Nanook Of The South Analysis

The structured perception of Nanook of the North by Flaherty shows the inclination of peoples’ criticism to something different from their assumptions. Nanook of the North is an ethnography depicting the Canada Arctic life of Nanook and his people. Flaherty’ underlying concept is to bring to light the already made assumptions of “Eskimo” culture. By using the narrative arc of the intro/exposition-conflict-rising action-climax-denouement/resolution, Flaherty is able to pass of staged events as in the walrus hunt as reality to make the ethnography more “authentic”. Nanook of the North helps also to detach the audience from what is occurring through music; music equals emotion. That emotion is what Flaherty uses throughout the movie to hold the

As in Land without Bread, when the small children are in their classrooms and the camera pans to a picture of an elegant dressed lady, whilst the narrator in the background states, “What are you doing here?” The nature of this statement is to ridicule the townspeople as to how there are so deplorable, they have no right to mingle with the ‘civilized folk’ for they are too dirty and stupid. Flaherty and Buñuel both criticize people through their film, because their value system and how their society works is different.

A specific example of this in Nanook of the North is when Nyla was showing off either her baby or husky named Rainbow about four months old. There is no differentiation of who Rainbow is, so Flaherty makes the inferred assumption that “Eskimos” are no different from the dogs; this reinforced when the family is eating seal meat and the shots keep panning back and forth from the hungry dogs to Nanook and his tribe.

Buñuel’s film functions in the same way, but it is through the narration of the Hurdanos. He uses an ‘I speak about them to us’ narrative to separate the audience from the townspeople, such that they would not be able to sympathize with

Flaherty is not the only one who does this; the ethnographical film Land without Bread is another good depiction of how people are criticized by others for their way of life. The producer of Land without Bread was Luis Buñuel who unlike Flaherty created the ethnofiction as a way to criticize the people of La Alberca, depicting the people as backwards and unfit to be part of society. It compares to also how Nanook is shown at the ‘Trading Post of the White Man’, trying to find out what the record is, by biting it (Flaherty).

The audience is to laugh at Nanook, because only a small child out do something like that. As in Land without Bread, when the small children are in their classrooms and the camera pans to a picture of an elegant dressed lady, whilst the narrator in the background states, “What are you doing here?” The nature of this statement is to ridicule the townspeople as to how there are so deplorable, they have no right to mingle with the ‘civilized folk’ for they are too dirty and stupid. Flaherty and Buñuel both criticize people through their film, because their value system and how their society works is