Reflexive/Performative
Posted by Gerardo Alba on March 31, 2014
Filed under Uncategorized
According to Bill Nichols, “reflexive documentary sets out to readjust the assumptions and expectations of its audience, more than to add new knowledge to existing categories” (198). If this is what these certain types of films set out to accomplish, then Trinh T. Min Ha’s Surname Viet Given Name Nam is a success. While watching the film in class, it was very difficult to make sense of what I was viewing because the film had so many stylistic choices that seemed to clash, but in the end they made me focus more on what I was watching. The main thing this movie made me readjust my assumptions on was the validity of truth in documentaries. Towards the end of the film, it is revealed that the interviews that were shown, while actual accounts from Vietnamese women, were performed by “actors” who were actual immigrants in the U.S. By talking about how the interviews were conducted, Trinh reflects on the process of documentary filmmaking, but she also makes the audience reflect on what they have seem. After the reveal of the “actors” I began to question what I have understood as truth from other documentaries, which I believe is something this film set out to accomplish.
The performative mode “sets out to demonstrate how embodied knowledge provides entry into an understanding of the more general processes at work in society” (Nichols 201). In this mode, the filmmaker takes on a larger role as they include personal stories and transforms the film into their own diary in a sense. In Agnes Varda’s The Gleaners and I, Agnes incorporates herself into the movie which allows the audience to not only gain a better understanding of the film’s subject, but also of its maker. In the film, Agnes travels around France while filming different acts of gleaming, from people picking leftover food to others taking home owner-less object from the streets. While doing this, Agnes shows how the act of gleaning has changed over time and how it has influenced others. In some scenes, she also talks about her own change over time including her aging. In one scene she talks about how she loves filming rotting things, which made me think about a shot of her aging hands and how she loved filming herself in certain scenes. By including a personal account, the performative mode allows the audience to gain a better view of the subject through the filmmaker’s eyes and how they personally relate to it.
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