her tan hat covers her relaxed hair and her red cover-up hangs at her elbows. Her bright, colorful makeup decorates her animated face. With a slim physique, she struts her way toward the camera in this …show more content…
Are these filmmakers concerned with notions of authenticity? Salem Mekuria wittily remarked that Adam and Eve were authentic and everyone else is simple an imitation.
Regardless, Gerima’s film, Sankofa, is a testimony to the bitter struggle of compromise and assimiliation minorities face when seduced by America, an aculturul land fueled by capitalism. He critiques Western values and by shooting on location offers a sense of thereness that lends authenticity to his argument. Though he is at times preaching to his audience, Gerima retains his status as an artist because of the formal elements of his work.
It appears Nietzsche’s binary does not provide us with an unflawed framework for analysis. Barthes’ argument, which exalts Antonioni, implicitly excludes work that could be categorized not just as third cinema or accented cinema, but as “imperfect cinema.” The artist, in this case, is not concerned with “good taste,” but instead with the question: what am I doing to overcome the barrier of the “cultured” elite audience that up to now has conditioned my work?” These filmmakers are taking the master’s tools and using them to “tell stories that have not been told,” regardless of how painful they may