Originally posted 11/20/07
Marc Silver directed a documentary about indigneous people's views on genetic engineering. This is the title sequence based on a folktale. What do you think about the emic vs. etic view of such a tale? What assumptions come up for the outsider who is white, from a colonial nation, from the US, or for the native Australian seeing this tale in a film for the first time?
Check out Marc's cool website.
http://www.marcsilver.net/#
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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43 comments:
Watching the clip for the second time in class I saw many different things that I didnt pick up on the first watch. Listening to our classmates speak I saw different points of views on the clip that I didnt think of. Its a...weird clip but it captures the attention of the viewer and the creator successfully sends his/her message on how deceitful the white men were
Though the essence of etic and emic perspective is the same (I guess), the way of its perception is really different. Such tale simplifies the matter therefore making it understandable even for second-grader - nicely conveying ideas
I saw this clip about a week ago and didn't pay any mind to it, but something told me to listen one more time and maybe this time, pay attention. This is a very good clip. I can see the emic views of the natives and how and why they felt betrayed. People made fake promises telling them that things will be good but then they screw them over. This happens to Americans every day with our dear president...how ironic :)
It's pretty freaky. I had to watch it a few times to fully understand it. I don't really think there is any emic or etic views if shown to our class. It is a story placed as a metaphor about how the white men decived the black men.
The erie feeling you get from watching this is the essence of this video. It is portraying the unjust treatment of their peoples and makes the reader feel wary of the subject, it gives a perspective that most americans don't wanna see or even think about when it comes to their country. I think this video if you take a look at it more than once is very interesting and profound.
Everton Hunt said
Its not surprising to see an hear how white men then treated natives. They decieved and tricked them with empty promises. The natives had good reason to feel betrayed, but its somthing that goes on now even in todays society
Honestly this video was both shocking and interesting in so many ways. First of all, by just retelling a folktale in such simple way, this video achieved portraiting white men as oppressors and everybody else as the victims. although this conception nowadays might seem a little exaggerated, it somehow shows the history of whitemen' domiion over the world throughout the history.
I would say the same thing Heather said but she said it so i agree with her. yea its true. Many people have been deceived and filled with empty promises, but you cant blame the people whove been lied to. If you have NOTHING and someone comes along and tells you they will give you everything you want , you may feel that they are honest and belive them. After a while the "promiser" will just shun you and turn their back to you.
This video was very interesting it is very simple to understand but also very intesense in meaning. I like the rhythm the story had, it was very deep and emotional. The emic response of a native would be a sense of betrayal and deceit while the etic respose of an outsider would be a sense of guilt.
Amarelis, please note as I mentioned several times in class over the last two weeks, you cannot equate etic with simply any outsider's view. Etic refers to a scientist's view which is nothing like one's opinion as someone outside a culture. So your reasoning is not consistent with anthropological thought.
Thsi video was very overpowering. It convinces the viewers how the britisher s were really mean. I can relate to this story because my grandparernts also used to tell me stories like this when i was young, becaus ehtey were there during the fight of Indepndence and there are storiesa dn songs in the Britishers which are still paying on the radio. The funny thig is, there was a cricket match between India and England in India and crowd was singing one of te songs from the 50's that related to how cruel the britishers were and bascically explained the whole hsitory.
Watching this video points out the fact that one only sees what's on one's mind. therefore the world is simultaneously the prduct of everybody's experiences as they guide our thoughts. this suggests that anyone's action is the result of everyone's action.so we are collectively innocent and also collectively guilty.
Babacar
This was a very strong video. It got to the point clearly. There was no need to watch it twice to understand the emic point of view. The video refers to injustice and prejudice. To how the whites told the slaves from the beginning that it would all be fine if they went with them (followed them). The same way the govt now tells us that everything will be fine if we follow them. Presidents continuously promise to make it all better if they become our ruler. Bush..?=/
Till this day i don't understand why people persist in being racist. We are all free and whether we are: white, black, asian, hispanic, or somewhere in the middle of these, we are all people. This is an unjust world and i doubt that it can all be changed one day by humans. Humans are so diverse in their way of thinking, that there is no possible way to get the human race to come to a same conclusion about something, or what they view as right or wrong.
This was a very strong video. It got to the point clearly. There was no need to watch it twice to understand the emic point of view. The video refers to injustice and prejudice. To how the whites told the slaves from the beginning that it would all be fine if they went with them (followed them). The same way the govt now tells us that everything will be fine if we follow them. Presidents continuously promise to make it all better if they become our ruler. Bush..?=/
In the video the leech knows the Earthworm cannot go up to the surface when the sun is out. Even though this was so, he lied to the Earthworm anyways and it went up and died because of the hot sun. This is a good example of how people treat others. People do whatever it takes to get what they want and where they want. They don't care how it might affect others. They only care for themselves. This absurd attitude is what makes this world more horrible every day.
