Exclusive Licence Ailowing the National Library of Canada To
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Senices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 OttawaON K1AOW Canada Canada Your fi& Vme retPIenœ Our Iüe Notre refem The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive Licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. An Ethnopphy of Seeing: A Proposed Methodology for the Ethnographie Study of Popular Cinema by Mikel J. Koven A thesis subrnitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial filfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Folklore Mernorial University of Newfoundland March I 5, 1999 St* John's Newfoundland AxwrRAcr: Cinema is a symbolic manifestation of cultural identity based on the experience of that identity. Generaliy, social scientists have relied on the ethnographie documentary tradition in film to explore issues related to cultural experience. Film studies scholars have tended to emphasize issues surrounding the representation of ethnic individuals rather than the construction of ethnic identity in popular film. This study will bnng together the advantages of social science and film studies approaches, while focusing more intensively on the development of a culturally responsive approach to film. As a case study, this thesis focuses on an exploration of Jewish cinema. Through fieldwork at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, 1 examine the participatory nature of Jewish film culture. By interviewing some of those members of the Toronto Jewish cornmunities attending that festival. a characterization of Jewish cinematic aesthetics was constructed based on the narrative motifs, demands of verisimilitude, and their vernacular taxonomies. Taken holistical 1y. these aspects create an ethnographically informed study of a group's popular cinema. If we can deconstruct films. which memben of specific communities have produced. and examine the ways in which those films are then reincorporated back into their respective communities. we have made a crucial step toward understanding cinema from an emic perspective. What this thesis asks is whether gaining access to a community's worldview is possible. to describe the cultural vitality of the community, by rneans of the group's popular cinema. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The 1997 David Buchan Graduate Research Award in Folklore made the fieldwork component of this project possible. Excerpts fkom Chapter Two were presented at the 1998 annuai meeting of the Folldore Studies Association of Canada. Along with that recognition, thanks to those present who gave me encouraging feedback on the presentation. 1 would like to th& the numerous people who assisted me in so many ways throughout this research: to begin with, at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, I would like to thank Helen Zukennan, Debra Kwinter, Shlomo Schwartzberg, Ginger Mittleman, Reva Spunt and Sarah Fowlie. 1 wouid also like to thank Joanne Kay, who helped me in covering the opening night of the Festival; Jodi Miller, who allowed me to bounce so many ideas off her during the Festival: and lsraeli filmmaker Ram Leovy, who taught me that there were left-wing lsraelis out there who opposed the government's treatment of the Palestinians. I would also like ro thank the executive of the Toronto Jewish Film Society: Ethel Teitelbaum. Dolores Feldman. and Moms Feldman. Most important. 1 would like to thank those cultural practitionen who allowed me to tum their quiet evenings and aflemoons at the movies into a research labontory Ron. Howard, Sara, Mark, Janis, Jeannie, Pm,Yona. Suq. Lyla. Amos. Toni. Debbie, Dave, Judith, Randi, Mike, Helen. Rachel. Reba Blake. Lainie. Sy. Barbara. Ruby. Lisa Karen. Alan. Eddie. Steve. Rhonda, C.1. C.1. Myrtle. and Phyllis. There are also the number of anonymous surveyed informants at the Toronto iii Jewish Film Festival whose responses were enormously helpful to me. Many people took a great deal of tirne to fil1 out these forms, and I appreciate the effort. There were also the informants 1 talked with via email: on the Jewish Filmmaker's Fonun (Frank Champagne, David Notowitz, Yoesh Gloger, Larry Mark, and Walter Ruby), as well as those participants on the newsgroup soc.culture.jewish who responded quickly to rny ignorance about my own traditions and supplied me with some great information (Rabbi Ari Shishler, Zev Sero, Douglas Jones, and Herman Rubin). 