The Ethnographic Optic: Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and the Turn Inward in 1960s French Cinema

The Ethnographic Optic explores the role of ethnography in French cinema in the 1960s and its impact on New Wave fictions and cinéma vérité documentaries during the French colonial empire's final years. It highlights the shift from focusing on distant lands to examining French urban culture, with prominent filmmakers like Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais turning inward with the ethnographic gaze. The book includes canonical and beloved films such as Moi, un Noir, La jetée, and Muriel, essential for readers interested in national identity and cinema.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 04 June 2024
Publisher: Indiana University Press

The Ethnographic Optic explores the intriguing role of ethnography in French cinema during the 1960s and its significant presence in various New Wave fictions and cinéma vérité documentaries during the final years of the French colonial empire. Author Laure Astourian delves into the remarkable shift of focus by prominent French filmmakers Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais, who transitioned from exploring distant lands to examining their own French urban culture. As the awareness of the shrinking empire grew within metropolitan France, these filmmakers turned their gaze inward, mirroring the earlier tendency of their white, urban, bourgeois predecessors to look outward toward the colonies. The Ethnographic Optic showcases some of the most iconic and beloved films in the French tradition, including Moi, un Noir, La jetée, and Muriel, making it an essential read for anyone interested in national identity and cinema.

Weight: 436g
Dimension: 154 x 230 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780253069597