Chris Marker & Alain Resnais Statues also Die / Les statues meurent aussi 1953
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Thorkell A. Ottarsson
Dec 12, 2012, 8:51:23 AM12/12/12
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A great documentary about racism and Imperialism. Statues die when
they become a part of history, stop speaking to our time and culture
and become an enigma, e window into history. In Africa during the 50s
black art was being killed by moving it to the west where it had no
meaning. Was just a curiosity. The culture is being plundered and what
is worse, the Africans are forced to make western things, which could
destroy their heritage altogether.
This documentary was in France from 1953-1963 because it was too
critical of the west. It probably came a little to close to the truth.
:)
I loved the masks and the statues they showed in this documentary.
Black art is so beautiful, even though I have no cultural ties or
background to understand it.
The film is on Youtube in 3 parts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Pb9nykjQA
Thorkell.
they become a part of history, stop speaking to our time and culture
and become an enigma, e window into history. In Africa during the 50s
black art was being killed by moving it to the west where it had no
meaning. Was just a curiosity. The culture is being plundered and what
is worse, the Africans are forced to make western things, which could
destroy their heritage altogether.
This documentary was in France from 1953-1963 because it was too
critical of the west. It probably came a little to close to the truth.
:)
I loved the masks and the statues they showed in this documentary.
Black art is so beautiful, even though I have no cultural ties or
background to understand it.
The film is on Youtube in 3 parts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Pb9nykjQA
Thorkell.
Bobby Beksinski
Dec 12, 2012, 9:58:24 PM12/12/12
to The Internet Film Club
"Statues Also Die"
I love that translated title and the overall meaning that the film
gives of how its possible for art to die and be rendered meaningless
over time. The beginning starts off with a such a great quote.
"When men die, they enter into history. When statues die, they enter
into art. This botany of death is what we call culture."
It feels like it sums up what we as westerners and or maybe modern
civilization views the history of our past and the past of other
countries. The main focus of this film centers particularly on African
art as it is the one least acknowledged as art and more as cultural
history however even that backfires as the history of Africa is so
unknown being one of the oldest civilizations of man to exist. So now
we can only gaze upon the African art with appreciation for the
artistic talent in crafting the piece but will never know the meanings
and history behind the artifact. And the problem that is escalating
this even further is the forced westernization of many African
countries and cultures. Soon the entire culture of ancient Africa will
be lost forever.
Towards the end the film does take a left turn and examines not only
the mistreatment of African art but racism in general. The clips shown
and edited together created a fascinating portrayal but also somewhat
disturbing in the sense of intolerance and ignorance that society had
shown during that time period. Chris Marker and Alain Resnais's
collaboration on this film as documentarians was such a superb idea as
a team to work with one another. They created a well crafted short
documentary with philosophical prose as the narration that asked
important questions. Questions that should have been asked a long time
ago.
7/10.
On Dec 12, 8:51 am, "Thorkell A. Ottarsson" <thork...@gmail.com>
wrote:
I love that translated title and the overall meaning that the film
gives of how its possible for art to die and be rendered meaningless
over time. The beginning starts off with a such a great quote.
"When men die, they enter into history. When statues die, they enter
into art. This botany of death is what we call culture."
It feels like it sums up what we as westerners and or maybe modern
civilization views the history of our past and the past of other
countries. The main focus of this film centers particularly on African
art as it is the one least acknowledged as art and more as cultural
history however even that backfires as the history of Africa is so
unknown being one of the oldest civilizations of man to exist. So now
we can only gaze upon the African art with appreciation for the
artistic talent in crafting the piece but will never know the meanings
and history behind the artifact. And the problem that is escalating
this even further is the forced westernization of many African
countries and cultures. Soon the entire culture of ancient Africa will
be lost forever.
Towards the end the film does take a left turn and examines not only
the mistreatment of African art but racism in general. The clips shown
and edited together created a fascinating portrayal but also somewhat
disturbing in the sense of intolerance and ignorance that society had
shown during that time period. Chris Marker and Alain Resnais's
collaboration on this film as documentarians was such a superb idea as
a team to work with one another. They created a well crafted short
documentary with philosophical prose as the narration that asked
important questions. Questions that should have been asked a long time
ago.
7/10.
On Dec 12, 8:51 am, "Thorkell A. Ottarsson" <thork...@gmail.com>
wrote:
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