Cinemas and Spectators of International Development
This article tracks how mid-20th century US and Latin American documentary filmmakers created a visual and narrative repertoire that encouraged spectators worldwide to imagine a global transformation from the stagnant living death of underdevelopment to striving, productive life-in-development. It e...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2019-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/15440 |
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| _version_ | 1841558335236603904 |
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| author | Molly Geidel |
| author_facet | Molly Geidel |
| author_sort | Molly Geidel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article tracks how mid-20th century US and Latin American documentary filmmakers created a visual and narrative repertoire that encouraged spectators worldwide to imagine a global transformation from the stagnant living death of underdevelopment to striving, productive life-in-development. It explores how development institutions, theorists, and filmmakers made connections between the experience of spectatorship and the odd mixture of passivity and striving that constituted the ideal “developing” subject. However, it attends not only to the ideal spectators these films attempted to create, but also to the experiences of spectators themselves, concluding that audience reactions to development films, particularly among non-experts, were often skeptical of the universal modernization trajectories on which the films insisted. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d787808412164998a3edaaabbd3230c5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-d787808412164998a3edaaabbd3230c52025-01-06T09:07:50ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362019-12-0114410.4000/ejas.15440Cinemas and Spectators of International DevelopmentMolly GeidelThis article tracks how mid-20th century US and Latin American documentary filmmakers created a visual and narrative repertoire that encouraged spectators worldwide to imagine a global transformation from the stagnant living death of underdevelopment to striving, productive life-in-development. It explores how development institutions, theorists, and filmmakers made connections between the experience of spectatorship and the odd mixture of passivity and striving that constituted the ideal “developing” subject. However, it attends not only to the ideal spectators these films attempted to create, but also to the experiences of spectators themselves, concluding that audience reactions to development films, particularly among non-experts, were often skeptical of the universal modernization trajectories on which the films insisted.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/15440documentaryModernizationUNESCOUSIAJames BlueJohn Steinbeck |
| spellingShingle | Molly Geidel Cinemas and Spectators of International Development European Journal of American Studies documentary Modernization UNESCO USIA James Blue John Steinbeck |
| title | Cinemas and Spectators of International Development |
| title_full | Cinemas and Spectators of International Development |
| title_fullStr | Cinemas and Spectators of International Development |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cinemas and Spectators of International Development |
| title_short | Cinemas and Spectators of International Development |
| title_sort | cinemas and spectators of international development |
| topic | documentary Modernization UNESCO USIA James Blue John Steinbeck |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/15440 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mollygeidel cinemasandspectatorsofinternationaldevelopment |