PRINTVisions of activism
Filmmakers attempt to spur change through celluloid
Courtesy of Rikshaw Films
The Listening Project is a film that follows four Americans through 14 different countries. They ask people from each place, “What do you think of America?”
May 8, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Leonardo DiCaprio made middle-class Americans think twice before making that engagement ring purchase with his 2006 performance in Blood Diamond. Al Gore might have overwhelmed viewers with his innumerable graphs and charts but was one of the first to relay the importance of going green. But celebrities and politicians aren’t the only ones getting into the action.
In recent years, film has transcended its roots in comedy, drama and romance to become a medium for delving into serious, real-life issues. From Hollywood blockbusters to independent documentaries, activist films have become an effective way to circulate certain messages to the public.
There is a fine line between activist film and propaganda. Here’s how to tell whether you might be dealing with the latter.
1.
The executive producer is Uncle Sam. There’s a reason everyone got up in arms after a few network affiliates played news reports produced and distributed by the Bush administration. The reports, which touted the advances made to airport security following Sept. 11, weren’t made to inform but rather to fortify support for the administration. We want our films from HBO, not Homeland Security.
2.
The other side’s morality is presented just this side of Hitler’s. You’re on one side of the issue, and you need to discredit your opposition. What better way than to villainize them, dehumanize them or otherwise force them into an easily labeled box? Useful terms: socialist, abortionist, tree-hugger, atheist, hippie, Big (insert industry here). Go subtle, though, or you might end up with a caricature.
3.
Did that not work? Time to be more direct, and insinuate a link to Hitler himself. That’s the route taken by the recent release Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, an anti-evolution tirade posing as a plea for intellectual freedom. The movie implies the evolutionary sciences naturally led to the Nazis’ use of eugenics. Incidentally, Hitler also built the Autobahn. So, following this line of thought, highways are evil, too.
--Vox staff
On April 29, Rikshaw Films, in collaboration with MU’s Students for Progressive Action, presented The Listening Project. The movie documents four Americans and their travels to 14 different countries. Co-director Dominic Howes, who is also co-founder of Rikshaw Films, says the concept of his film arose from some encounters and experiences from work on his previous documentary, Awakening. The project’s objective is to better understand how the rest of the world perceives the United States and then prompt a healthy dialogue in hopes of encouraging acceptance.
Such a dialogue took place after a screening at Middlebush Auditorium. Howes says one of his favorite things to do is make himself available after showing his film to answer questions and witness discussion. “One of the notions we like to advocate is a notion of global citizenship,” says Han Shan, one of the interviewers that contributed to The Listening Project. “None of us are experts or journalists, but we would like to serve as proxies.”
Kelsey Birza, treasurer for Students for Progressive Action, says the organization also finds film to be a powerful tool in introducing and explaining an issue to the uninformed. Also an advocacy coordinator for STAND Mizzou, a student organization dedicated to raising awareness and providing aid to the victims of Darfur in Sudan, Birza recalls using The Devil Came on Horseback to achieve the same objective.
“Film is the opening of the door,” she says. “We could sit there with a PowerPoint presentation, but it’s different when you watch people tell their stories and you have a visual.”
The film informs potential volunteers; afterward, both STAND Mizzou and Students for Progressive Action provide the tools and methods to get involved.
Film has become an especially popular way to increase awareness about Darfur. Paul Freedman, director of HBO’s Sand and Sorrow, uses his film to evoke the horrors of genocide in Darfur. “I was one of those people who would see it in the paper, read about it and then turn the page,” Freedman says. Now, his work helps others more directly experience the travesties happening a continent away.
Freedman is now working on another film about a war in the Congo. “Film is an accessible way to reach people,” he says. “(It’s) easy to see An Inconvenient Truth just as easily as Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
Although The Listening Project might have sparked similar reactions as many activism films do, Howes doesn’t necessarily categorize himself as an activist filmmaker.
“If you look at traditional activist films, lots of them are seeking out something, trying to convince or argue one point,” Howes says. “I am respectful of the role of advocacy films because they are important, but we did this to create a doorway to a larger dialogue. Our film doesn’t advocate one way or the other.”
Howes, however, agrees with film’s ability to influence. “It’s an incredibly powerful medium,” he says. “There is a role for film in larger spheres — social and political.”
