Reach and Representation
Indigenous Filmmaking with Mainstream Ambitions: Intercultural Communication Transcending Established Order
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Agata Lulkowska
This paper analyzes the emerging trend of transcending the limitations of so-called indigenous cinema in the attempt to reach much wider audiences within the mainstream circles. Using the case study of the Arhuaco filmmakers from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, I demonstrate how the filmmaking practice, which was initiated by non-artistic ambitions of giving the evidence of violence and repression in the region, become a very effective tool to reach intercultural communication. The ethnographic methods applied in this research draw on my extensive fieldwork with the Arhuacos which resulted in the production of a collaborative documentary focusing on their filmmaking. The implication of this investigation is the realisation of the universal and intercultural value of film as a form of intercultural communication, as well as a reflection on the possibility to break the long-established boundaries between mainstream and indigenous cinema and also film as an artistic expression versus film as a very effective communication tool.
Becoming Young: A Processual Approach to Youth Culture as a Way to Understand Its Representation in Media Organizations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maxim Bonin
Vice Media considers itself the only media with the capacity of reaching millennials. Thus 76% of young adults between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four constitute the audience of the media (Vice Digital, 2017). Vice explains this success by "stories" produced by young people for young people. In the fall of 2016, Vice Canada's francophone section was launched. The head-quarter of Vice-Québec is now located in downtown Montreal. The Executive Director of Vice Québec said in an interview that "their mission is to hire young talents" and "to present Quebec’s culture to the world." This desire to highlight the "young local culture" forged in the mission of Vice, is not only represented in the topics discussed but also in its production, by hiring young talents. Using the emphasis on youth culture in Vice’s metaconversations, this communication aims to define a processual approach (Resher, 2006; Nayak , 2008; Langley and Tsoukas, 2017) of youth culture in the study of its representation in media organizations. Using Vice Québec as an example, this paper is a theoretical proposition to approach youth culture as a process. It explores how this process can be articulated with the representation of youth culture within the organization, and particularly in the the internal and external metaconversations (Robichaud, Giroux, and Taylor, 2004) of the media organization that is Vice Media.
Black Panther-Black Power: Theology and a Blockbuster Film
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kenneth Jones
As the highest grossing film of the year, Marvel Studio’s film Black Panther has reignited interest in black cinema unlike any other film in history. Since its release in February of 2018, Black Panther has sparked a great deal of discussion on many fronts—including as a marketing success and the range of iconic black roles in the film. This presentation considers theological themes in the film, such as James Cone’s Black Liberation Theology and Womanist Theology in light of 21st Century controversies such as #MeToo and #Black Lives Matter. We resolve that textual analysis of black power in black cinema today is as relevant as it was in the early years of Cone and Stokely Carmichael.
