Power, knowledge, and Nanook; the relationships between colonialism and representation portrayed in Nanook of the North
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Date
2015-07-14
Authors
McPhail, Katherine
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Abstract
Nanook of the North is a classic 1922 film by director Robert Flaherty, and despite its age and through its significance to popular culture has remained relevant. But whom does this film represent? The film represents avanishing culture that has been completely constructed and manipulated by Flaherty, a taxidermy that live in the space called ‘North’. Through the construction of props and costumes in Nanook of the North the western white (European) male justified their place in society by creating a primitive other. The question becomes how did Flaherty create justification for social status? Why did Flaherty do this? Finally what was occurring, spatially and temporally, to allow a film like this to be so successful? These questions are answered by exploring the ‘what’s there?’, ‘why there?’, ‘why then’, and ‘why care’ of Flaherty’s Nanook of the North.
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representation, colonialism