Process the Genre
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SALOMÉ AGUILERA SKVIRSKY THE PROCESS GENRE CINEMA AND THE AESTHETIC OF LABOR 13. Frontmatter A13.01 HT | 13 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold Cond, all caps + lsp 70. Centered between 22p6 and 47p2.5 on line 15. Background boxes saved in links as Skvirsky_i. Saved with black trim box to aid in placing. Trim box should be cropped once placed. THE PRO CESS GENRE 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 1 12/6/19 6:02 PM 13. Frontmatter A13.04 TPTitle | 44/48 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps, begin centered on line 7. Break as shown. A13.05 TPSubtitle | 14.2/24 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 80, begin centered on line 17. Break as shown. A13.06 TPAu | 12 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps + lsp 30, begin centered on lin 23. A13.11 TPPub | 7 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 100, begin centered on line 36. A13.12 TPCities | 8/13.8 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 100, begin cen- tered on line 37. A13.13 TPDate | OS Figures. Separated from Cities by en#. 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 2 12/6/19 6:02 PM 13. Frontmatter A13.04 TPTitle | 44/48 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps, begin centered on line 7. Break as shown. A13.05 TPSubtitle | 14.2/24 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 80, begin centered on line 17. Break as shown. THE A13.06 TPAu | 12 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps + lsp 30, begin centered on lin 23. PRO CESS A13.11 TPPub | 7 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 100, begin centered GENRE on line 36. A13.12 TPCities | 8/13.8 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all CINEMA AND caps + lsp 100, begin cen- tered on line 37. THE AESTHETIC A13.13 TPDate | OS Figures. Separated from OF LABOR Cities by en#. SALOMÉ AGUILERA SKVIRSKY DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham and London 2020 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 3 12/6/19 6:02 PM © 2020 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Aimee C. Harrison Typeset in Chaparral Pro, din Neuzeit, and Neuzeit s lt Std by Westchester Publishing Ser vices Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Skvirsky, Salomé Aguilera, author. Title: The process genre : cinema and the aesthetic of labor / Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers:lccn 2019032751 (print) lccn 2019032752 (ebook) isbn 9781478005407 (hardcover) isbn 9781478006442 (paperback) isbn 9781478007074 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Work in motion pictures. | Process films— History and criticism Classification:lcc pn1995.9.l28 s58 2020 (print) | lcc pn1995.9.l28 (ebook) | ddc 791.436/552—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032751 lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032752 Cover art: Frame enlargements, “How People Make Crayons” segment, “Competition (#1481): A Favorite Factory Visit: Crayons!” Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, season 14, episode 81. Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the University of Chicago Humanities Council, which provided funds toward the publication of this book. 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 4 12/6/19 6:02 PM This book is dedicated to Anton, Felix, and Rosa; to my parents, Alan Skvirsky and Anexora Aguilera Skvirsky; and to my sister, Karina 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 5 12/6/19 6:02 PM 13. Frontmatter A13.17 FMT | 11/20.7 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 20. Each FMT located at a different place in the box: Contents: centered, 0p10 from base of centered box. A Note on the Art: FL/RR, broken as shown, 0p10 from left edge of box, caps height 0p10 from top of box. Acknowledgments: centered, caps height 0p10 from top of box. A13.19 TOCFMT | 9/20.7 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps + lsp 30. Begin centered on line 18. Separate entries by [en# + [Kozuka Gothic Pr6N U+25A1 with +1 baseline shift] + en#]. 1 line# below. TOC PageNumbers | 11 Chaparrel Pro, OS Figures, separated from entry by en#. A13.21 TOCChap | 11/20.7 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, centered. A13.22 TOCBMT | Set as TOCFMT, with 1 line# above. 