Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T00:22:19.498Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter I - Nanook of the North

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

William Rothman
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Get access

Summary

The widely distributed video cassette of Nanook of the North prefaces the film with a title that states, accurately enough, that the film “is generally regarded as the work from which all subsequent efforts to bring real life to the screen have stemmed.” The implied contrast is with ordinary movies, of course – so-called fiction films with scripted stories, actors, and directors. Presumably these are something other than “efforts to bring real life to the screen” – efforts, perhaps, to bring to the screen the life of the imagination, the imaginary life of fantasy and myth.

Yet ordinary movies, too, may be said to bring “real life” to the screen. For example, in Griffith's True Heart Susie, a film contemporaneous with Nanook of the North, the character Susie and the world she inhabits may be imaginary, but it is the real-life Lillian Gish who is the subject of the camera. And so-called “documentaries,” too, may be said to bring the life of the imagination to the screen, as we shall be reminded throughout this book.

Such facts have led some theorists to deny that in the medium of film there is a meaningful distinction between what we call “fiction films” and “documentaries.” Without denying the truth in this suggestion, it is also important not to deny that there are, in fact, significant differences between them. And Nanook of the North is an appropriate place to begin reflecting on those differences.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Nanook of the North
  • William Rothman, University of Miami
  • Book: Documentary Film Classics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139172691.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Nanook of the North
  • William Rothman, University of Miami
  • Book: Documentary Film Classics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139172691.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Nanook of the North
  • William Rothman, University of Miami
  • Book: Documentary Film Classics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139172691.003
Available formats
×