Ethnographic Film Analysis

Ethnographic films have focused on one key component, reality. It is the goal of ethnographic filmmakers to do their best to try to, in their minds, to the best of their abilities, express that perfect representation of the real. According to Peter Loizos, real[ism] “appears as it does in real life” as if the camera is an unseen observer; “Realism is life as it is lived and observed” (Loizos 165-66) and reveals the “whole bodies [...] whole people [...] whole life” (Loizos 7). That reality can only be achieved through the real life- the lived and observed. Two ethnographic filmmakers that do this differently, but both well, are Tim Asche and John Marshall. In this essay, I will discuss the differences and similarities between Tim Asch and John Marshall and how they approach issues of reality, objectivity, truth and fiction of a culture.
In ethnographic film history, there was a turning point in which anthropologists started to examine deeper into the representation of a culture, this turning point was Tim Asch. In Asch’s work, he brings to the forefront the idea of the impossibility of being and objective viewer. This idea contradicted his teacher,
The film is split into 3 parts. The first being a barely edited, uncut footage. The cinematography is rough, with the camera zooming in and out and the attempt to stay focused on the main subject. In this footage, the audience, and at the same time Asch and Chagnon, watches the events unfold (this is evident in the commentary behind the camera, which indicates that both of them have no idea what’s going on in that moment). We even hear in the dialogue that Chagnon initially was misinformed about what initiated the fight (initially thought to be the result of an incestuous relationship). Asch, Chagnon, and the viewer, later on learn that the fight was about the visitors vs.