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 6 12/6/19 6:02 PM 13. Frontmatter A13.17 FMT | 11/20.7 Avenir LT Std 45 Regular, all caps + lsp 20. Each FMT located at a different place in the box: Contents: centered, 0p10 from base of centered box. A Note on the Art: FL/RR, broken as shown, 0p10 from left edge of box, caps height 0p10 from top of box. Acknowledgments: centered, caps height 0p10 from top of box. A13.19 TOCFMT | 9/20.7 CONTENTS DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps + lsp 30. Begin centered on line 18. Separate entries by [en# + [Kozuka Gothic Pr6N U+25A1 with +1 baseline A NOTE ON THE ART □ ACKNOWL EDGMENTS ix xi shift] + en#]. 1 line# below. TOC PageNumbers | Introduction: The Pro cess Genre 1 11 Chaparrel Pro, OS Figures, separated from 1. The Pro cess Film in Context 51 entry by en#. 2. On Being Absorbed in Work 77 A13.21 TOCChap | 11/20.7 Avenir LT Std 45 3. Aestheticizing Labor 116 Regular, centered. 4. Nation Building 146 A13.22 TOCBMT | Set as TOCFMT, with 1 5. The Limits of the Genre 193 line# above. Epilogue: The Spoof That Proves the Rule 219 NOTES 239 □ BIBLIOGRAPHY 287 □ INDEX 305 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 7 12/6/19 6:02 PM 13. Frontmatter 1.03 ParaFirst (First of FM or CO) | Set as 1.01 Para + First line indent 7p1, and nested first phrase: 9 DIN 30640 Std Neuzeit Grotesk Bold, all caps + lsp 40. Background boxes saved in links as Skvirsky_ix. Saved with black trim box to aid in placing. Trim box should be A NOTE cropped once placed. ON THE ART THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK there are a series of grids com- posed of frame enlargements from single films— some are 1 × 3, some 2 × 3, some 3 × 3, some 4 × 3. The grids are not meant as adornment. I employ them to help the reader visualize what I am discussing. They should be read as Eadweard Muybridge’s grids are read: from left to right, top to bottom, row by row. The grids are designed to approximate the pro cesses under discussion. Two- dimensional repre sen ta tion is not ideal for convey- ing pro cesses that unfold in time. Each image in the grids is intended to allude to a step in the pro cess. Most of the grids are not complete (i.e., each and every step is not represented), though some are more complete than others. In some grids, each frame enlargement corresponds, sim ul- ta neously, to a step in the pro cess and to a discrete shot of the film. In others, several steps (and thus several frame enlargements) come from a single shot. 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 9 12/6/19 6:02 PM Background boxes saved in links as Skvirsky_xi. Saved with black trim box to aid in placing. Trim box should be cropped once placed. ACKNOWL EDGMENTS I WENT TO BRAZIL to do research for a dissertation on the repre sen ta tion of race in Brazilian cinema. With some luck, I managed to find the filmmaker of a twenty- minute documentary titled Quilombo (1975). Apart from what its title suggested—quilombo is the Portuguese word for maroon society—I knew nothing about the film. I could not find a description of it, and I did not know whether any copies survived. The filmmaker, Vladimir Carvalho, informed me that there was, in fact, a copy— but only one, he thought: a 16 mm print housed at the office of the state- run Centro Técnico Audiovisual in Rio de Janeiro. He generously agreed to arrange a private screening for me. But he did so with the warn- ing that his film was proba bly not what I was looking for. I would not find much evidence of Afro- Brazilian culture in it, he said. The film was about a con temporary quilombo, not a historical one. And the people it was about— well, he said, they w ere devout Catholics, not prac ti tion ers of an Afro- Brazilian religion such as candomblé. Carvalho was right to suppose that, based on its title, I expected the film to be about African cultural sur- vivals and that I would be totally unprepared for its a ctual subject m atter. Quilombo is about the subsistence activities of a then con temporary com- munity of peasants who were descendants of escaped slaves and lived in a small, rural village— Mesquita—an hour outside the nation’s capital city, Brasília. The people of Mesquita had survived for generations by subsistence farming and the production of quince marmalade. The film 218-81710_ch00_4P.indd 11 12/6/19 6:02 PM is structured around the community’s production of saleable quince mar- malade for the local market. With rigorous attention to the details of the pro cess, the film displays two necessary activities in that production: the production of the marmalade itself and the fabrication of small, rectan- gular, wooden boxes to contain it. Intercutting back and forth between the two activities, the film pre sents the necessary steps in chronological order. The quince trees are planted; their flowers bloom; the rain comes; the fruit ripens. Then the quince is picked and tossed into metal buckets. The fruit is peeled, washed, boiled, pureed, reheated, and nfi ally cooled.