Intro – genesis of the project.
In the last few years, I’ve been investigating the nature and function of non-Indigenous music in Indigenous films. That research began from some simple assumptions. First, that every production opportunity is weighed down by what Kobena Mercer describes as the “burden of representation” (in this one shot, you must represent all). Second, taking assumption 1 to be true, films made under these conditions will tend to necessarily put the identity politics of the culture or ethnicity front and center. Third, that such representations do a double job: to critique existing colonialist/neo-colonialist representations as well as foregrounding their own specific anti-colonialist representations. In my analyses of these …show more content…
This combination makes it difficult to easily classify. Nevertheless, it is whodunit structure that serves as the plot’s spine. The film centers on Honey who is the proud proprietor of the Smokin’ Moccasin (a bar and place for live entertainment. In competition with her café is Inukshuk Café belonging to Zachary John. Already, a play on ‘cultural authenticity’ is set up because the viewer’s expectation is that Inukshuk is the real Native café since the name of the former sounds somewhat derivative and kitsch although the reverse appears to be the case in the …show more content…
While self-representation and a critique of previous representations of First Nations peoples by non-Natives is frequent thematic concern, her work, nonetheless, presents a multi-layered ironic exploration of both non-Natives and Natives. This intersubjective thematic critique of Native-Canadian identity also becomes a way of enunciating the complexity of nation, not only in the heterogeneity of subject matter but also in opting for an associative or suggestive style which makes the heterogeneity comprehensive.
The Business of Fancy Dancing (2002)
The 2002 FallsApart Production, The Business of Fancy Dancing, by Sherman Alexie tells the story of Seymour Polatkin, a young writer struggling with his identity in a world what it means to be a Native American man is highly contested.
We first encounter one of Seymour’s dances in the film’s credit sequence
In the last few years, I’ve been investigating the nature and function of non-Indigenous music in Indigenous films. That research began from some simple assumptions. First, that every production opportunity is weighed down by what Kobena Mercer describes as the “burden of representation” (in this one shot, you must represent all). Second, taking assumption 1 to be true, films made under these conditions will tend to necessarily put the identity politics of the culture or ethnicity front and center. Third, that such representations do a double job: to critique existing colonialist/neo-colonialist representations as well as foregrounding their own specific anti-colonialist representations. In my analyses of these …show more content…
This combination makes it difficult to easily classify. Nevertheless, it is whodunit structure that serves as the plot’s spine. The film centers on Honey who is the proud proprietor of the Smokin’ Moccasin (a bar and place for live entertainment. In competition with her café is Inukshuk Café belonging to Zachary John. Already, a play on ‘cultural authenticity’ is set up because the viewer’s expectation is that Inukshuk is the real Native café since the name of the former sounds somewhat derivative and kitsch although the reverse appears to be the case in the …show more content…
While self-representation and a critique of previous representations of First Nations peoples by non-Natives is frequent thematic concern, her work, nonetheless, presents a multi-layered ironic exploration of both non-Natives and Natives. This intersubjective thematic critique of Native-Canadian identity also becomes a way of enunciating the complexity of nation, not only in the heterogeneity of subject matter but also in opting for an associative or suggestive style which makes the heterogeneity comprehensive.
The Business of Fancy Dancing (2002)
The 2002 FallsApart Production, The Business of Fancy Dancing, by Sherman Alexie tells the story of Seymour Polatkin, a young writer struggling with his identity in a world what it means to be a Native American man is highly contested.
We first encounter one of Seymour’s dances in the film’s credit sequence