Friday - Narrative research

 Narrative research:

Task 2 - 

If the power to tell stories and shape narratives is only held by a few, what dangers lie in that?

If the power to influence and tell a story was a right only held by a few then our cultures and heritages would start to crumble into nothing but a memory. If the thoughts of one were the only thoughts being portrayed to the masses, we would all fall into the trap of thinking the same and there would be no creative differences to separate us. If this proved to be true things such as racism and female injustice may still be going on to a higher degree today. We may not have seen colored people presented in a positive light on-screen or women being more than just a 'prop'

Merata Mita. Why was her work important and how would you describe her efforts?

Merata Mita helped to pave a way for indigenous filmmakers everywhere. Stirring the balance between mainstream and 'forbidden'. She was allowing small filmmakers to be able to get the opportunity to express themselves through the media in the future. She went to extreme efforts to stand up for what she believed in, although the government was targeting her and she was a single mother raising 5 children, she never stopped trying to make a statement and prove that indigenous films are an important part of learning the true culture of our country or the ways in which people live, other than the mansions and big inheritances that we see on screen. It allows people to learn about different heritages and cultures that are crucial to the social and economic development of countries. Through small indie filmmakers, we can see the truth behind all the smoke and lights rather than getting the mainstream media from big tech companies or the big conglomerates that try to mask the truth. Audiences may be able to relate to different messages or ideas that indie filmmakers are portraying, it's a smaller directed message that can help to raise awareness to try and prevent things such as domestic violence or racism in different political scenes which a lot of the time is happening behind the scenes. 

Task 3 -

1. How are indigenous stories being funded?

Different filmmaker associations are being set up to be able to financially support indie film amkers and try help with the progression of films. An example is in 2017 when Canada formed the Indigenous Screen Office to support Indigenous filmmakers, which then helped fund 35 projects in their first year. People are becoming more aware that indie films are needing to be heard more. 

2. What are some of the stereotypes that were perpetuated in early indigenous portrayals of the native Americans?

They were shown to be dirty or less than what a normal person should be seen as. Native Americans were seen as nothing more than savages and that whoever was not a native and had fair skin, could own the (what was known as) 'the inferior race'

3. Who is one example of an indigenous voice in NZ who is succeeding at telling stories from an indigenous point of view and garnering the interest of the wider world?

Taika Waititi started off as an Indie filmmaker first producing films such as "Two Cars", "One Nights", etc. Then in 2017, he was given the opportunity to direct the film Thor: Ragnarok, and even in this big-budget Hollywood film there were still touches of culture coming through, for example, one of the characters seen in the fighting ring and had a classic "kiwi accent", which stood out from the rest of the voices but almost help to make the film better as it showed more diversity in casting. This is where even though it was a big film, indie filmmakers are still in touch with their roots and help to bring that to larger audiences consuming big tech media.

4. Where do indigenous films have a platform to be viewed currently?

At the moment the only way to view an indie film is through film festivals. Even though this is a fun experience, people are so used to having everything on demand now through the introduction of web 2.0, that no one wants to make the effort to have to physically go to a film festival or if they do it is more of a special occasion that only happens every so often. Every now and again we see a big-budget film company release an indigenous type of film but that still isn't enough publicity to help the dying breed. 

5. What in your oppinion, is the future of more authentic portrayals and representations of indigenous people on screen, moving forward?

I feel as though indie films are slowly making their way through the ranks. The demand for the truth in the media is growing and audiences are starting to take a liking to the authenticity of indie films. We can see the support when things such as crowdfunding are used to help progress a film, for example, what they did for 'What we do in the Shadows' although they had a small budget people were still supporting the film and wanting to see the end result, which ended up paying off when the film grossed over $6 million in gross sales.