-Photos that capture New Guineanans facination with technology and Westerners facination with them and their culture
“The filming process must be an ordeal of contact with reality. I must place myself within the perceived reality of what I am attempting to film in order to discover the authenticity of people and places”. But... can we ever truly discover the authenticity of people and places with only a limited understanding and frame of time? I think not!
In the film “Cannibal Tours” the New Guineanans were portrayed in a light that accentuated the enormous gap between them and Europeans, focusing on their pagan rituals, tribal mentality and their somewhat uncivilized, tendencies. As an individual living in the Western world it is clearly apparent, through a vast array of medians that grant me a glimpse of life abroad, that their exist tremendous differences between how we live in comparison to those living in less technologically advanced regions. Simply, we are in the know-how because we possess the technology to capture, than study and expose what we see through a lens- allowing us to acknowledge the vast differences between cultures-a luxury that New Guineanans do not have. Strangely enough, it seems that the New Guineanans do not acknowledge all the differences between themselves and the Europeans on the same level-maybe because of their lack of resources to see alternative cultural environments. “New Guineanans rigorously maintain that there are no differences with the single exception that the Europeans have money and they don’t” as quoted in the article “”. Because they are not the ones traveling and exploring abroad, hastily snapping pictures at every opportunity, they are unaware of the extent of the differences between their way of life and the Western/European way of life for a lack of an alternative outlook.
What is truly important here, is that despite Westerns perception and pre-constructed stereotypes concerning the infamous ‘other’, molded by mainstream depictions and representations, Westerners are not in any sense fully aware of their ways of life abroad, possessing only a fragmented outlook of their culture. Just as the New Guineanans are in the dark about our culture and way of life, we are also likewise unaware of theirs -for we are only granted a small (and far from all encompassing) depiction of their far away reality…
Arguably, the lack of exposure of European culture, in terms of what the New Guineanans are aware of, may be beneficial to both parties. I have recently come across some studies revealing a growing concern about the extension of technology into 2nd and 3rd world countries. The situation revolves around the notion that people and communities from all around the world are increasingly being exposed and taking part in the integration of technology that ultimately glorifies Western consumer culture. This inevitably makes for an even greater divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’ by showing non-Westerner's what they could have but simply don’t, stimulating animosity, jealosy and to an extent hostility towards the Western world.
As illustrated by the accounts of the elderly lady in the market, we can see the adverse affects of bringing attention to the financial divide that exists between them and the Europeans-reinforcing the notion that the European’s are the haves’ and they are the have-not's. Had they never been exposed to Europeans and their dependence on money in the first place, New Guineanans' would have never known the concept of money and thus would not envy it. In this manner, clearly outlining what the Western world has, fuels animosity and resentment on behalf of those who can only see what they do not have.
On a completely different note... As illustrated by the film “Cannibal Tours”, Europeans are the possessors of the gaze, allowing them to look while not being seen. As covered in lecture, this signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gaze of the Europeans is superior to the object of the gaze-the New Guineanans'. Just as Mulvey concludes that males in cinemas are always the lookers, and females always the observer-Europeans are likewise granted the same dominant viewpoint of onlooker while the New Guineanans mirror the females role as observer. This gaze often causes the spectacle to internalize the gaze, which changes their perception of themselves and makes them think of themselves as objects. This ideology of objectification through a dominant gaze is clearly evident by the New Guineanans acceptance of money for a photo opt. We can see how the the European gaze (through a lens) causes the New Guineanans' to objectify themselves by selling a part of themselves and their culture for a little bit of money.
-Desperate and angry for money... only because of their exposure to it!
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