Indigenous Presence and the White Mediator in First Nations Cinema
For many decades, First Nations Peoples have been subjects of choice for filmmakers who presented themselves as mediators of a culture that has been portrayed through an external point of view. However, indigenous peoples have recently taken the means to assume responsibility for their representatio...
| Published in: | Recherches amérindiennes au Québec |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
Consortium Erudit
2016
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/raq/2015-v45-n1-raq02363/1035164ar.pdf https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/raq/2015-v45-n1-raq02363/1035164ar.pdf https://www.erudit.org/revue/raq/2015/v45/n1/1035164ar.pdf https://doi.org/10.7202/1035164ar https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/raq/2015-v45-n1-raq02363/1035164ar/ https://core.ac.uk/display/59444260 https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2317639906 https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1035164ar |
| Summary: | For many decades, First Nations Peoples have been subjects of choice for filmmakers who presented themselves as mediators of a culture that has been portrayed through an external point of view. However, indigenous peoples have recently taken the means to assume responsibility for their representation, creating films that show the rebirth of their culture, through a revitalization of ancestral knowledge and through the creation of a new audiovisual community coming together around the film process. This article attempts to demonstrate how, within films like Before Tomorrow (2008) and Atanarjuat (2001) the white mediator becomes himself an « absent third party », his presence being tacitly suggested within the diegesis, as well as through the appropriation of a foreign medium. It is also shown how indigenous movies and their participants present themselves as transmitters of memory, through the relation that is built between film and spectators during screenings that occur in their communities. Pendant de nombreuses décennies, les Premières Nations furent un sujet de prédilection pour les cinéastes qui se présentèrent comme les médiateurs d’une culture envisagée selon un point de vue extérieur. La récente prise en charge de leur représentation par les autochtones eux-mêmes a permis un renversement des rôles, la mise en image de leur culture passant par une revitalisation de la mémoire ancestrale et par la création d’une nouvelle communauté audiovisuelle rassemblée autour du film. Cet article tente de démontrer comment, au sein d’oeuvres telles que Le jour avant le lendemain (2008) et Atanarjuat (2001), la figure du médiateur blanc devient à son tour « tiers absent », sa présence étant suggérée de façon tacite à l’intérieur de la diégèse ainsi qu’à travers l’appropriation d’un médium étranger. L’auteure montre également comment le film et ses participants se présentent à leur tour comme des passeurs de mémoire, à travers la relation qui se crée entre l’oeuvre et les spectateurs lors des projections organisées ... |
|---|