Essay on Coles’ Ideas in The Tradition: Fact and Fiction

Firstly, it is important to understand how the documentary form is best suited to illustrate the film’s theme. In order to do this, one must have an overview of the documentary style of filmmaking. Documentaries concern themselves with the “exploration of

To begin with, Lange helped perceive the poor living conditions of the 1900’s through her photo of the migrant mother and three children. For instance, Lange with her photo of the migrant mother helped raise awareness, for the federal government gave the pea pickers camp, where the migrant mother had been distinguished, “twenty thousand pounds of food”. (Starr 48) The photo of the unfortunate pea pickers helped people realize how hopeless they really were. This creating a willingness to help. Showing Lange's photography ability to create empathy through a simple photo. In addition, the mother was so desperate for help that when the picture was taking place, “there she sat in the lean-to-tent” motionless. (Starr 47) The migrant mother was so

Dorothea Lange became a well-known photographer with pictures of the Dust Bowl. According to Garland 2003 her photography obtained government relief for Dust Bowl migrants because she “visually demonstrated the hunger, poverty, hardship, and the plight of the migrants.”

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

Curtis begins this article by describing how Lange was a little different from traditional documentary photographers. Tradition was honesty, directness, and a lack of manipulation. Lange and other influential photographers like Walker Evans, knew that they had to document life with a purpose but in order to really convey their message they had to include artistic elements. Aesthetic was an important part of her work, she wanted her photos to have an artistic value which could help capture the universal struggle of those living in poverty. In order to do this she had to do many different shots with different angles, different positions of the subjects, and sometimes including or excluding certain sitters. For example the teenage daughter of the family was excluded in some of the photos because it presented awkward questions. According to Curtis, “While middle-class viewers were sympathetically disposed to the needs of impoverished

Dorothea Lange was an employee of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). It was a program designed during the Great depression to raise awareness of and provide aid to impoverished farmers. It was created in 1937 under the Department of Agriculture, helped with rural rehabilitation, farm loans, and subsistence homestead programs. The FSA was not a relief agency, but instead it relied on a network of cooperation between states and county offices to determine which clients needed loans that could not get this credit somewhere else. One of the most memorable programs of the FSA is the collection of photographs that document the rural conditions from the Information Division of the Resettlement Administration. These photos helped to not only promote

She tried to ignore the sign and drive on, but after twenty miles she was compelled to return to the camp, “following instinct, not reason.” She shot six photographs in a very short period of time of the woman and members of her family, starting at a distance and working her way closer and closer after the fashion of a portrait photographer. The one thing I love about the images of Lange is they are not posed. She truly wanted others to see what she was seeing through her lens. She was there to record and to report, but what made her different is that she did it with a compassionate eye. Lange said she had to get her camera to register the things that were more important than how poor the Migrants were, she wanted her camera to also register their pride, strength, and their spirit. I believe she shows this in the image above. The young lady does not hide her face in shame as the images were being taken, even as Lange moves in closer to get more detailed images. Her pride keeps her head up, the strength to carry on for her children or they will starve. This is what Dorathea Lange shows in her images. Dorothea took her images with great thought. She had to work to get the message through the lens of something other than these are poor people. She always captured the correct amount of light and shadow, and even the angles and distance to tell

Documentary films in particular have been the preferred channel for the diffusion of propaganda because of its association with ‘a truthful cinema.’ John Grierson, coiner the term documentary, defined it as “the creative treatment of actuality.” However, Hilmar Hoffman talks about film’s illusory power by explaining that what exists to the viewer is only what the camera ‘sees,’ and due to the absence of alternate perspectives, the viewer conventionally perceives the images shown as reality. In this regard, documentary films are able to influence, represent, and create a particular consciousness by doctoring events, thus making it untrustworthy and, ultimately, the ideal medium to communicate

Then in 1935, Lange was one of the photographers who asked to assist with an economic research study led by Paul Taylor, who later became her second husband. Taylor become impressed with Lange’s photography and recruited her for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), a division of the U. S. government that represented farmers of color. During this time period, Lange took more photographs of the dust bowl, and people who suffered and struggled during this time. The photographs from her tenure with the FSA have become iconic within American history and

Painting Abstraction In the painting, Pastoral in the series The Course of an Empire, Thomas Cole emphasizes the theme of a pastoral landscape leading to the beginning of society. The painting highlights other abstractions. However, Cole’s striking and intriguing thoughts on human evolution through the chiarscrco technique in which an artist contrast both light and darkness to create depth as well as volume emphasize the beginning of society. A pastoral landscape is one that stresses nature and simple rustic pleasures such as agriculture and livestock.

Painting landscapes was very important during the 19th century. Thomas Cole was one of the most important figures in landscape painting in the United States. He went to many places searching for nature, which he painted to show the unmatchable beauty nature creates. His works of art helped people see and take pride in their great land, which was called America. Cole’s works were often made people feel like they needed to go out in nature and discover the inspiring world of mother earth.

Dorothea Lange’s pictures of the homeless during the Great Depression got the attention of the Federal Resettlement Administration. She began to work for them taking pictures and capturing the publics attention of the poor. She also worked for the US Farm Security Administration before World War Two. She investigated the conditions of farm workers in many Western states. Many of the people she photographed during this time had came to escape the “Dust Bowl” (a drought which devastated millions of acres of farm land in midwestern states).

How does a personal narrative affect the public’s memory of a historical event? Blackburn states a personal account of history is easier to believe, allowing a link with the public to its past (Blackburn, 39). The Dust Bowl and Marrying Out documentaries, along with McHugh’s and Frisch’s articles show the importance that sights, sounds, and personal histories play in setting the mood of a documentary or exhibit, along with why oral histories are vital in public history. In Thomas’ article, along with Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives illustrates the importance that oral histories and exhibits have in the public’s memory in a museum setting. Blackburn demonstrations how oral histories influence society to interpret a particular view of history. The overall theme presented is how oral history and its use in media can shape how the public views history. With this theme, the historian must understand how the author or director uses oral history to capture the mood of to influence emotionally their audience, how the use of oral histories can influence the public’s view, and how oral histories can be used

In this assignment, it analyse the current competitive strtegies of Coles Company through four aspects: cut price, quality control and product, cut down expenditure on operation and market innovation. It also find the strtegic management accounting techniques which suits the company’s operation can help the company be in the dominant position. It get the

I snuggle in for another movie night as the buttery smell of palm oil free popcorn wafts through the room. But I’m not waiting for the newest blockbuster to load, I’m waiting for an acclaimed documentary that has snagged my interest. No longer are they stifling classroom videos from the ‘golden ages’, but intriguing films that are enjoyed by many. Including me. As a twenty-year-old who can’t afford to travel, I have taken a liking to documentaries that allow me be anywhere in the world, even if it’s just for an hour or so.