1 would also like to thank my mother, Beverley Koven, for getting me access to many films discussed in this research, films which are not readily available on video. 1 thank Tirn and Lainie of Capitol Video in St. John's, who also helped me acquire other films, and for not necessarily charging me for the rentals. 1 also thank Arnold Bennett who was determined to make me understand the concept of "Jewish content." 1 also give thanks to Sharon Cochrane and Karen O'Leary, without whom the Folklore department could not run at dl. let alone eficiently; to Dr. Paul Smith who has encouraged me in developing my own ideas, even though they often differed frorn his; and to Dn. Diane Tye and Peter Narvaez. my cornmittee members, whose encouragement and advice made this current work substantially better than 1 could have achieved on my own. Dr. Diane Goldstein has been a constant source of encouragement for me, challenging my research and thinking in ways she knew 1 could achieve. even if 1 did not. It was her leadership that gave me the strength to persevere. Academically, she gave me the focus and drive with which to complete this task. Personally, my focus and drive to complete came hmanother source: my wife, Gian Fazey-Koven. My thanks to her is where 1 wish to end these acknowledgments. Not even she is Mly awa.of how much her love, support, encouragement, and her endless patience in sining through Jewish movies has meant to me (she tells me that she even liked some of them). Gian, it is to you that I dedicate this work. CHAPTERONE ~'TRODUCITON:POPULAR FILM AND FOLKLORE .1 FOLKLOREAM) POPWLARCINEMA .......................................... -3 FILM STUDLESAND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONSTO THE STUDY OF ETHNICITYAND CMMA . 3 1 AN EMOGRAPHY OF SEEMG ............................................. 34 CHAPTERTHREE THEORYHAPPENS? VERNACULAR THEORY AND THE MOVIESTHEMSELVES .107 THEPROBLEM OF DEFCNING"WHAT IS A f EWISH MOVIE" ....................... 114 TOP~CALDEFINITIONS ........... , ...................................... 117 JEWISH SENSIBILITIES................................................... 128 CHAPTERFOUR: ~MELLJNCRICHT~: READER PARTICIPAT~ON AND THE CREATIONOF TEXTS .138 PHENOMENOLOGY ..................................................... 140 READER-RESPONSETHEORY............................................. 143 RECEPTIONTHEORY.................................................... 145 FILMAND PHENOMENOLOGY ............................................. 146 VERNACULARTHEORY AND THE EXPERIENTIAL.............................. 147 CHAPTERFIVE: YIDDISHKEYTAND MENTSCHLEKHKEYT:THEY~DDISH LANCUACE CINEMA .157 Y IDD~SHCINEMA ...................................................... 160 EAST AND WEST AS PROTO-YIDDISH CINEMA ................................. 163 JOSEPH GREEN ........................................................ 169 YIDDISHKEYT,MADE M THE USA ......................................... 184 JEWISH EDUCATION.................................................... 255 MENTSCHLEKHKEYT................................................... 260 ASSIMILATION........................................................ 264 VERISIMILITUDETO JEWISH EXPERIENCE..................................... 270 JEWISH CONTEXT ...................................................... 274 JEWISH TAXONOMY(GENRE) ............................................. 276 CODING............................................................. 280 CHAPTEREIGHT: CONCLUSI~NS:PQPULAR CINEMA AND CULTURALIDENTITY vii Figure 2.1 : TJFF Survey O "1s this the first time you've corne to the festival?" ........ 51 Figure 2.2. TJFF Siirvey ."How many years have you been coming?" .............52 Figure 2.3: TJFF Survey ."Do you have a festival pass. or do you buy your tickets individdly?" .................................................... 53 Figure 2.4. TJFF Survey ."How many people did you corne down here with?" ......54 Figure 2.5: TJFF Suwey ."Do you go to any of the other film festivals in Toronto?" . 56 Figure 2.6: TJFF Survey ."Do you go to any of the other ethnic (i.e. Jewish) festivals in Toronto ?" .......................................................57 Figure 2.7. TJFF Survey ."How did you hear about this festival?' ................ 58 Figure 2.8. TJFF Survey ."In general, what kind of movies do you prefer?" ......... 61 Figure 2.9: TJFF Survey ."How important do you think this festival is to the cultural