The Seeing Room Analysis

While anthropological film and photograph have been used to document cultures that are consider “other” in hopes for a better understand of that culture by anthropologist alike there has been studies to show that they are not conducive of good field work. An assortment of photographs and films of a culture for a period of time allows for not much more than and interpretation of those works. In the film “The Viewing Room” it depicts Anthropologist Robert Garner answering questions about his film data that he had composed. Garners film depicts a ritual, but that is not anthropology. Anthropologists can rely on film and photography to provide explanation and understanding of a culture, but media is not enough on its own. Between language barriers …show more content…
After film and photography was introduced in 1872 it became the gold standard of proven fact. Photography became recognized for being a vital tool for capturing facts. Not just facts but “fact about which there is no question”(p.15). In science, even a social science ‘facts’ should still be question and not just taken at face value. If nothing else at all this film allowed for the viewers to see firsthand how knowledge and power are hand and hand. With the knowledge come the power to present one’s on truths. Whatever is being presented by the commentator is what the viewer takes away from the piece otherwise meaning is left open for interpretation. The problem is even if the commentator is unsure they have the power to speak as if they are leaking the truth of the “others” unspoken. Meaning is lost and the culture being documented does not have the chance to present the true facts. (Talk more in depth about the problems observed in the screening …show more content…
There has to be documented time and date as well as commentary. Mauss also mentions that things should not be arranged and should be captured in their “natural” settings. With film and photographs in anthropology the problem is there is not real way to capture “natural” settings ethically. The informants are made aware of the cameras and are then to a degree performing. However, with being presented with film and photography there is no way to know if something was intentionally staged or if the informants were inadvertently performing for the cameras. The main problem here is that true culture is not document but rather what is most interesting to look at or the best performed rituals are what gets broadcasted. (here I will Take a look and analyze the text from Mead and the Balinese