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A Bird's‐Eye View of L eviathan
Author(s) -
Thain Alanna
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
visual anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.346
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1548-7458
pISSN - 1058-7187
DOI - 10.1111/var.12061
Subject(s) - filmmaking , ethnography , sociology , mode (computer interface) , aesthetics , visual arts , art , human–computer interaction , computer science , anthropology , movie theater
How can we understand the ecosophical approach of a film like L eviathan , which refuses conventions of representational filmmaking? Drawing on R aymond R uyer's notion of survoler , or self‐survey, to describe a mode of witnessing without distance, this article explores two aspects of self‐survey in L ucien C astaing‐ T aylor and Véréna P aravel's groundbreaking work of sensory ethnography. Both the ubiquitous seagulls and the innovative use of G o P ro cameras here propose witnessing as an ethico‐aesthetical act in a way that challenges documentary norms.