EBOOK
The Ethnographic Optic
Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and the Turn Inward in 1960s French Cinema
Laure AstourianSeries: New Directions in National Cinemas(0)
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The Ethnographic Optic traces the surprising role of ethnography in French cinema in the 1960s and examines its place in several New Wave fictions and cinéma vérité documentaries during the final years of the French colonial empire.
Focusing on prominent French filmmakers Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais, author Laure Astourian elucidates their striking pivot from centering their work on distant lands to scrutinizing their own French urban culture. As awareness of the ramifications of the shrinking empire grew within metropolitan France, these filmmakers turned inward what their similarly white, urban, bourgeois predecessors had long turned outward toward the colonies: the ethnographic gaze.
Featuring some of the most canonical and best-loved films of the French tradition, such as Moi, un Noir, La jetée, and Muriel, this is an essential book for readers interested in national identity and cinema.
Focusing on prominent French filmmakers Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais, author Laure Astourian elucidates their striking pivot from centering their work on distant lands to scrutinizing their own French urban culture. As awareness of the ramifications of the shrinking empire grew within metropolitan France, these filmmakers turned inward what their similarly white, urban, bourgeois predecessors had long turned outward toward the colonies: the ethnographic gaze.
Featuring some of the most canonical and best-loved films of the French tradition, such as Moi, un Noir, La jetée, and Muriel, this is an essential book for readers interested in national identity and cinema.
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Reviews
"If the study of the late 1950s and early 1960s period of French cinema has been dominated by discussions of the cinéma vérité and French new wave movements, Laure Astourian's lucid and provocative book troubles these hallowed categories, aligning Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais along a new axis of self-reflexive ethnography. . . . This book will be an indispensable aid to all research
McNeil Taylor
"Richly documented, this work complements an already well-stocked body of references on the political and cultural transformations of French society during the 1960s. Nevertheless, Astourian succeeds in breaking new ground and offers a unique exploration of a pivotal moment in French political and cultural history, 1960-63. Enriched with numerous images from the films analyzed, all reproduced in c
Audrey Evrard