Till this day i don't understand why people persist in being racist. We are all free and whether we are: white, black, asian, hispanic, or somewhere in the middle of these, we are all people. This is an unjust world and i doubt that it can all be changed one day by humans. Humans are so diverse in their way of thinking, that there is no possible way to get the human race to come to a same conclusion about something, or what they view as right or wrong.
-Katherine Vasquez
this video was very strange. and it got me thinking about a lot of things including what could the leech have gained out of the worms death? why use deceit? Why did the white man exploit these native people?
it made no sense to me.
i swear....i forgot to put my name under that last comment
-William Chen
This video really gave me a creepy feeling. It made me realize how people will go about in any way to receive what they desire, even if it means that they have to lie, manipulate, or decieve people in order to get what they want. I realized that this video wants to expose the idea on how these native people were tricked by another civilization. These people trusted them with their lives basically and instead fell right into their trap. It is cruel and inhumane on how societies can do this to eachother.
In retrospect with the story of the leech and the Earthworm, it showed me on how people treat people these days. I'm sure we have all encountered people who take on the role as the "leech" and us as the "Earthworm". I consider our government as the "Leech" at times, because the government seem to only care about their benefits, especially with our "President" George W. Bush. Emic persective = cruelty, lies, and deceit destroyed this civilization. Etic perspective =??? I really don't have a clue to tell you the truth.
~~Colete~~
The video was quiet strange to me then again it was interesting.While discussing it in class I could relate many new ideas about this video.Though the message has been conveyed nicely.
It is easy to see how the natives felt betrayed. Nothing has really changed today, except that most of the betraying goes on behind closed doors and behind peoples backs in business and other things. It was definitely a strange video but after a second view connected the pieces.
I didn't understand anything when I first saw it. second time I found it very interesting, etic and emic perspective is the same I think. this video lets us think about the betrayal depply with simple figures. excellent video
the natives had to believe the white man because they didnt know what was around them. if the white man said to trust them because they would help them, they would have to trust the white man and take his word for it, just like the earthworm had to trust the leech. it ended up however that the white men was lying to the indigenous people so they could take advantage of them. this still goes on today. we are asked to put our faith into someone and they betray us by making decisions they feel will be the best for us but end up being even more harmful or just straight up lying to us to benefit themselves
I agree with what Colete said. The video does provide an example on how people would use any and everything in their power in order to get ahead and stay on top. People would often influence, lie as well as mislead others in an attempt to get what they want. This video also provides an example of how disloyalty and unfaithfulness is one of the primary components used in order to be considered successful.
~* Ashley Wright*~
Hey Prof.,
I guess I'm wondering when do we begin focusing on the future of the "earthworm" peeps rather than this continuous documentation of the past treatment.
I think it's very clear to all of us that slavery was a bad idea, and it's been (and is continuing to be) documented very well, but when do realize that that was then, and this is now.
I'm not saying the world is perfect Prof. G., I'm just saying that too many times people continuously look back and have forgotten to turn around and begin moving forward.
-d
to devilsadvocate
while it is important to look at future it is essential to understand our history so we better understand why things are the way they are now. Why soem peopel act the way they do. why soem nations have economical problems. why so many people live in ppoverty. why some groups of population are still beign discriminated in our modern world. This all is answered by studyign our history without this we cannot move forward. it is the same thing as the Ted talk videos we watch about the economy and healthcar ein the world. that video showed that is it important to study local cultures to be abel to make adjustments to developments plans for specific areas aroudn the world.
this video makes me realize that some people will do whatever ti takes in order for them to prosper. this means lying, being sneaking, etc. this does not go for everyone, but for many
I had to watch this video a couple of times to truly understand the meaning of this video. I looked at the video with a different perspective each time I watched. I had the most trouble figuring out what the empty quotes meant. I think it was the emic point of view from the people that were being negatively persuaded. It was what the white men were saying to them to brain wash them and give them hope for something which really had no future. Like what the leech did with the earthworm.
Elvin Ramos
Nicole Rosario
I found this video very interesting and also open for interpretation. I am sure the emic view of the native australians is very different from the etic view of the industrial outsider. As an outsider my etic view would be that the australians secretely resent the white man for forcing them into assimilation. For a native Australian they may interpret the video as a form of resistance. Yes they were forced to assimialte but they kept their culture alive through this folktale. It also shows the power of language.
