The documentary Nanook of the North, was an interesting film by Robert Flaherty of Eskimos and their life as the American public perceived it, during the 1920’s. Through class discussion about this film, I have learned that Flaherty was doing his best to portray the actions and way of life of the original culture by portraying the Eskimos before the “innovative white man” introduced newer means of technology to them. Some may assume from the film that Flaherty was dumbing the culture down, or perceiving the culture as raw and not innovative.
Looking past this idea, the documentary allows us to recognize that Flaherty was striving to make a documentary of the Eskimo lifestyle in its original, traditional setting and culture. This related to idea discussed in the text that films allow us to perceive the world in a way that challenges the audiences’ assumptions. Flaherty challenged his audience by showing them a different part of the world where culture is much different at a time when other parts of the world did not know so much about the Eskimo lifestyle.
Flaherty documented, sometimes staged scenes, of how the Eskimo’s hunted, communicated, and survived in the cold Arctic Circle. The audience realizes that Flaherty staged scenes to make the Eskimo’s look like “dummies” in parts of the film. For example, Nanook, who was no dummy, is filmed in one scene biting a record, which was filmed for playfulness. The film was playful, intending to appeal to a Hollywood audience.
Flaherty challenges the audience portraying that the “white man has ruined the Eskimo culture.”
I found it interesting that Flaherty went to the Arctic Circle looking for mineral deposits and instead, came back with a documentary of Inuit lifestyle. The Eskimo culture was portrayed differently for the documentary. Flaherty presented Inuit culture as how it was before the white man came and “invaded.” Flaherty wanted to capture the Eskimo’s original culture and way of life before westernization. Nanook of the North strives to preserve ancient tradition and I feel that Flaherty did a great job of doing so. The documentary was both entertaining and informative and challenged the audiences’ perception of the Inuit culture and lifestyle.
Barnouw explains in the text that, “ reconstruction and fakes had an impressive record of success.” This statement explains how documentaries at the time were more for a Hollywood audience rather than for educational purposes. Flaherty used reenactments to better portray the Inuit lifestyle before the “technological advancements” that the white man introduced. Flaherty used a sense of realism, staging, and over acting of characters to reenact a lifestyle that was appealing and interesting to the Hollywood public.