Ethnographic Film from the Field to the Classroom: Methodological and Practical Considerations in the Collection and Dissemination of Film Records of Popular Religion in China

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILH FROMTHE FIELD TO THE CLASSROOH Methodological and Practical Considerations in the Collection and Dissemination of Film Records of Popular Religion in China by Gary Seaman Far Eastern Audio Visuals 106 107 Before I begin to viev Chinese popular religion from the perspective of film, I will first look at some other sources in order to appreciate how the kind of source affects the methodology of analysis. Basically, excepting direct experience, there are three general types of sources normally available to the scholar: texts, social structures, and recordings (sound, film and video). Texts, in my definition of the term, include still photographs end transcripts of speech, as well es the graphic and representetional erts end written texts. Social structures are basically secondary sources in the sense that they are analyses made by observers about behavior and social interaction . The observer may be the trained scholer using the latest social scientific concepts or the informant using the conventional categories of his culture. Both of these sources, texts and social structures, have in common that they are cognitive maps of possible universes ~·hich present models of reality either by semantic labeling or in two-dimensional space. Film and video recordings combine both semantic labelling and visual :l:mag1;, and differ from texts and social structurel sources in thet they replicate, or seem to replicate, the dimension of real time. Let us continue by considering these three kinds of sources in the format in which they are usually delivered. Textual and social structural sources are seldom presented in any other medium than print or verbalizations forming a text. Even sound recordings of oral texts are usually reduced to paper for translation and elucidation (often being squeezed into a denotation system 1•.'hich more or less distorts the original)• Humanists 108 deal 1·'ith texts end semantic abstract ions, then present their analysis in a v.Titten text. Social scientists deal with aggregate behavior, then present their analysis in a written text. Since reading is essentially an individual endeavor, the reader sets his ovm pace and may interrupt and resume at the same point ~,ith practically no loss of continuity. With film, on the other hand, the pace of presentation is forced upon the viewer. He may divert his attention to follow some tangential line of thought, but unless he is lucky, there will be no instant replay . Print provides infinite time for contemplation end the text may be reviewed over and over till the most complex associations ere clear. This compares quite favorably with the relentless press of 24 frames per second flitting pest on the screen. The film viewer cannot divert his attention from the screened event without suffering some dropout of information. In film, much information is prE:?SE:lntedorally, end hence allowance must be made for redundance end e reduction in the available lexicon. In print, information is presented wholly by visual ,means, thus e more concise end elegant expression is possible . The filmmeker 1 s analysis must be synchronized with the course of events in the original source material, to avoid the development of uncomfortable cognitive dissonance where sound is not matched to picture. In print, the analysis can be readily removed from any reference .whatever to the original source stimulus end the focus can be entirely upon conceptual or theoretical concerns. It would be possible to extend these comparisons of film I 109 end print media infinitely, but it can be seen from the comparisons thus far that most of the differences stem from the combination in film of visual and semantic inputs presented in a non-reviewable format linked to real time, whereas in other types of sources these are not combined. Film, moreover, is a medium uncompromising in its affinities to the original source "'~ ill force stinking pus and loathsome blood dow-n her gullet; They will take molten copper to quench her thirst and iron balls to stop her hunger, There are none of them not scorched with thirst, In the space of one day and one night, she v,ill have died 10,000 deaths, gone through 10,000 rebirths, Her muscles. veins. bones and marrow v'ill throb ~'1th pain unceasing, Thus...