Epistemology & Me.

Epistemology as way of knowing rings true to my natural thought processes especially in a sociological gaze. To see and observe in the action of what is going on is to truly grasp, from the fine sensory details, upward. The film Man With A Movie Camera really hammers home this point through its thorough representation of then modern Eastern European life. The film also manages to convey its messages in the universal language of music which makes the whole experience that much more powerful. The film toys with technological feats of the day and creates a very convincing montage of everyday life from sunup to sundown.

We can apply this for our uses of understanding ethno-media through the idea of self reflection and broad understandings of our effect on the subject matter. Our ways of seeing the world must include ourselves in it, our actions spawn their own reactions that may not have occurred if we weren't there. Looking backwards on the things we've studied up until this point, each has had a camera, subject, and a director - it is important to not forget to turn the camera around once in a while and reverse the roles in order to understand the effect of each player in the game. I feel as though I will revisit this theme when we begin working on our group film projects.

The loose narrative stirred up an eerie connection to the hustle and bustle of our daily lives today and to, perhaps, the triteness of it all - in a technological sense - seeing how far we've come in such a short time. I was also reminded of a contemporary experiment in film done in a very similar way- Koyaanisqatsi- Godfrey Reggio's epic cinescape.

This is an 8 minute segment called "Vessels," in it one can clearly see the critique of modern life but through the the lens of the camera. The music is composed by famed minimalist Philip Glass and is quite enchanting.
Enjoy and I'm sure the parallels of theme and style will leap out to you.