The above link is to an Australian documentary by Janet Merewether about Jabe Babe and her life with Marfan (giant?) syndrome. I point it out because I love this relatively new(?), almost hybrid, kind of documentary where there is definitely a very real story being told by a woman about herself but there is an element of fiction/fantasy going on. This element doesn't take away at all from the realism of her story, in fact it accentuates her story with an aesthetic beauty. I love how this adds to her words, she is sitting amongst a model of a suburb to illustrate her personal feelings of being a giant. I guess a good description of it would be a exaggerated use of mise en scene which normally plays a huge role in fictional film but is not usually at the forefront of documentary. The mise en scene of documentary is usually subtle but here it is fantasised and fictionalised and totally in your face. Love it!
I came across this clip as I was beginning to contemplate how I will represent myself in the film. I have no simple answer yet. My comfortable place (in life and in filmmaking) is to sit behind the camera and observe the world ... not in front of it, ... speaking. The entertainer/performer archetype (if she exists) is well asleep! Deep and meaningful verbal conversations are reserved for the few that I feel comfortable with ... not a piece of electronic plastic sitting on a tripod staring at me, flashing a little red light!! Jeez ... now there's a conversation killer! Now, the written word ... blogs for example ... i seem to be able to share my voice clearly and accurately in this format. Not all that engaging for the audience though .. :o/ ... I'll keep working on this one - i want aesthetic engagement through mise en scene and clear, engaging communication in the representation of myself.
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Uhhhhh!, I've just lost 300 words worth of comments. The browser wouldn't refresh, and then it crashed. Damn! All gone!
ReplyDeleteIn brief, what I was saying was that there were certain qualities in the video that I felt gave it a real sparkle. I'll try to reiterate, but it won't be as expressively written as before (i.e. wot just vanished into the ether), Here goes:
First off, what I liked about Jabe Babe (which I agree is great), was that you could see she was telling her truth. It was "take me or not, this is who I am" kind of thing, and that's highly appealing. People respond well to truth.
But she was also playing on her conventional good looks: her well proportioned face, plucked eyebrows, loads of makeup, etc. Her size was deliberately down played, except where it was used to make a point), because the film maker wanted us to love her, not think "damned freak!". They played on the need to establish flow by removing obstacles such as distracting unconformity, fear of potential failure, ungainly self consciousness, etc, all of which worked to reduce any resistance the viewer might feel to going with her story.
But she also used delightfully self-deprecating humour. For most people, self-deprecation is a mark of strength. Only people who can afford to make fun of themselves because they know they aren't weak can play up their weaknesses in that way. And we all like to follow strong people. But best yet, her story had the killer sucker-punch at the end, to add shock value to our engagement: She just finishes saying how she'll live to be eighty or something, a super comes up to say she died at 35! Absolutely brilliant. We're not just with her, we're suddenly aware of how much we're with her.
So truth, humour, strength, and to a lesser degree, surprise (a sort of automatic self reflection).
Interesting, Fred and Mary (or what ever Fred's girlfriend's name was) had inner personal strength, and people where attracted to that too. But my feeling has been that they whole thing was too earnest for me to find any flow, any engagement with it. Their lack of humour or self deprecation didn't help, either.
I reckon I expressed all that better the first time I wrote it, but then again I would say that, because no one will ever really know!
-M.