"In an article published in Harper’s New Monthly magazine in 1853, we read that a Louisiana plantation overseer watches over slaves harvesting sugar cane from a horse. He is elevated to enhance his ability to keep the workers in view while also symbolically placing him above them. We see through this example how visuality is in part about the systems of power through which authority is enacted and enforced practically and symbolically. Whereas the overseer looks down at his charges from above, the slaves must keep their eyes to the ground in deference to his authority and in attentive focus on the labor that they must perform. The whip resting on the carter's shoulder in the illustration is a threat kept in full view. Any slave who glances up at the overseer will be reminded to put their head down and work harder and faster out of fear." - Sturken, Marita & Cartwright, Lisa (2018). Practices of looking: an introduction to visual culture. Third edition New York: Oxford University Press, p. 23.

#VisualCulture #Visuality #Slavery #History

The Camera That Changed the World (2011)

The summer of 1960 was a critical moment in the history of film, when the fly-on-the-wall documentary was born. The Camera that Changed the World tells the story of the filmmakers and ingenious engineers who led this revolution by building the first hand-held cameras that followed real life as it happened. By amazing co-incidence, there were two separate groups of them - one on each side of the Atlantic.

In the US, the pioneers used their new camera to make Primary, a compelling portrait of American politics. They followed a then little known John F Kennedy as he began his long campaign for the presidency. Meanwhile, in France, another new camera was inspiring an influential experiment in documentary filmmaking. Chronique d'un Ete captures the real lives of ordinary Parisians across the summer of 1960.

Both these extraordinary films smashed existing conventions as handheld cameras followed the action across public spheres into intimate and previously hidden worlds.

The cinema of today owes so much to these film makers and technicians. This was the audiovisual revolution that made the 1960s and 70s what they were.

#Cinema #CounterCulture #Visuality

https://soulvlog.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-camera-that-changed-world-2011.html