This video is very spooky. Though the video is simple to follow, it strongly portrays that how people can be decieved. An outsider may be highly disagreeable with the idea of how they are being viewed, whereas the native Australian, who may have been lied to many times, will agree witht the video.
this video did a great job of illustrating the constant negative reciprocity that goes on between white man and natives. i think the whole world works that way. the stronger feed off f the weak and this hasn't changed since the beginning of time.
-Jenny U
it is not a suprise to me. the book actually mentioned something about that. they have promised something good to who? to themselves. many people are self concered about themselves only. It is such a great world. i do not think that the world have changed that much. Its just very sad how people are manipulated and decived into thing just because they dream for better future.
Nina Dekel
The tone of this clip was really uneasy. When most Americans tell this same story we make it seem like if it is a normal thing that always happens and thats the way it should be. We never see the Americans taken land from different regions as decitful or hurtful to anybody. The government always make it seem like if it was our to begin with. Take the Native Americans as an example of how Ammericans took their language, culture, and everything they knew and treasured in order to Americanize them because it was their duty to do so.Just like the life sucking leech killed the Earth worm, Americans slowly killed off the Native American culture.
This clip to me felt scary. The rhythm and sound of the video sounds unique and different. In the beginning when i first heard the video it sounded bad like this was meant to show something bad and it did. The leech was just scary with a creepy smile. The natives expressed their betrayal when the whites came and promised a lot of good things.I got a glimpse of how they felt. It was pretty interesting.
I really enjoyed watching this video because of the strong message it sends. Through this video I was able to understand how natives were lied to in order to be taken advantage off. I liked the way in which the folktale represented the whites as the Leech and the natives as the earthworm. I was able to fully understand how slavery came to be- promises made by the whites to the natives that never came to be.
JianYun,Wang
I like the way that this clip have showed, its unique images and sounds make the theme easy to understand and evoke one's inner emotion. Actually, this clip really make me so sad, we all are the human being and lived in the same world, we are all equal in the nature, however, the peace never truly exist in different race, someone with higher power usually took over others' lands, properties, even the life. But "guilt" is the strange word for those who have no moral consciences.
There is something usual, yet interesting about this video. There isn't many word or vivid images, as opposed to many other videos we watched in anthropology class; but it is able to covey ideas very clearly. It portrays the unjust treatment of "primitive" people; it portrays time when white people thought they were doing a right thinks for everybody. It is startling that people criticize the British (or other European) conquerors, but America right now is actually doing pretty much the same thing to some Third World countries.
This video gave me a scary emotion towards it and if i had a choice, I would not want to watch it again. It shows us how the leech tricked the earthworm to come up. We can also relate our history and betrayal from this video.
Iqra Yaseen
I guess from an outsider view we would not exactly get the point that it was trying to get across. But if we see this clip again and listen to the words carefully and incorporate the images and sounds which are being put together it shows a more idealistic emic view and the truth which has happened in many countries around the world.
kyle s
the video was pretty creepy/scary. I think the main point of it was to make colonialism more personal, instead of a just a idea or label given to actions one group of people do to an other. This video is really trying to personify colonialism to show that people did colonize and trick other people for their own benefit, and it was not just some abstract government entity.
Raymond J
I thought that the video had a sort of creepy abstract kind of feel to it. The repetition of some of the lines reinforced the main idea of the story, that the white men had claimed that they would protect the aboriginals but in the end took advantage of them.
DPierce
The video summed up everything those people felt about European colonialization of their land. The repetition just emphasized their feelings toward everything and gave me an inside look at their views, which was that they feel robbed and hoodwinked. I felt pretty bad for them. It was different unlike any other documentaries that I've ever seen. It caught my attention.
I felt that this video gaves a strong message about the effects of colonialism. In the emic view, the natives felt they were tricked and harmed by the foreign invaders. The foreigners made the natives believe they were helping them when indeed they were stabing them in the back. It conveys the idea that the ones with greater power can take advantage of the inferior ones.
I agree with kvasquez's commment above that the video showed a reflection of our government. Regardless of ablity, the government always has the power to change us (such as enforcing policies and laws). We just have to believe and trust our government that whatever it's doing is doing for the good of our people.
honestly, it kinda bugged me out at first. it had this eerie feel to it while i was wacthing. but overall i think it was a good video. it got a good point across and was very efffective.you understand the feelings of the culture that is being affected by the white man and this is important.
I had to watch this video about three times to truly understand it, because the first time I seen this video in class I was a little bit confused. It showed the scale of power between the people, and how people with power could control others. This is an example of colonialism, its a cultural domination of a territory and the people by a foreign power for an extended time
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