Theoretical and Practical Record of the Making of the Documentary Film

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL RECORD OF THE MAKING OF THE DOCUMENTARY FILM, A NATIVE AMERICAN DREAM Liz Daggett, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2008 APPROVED: C. Melinda Levin, Major Professor and Chair of the Department of Radio, Television and Film Ben Levin, Committee Member and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Radio, Television and Film Gretchen M. Bataille, Committee Member and President of the University of North Texas Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Daggett, Liz. Theoretical and Practical Record of the Making of the Documentary Film, A Native American Dream. Master of Fine Arts (Radio, Television, and Film), August 2008, 37 pp, references, 50 titles. This textual record of the making of the social issue documentary film A Native American Dream examines theoretical and practical considerations of the filmmaker during the preproduction, production, and post-production stages. It also examines the disciplines of anthropology and ethnography in terms of modern documentary filmmaking and evaluates the film within these contexts. Copyright 2008 by Liz Daggett ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the University of North Texas, C. Melinda Levin, Ben Levin, and Gretchen M. Bataille for their support and contributions, as well as the Women in Film and Texas Filmmakers Organizations for their financial support of the documentary. Most importantly, this thesis would not be possible without the cooperation of the Redhouse family, the Navajo Nation, and Shiprock and Beclabito Chapter Houses of the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. Thank you, or, in Navajo, “ahéhee’.” iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................iii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND INTRODUCTION TO LOCATION ...................................... 2 PREPRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 6 Concept and Theory Aesthetic, Content and Structure PRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 11 Summer Autumn, Winter, and Spring CHANGES.................................................................................................................................. 15 POST-PRODUCTION: EDITING AND RESEARCH.............................................................. 18 ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY, REPRESENTATION, AND “OUTSIDER” FILMMAKING........................................................................................................................... 20 SELF-CRITIQUE ....................................................................................................................... 30 DISTRIBUTION PLANS........................................................................................................... 32 APPENDIX: SAMPLE RELEASE FORM................................................................................ 33 WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 35 iv INTRODUCTION This is the theoretical and practical record of the documentary film A Native American Dream, which was made in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in Radio, Television and Film at the University of North Texas. The film centers on the lives of four members of the Redhouse family, a Navajo family living on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, from May 2007 to March 2008. Although there are several definitions of the word “documentary,” a term coined by John Grierson in 1926 (Ellis and McLane 3), there is one definition that best describes my experience of the process of making a documentary film, given by Erik Barnouw: True documentarists have a passion for what they find in images and sounds—which always seems to them more meaningful than anything they could invent… it is in selecting and arranging their findings that they express themselves. (348) This paper will chronicle how the images, sounds, and people I encountered in making the documentary were combined with research in the areas of film history, genre, and aesthetic, the history and current situation on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, Native representation in film, and Native American literature to shape the content of the film. It will also evaluate whether A Native American Dream, as a social issue documentary, fits within the categories of ethnographic and anthropological documentary. Throughout this paper, “Native American,” “American Indian,” “Native” and “Indian” are used interchangeably, reflecting acceptance of these terms within the Navajo community depending on the context. Also note that if film crew positions are not gender neutral, it is because I am speaking literally about the person who filled the position in the making of the documentary at that particular time, and not in the general sense of the word. 1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND INTRODUCTION TO LOCATION The Navajo Nation is a land area bigger than ten of the states in the United States, spreading out over New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. In 1968 the Navajo officially declared their sovereignty: The Diné—the Navajo People—existed as a distinct political, cultural, and ethnic group long before the establishment of the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah… and when the geographical area occupied by the Navajo People was incorporated into the Union of states of the United States of America, no one asked the Navajo People if they wished to be so included… it appears essential to the best interests of the Navajo People that a clear statement be made to remind Navajos and non-Navajos alike that both the Navajo People and Navajo lands are, in fact, separate and distinct. (Iverson 245) They have their own laws, governing system, court system, tribal police, trade rights, and language. They trade with Cuba and have their own flag and seal, and the Diné have made possession of alcohol on the reservation illegal. There are areas of overlap, though: government meetings are held in Navajo and English, Navajo citizens vote in all local and federal elections, and they must have a state-issued ID to drive. Relations between the United States and the Navajo Nation must be seen through a history wherein the United States government killed and forcibly marched the Navajo population nearly to extinction in its westward expansion. The genocide and history of broken treaties are well-documented. What is remarkable, however, is that after this history and after federal boarding schools systematically stripped Navajo people of their culture, as Rena Redhouse describes in the documentary, and within the environment of poverty and racism, people like Leo Redhouse proudly served in the military, went to Vietnam, and are still vehemently patriotic. Why? Historian Peter Iverson quotes one veteran: “Many people ask why we fight in the white man’s war. Our answer is that we are proud to be Americans. We’re proud to be American Indians. We always stand ready when our country needs us” (245). 2 In 1975, the United States Commission on Civil Rights sent a report to the President and Congress about the conditions present at the Navajo Nation Reservation. They entitled their report The Navajo Nation: An American Colony. In their letter of transmittal, they concluded: It is our hope that this report, with its findings and recommendations, will stir a prompt response. We believe this neglected segment of the American populace already has suffered too long from the burdens attendant to its deplorable status as “the poorest of America’s poor.” (iii) Thirty years later, research indicated that it not only failed to stir a response then, but the main problems outlined in the report persist in the Navajo Nation today. There is fifty percent unemployment among the Navajo living on the reservation. In New Mexico 14.5% live below the poverty level. Within the Navajo Nation, 40.19% live below the poverty level (US Bureau of Census). Per capita income for all people declaring themselves to be Navajo is $7,269 (US Bureau of Census). Only half have running water in their homes; only half graduate from high school. In the United States, Native Americans are “twice as likely to be murdered or to commit suicide [and] three times more likely to die in automobile accidents” (Bordewich 16). Research done at the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Phoenix put the rate of “heavy drinking” among members of southwest tribes generally at 52.5% for men. (Bordewich 247). Overall, Native Americans face a complex intersection of poverty, joblessness, alcoholism, and fatalism. “Navajos are drawn to town… because their economy today consists almost entirely of wage work, and the jobs, with few exceptions, are in town” (Iverson 276). Tribal Leader Peter MacDonald, at his fourth inaugural address, said, “The Navajo Nation is one of the last economic frontiers in the United States… we must come out of our long hibernation to become self- sufficient and share in the bounty of America” (qdt. in Iverson 287). This has not happened, in part, because the land is not private, but federally held. The United States Federal Court still 3 steps in to resolve business disputes, so businesses

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