Reel Artists: National Film Board of Canada portrayals of contemporary Aboriginal and Inuit artists and their art

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dc.contributor.advisorPaul, W. James
dc.contributor.authorRobertson, Carmen Lee
dc.date.accessioned2005-08-16T17:21:00Z
dc.date.available2005-08-16T17:21:00Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.descriptionBibliography: p. 214-241en
dc.description.abstractThe National Film Board of Canada (NFB) promotes itself as an educative force in Canada. The NFB's mandate to bring Canada to Canadians motivated a 'teaching' agenda inherent in its films. Beginning in the 1950s, the NFB began to produce films about contemporary Aboriginal artists. In so doing, it provided Canadians with one of the few sources for information about Canadian Aboriginal art until the 1980s when a number of publications and exhibitions began to emerge. The NFB films were meant to 'instruct' ordinary Canadians about Indigenous peoples and their culture. This dissertation investigates how the NFB constructed representations of Aboriginal art and artists by visually unpacking documentary films created between 1955 and 1988. By interpreting the visual language in the films, this interdisciplinary study analyzes how the NFB framed contemporary Aboriginal art and presented it to viewers. Theoretical and pragmatic applications of post-structural semiotics support the discussion of the representations. The medium of documentary film, with its supposed associations to realism, truth claims, and didactic lessons, complicate the analysis further. This study considers the underlying, but ever- present issues of colonialist power and here the work of Foucault provides guidance. A Canadian cultural imagination has contextualized noted NFB representations of Indigenous artists and their art. Yet, while the discourse of Aboriginal representations in art and literature enjoys greater scholarly attention today, little consideration has been given to how NFB productions contributed to this matter. Finally, this study includes a discussion of the implications of the analysis, including the significance of critically assessing how the NFB has represented Aboriginals to other Canadians through this series of documentary films. Because of the authoritative and educative voice of the NFB, as well as the stereotypical constructions found in the noted NFB films regarding Indigenous artists and their art, Canadian understandings of Indigenous artistic achievements remain skewed and heavily influenced by these films. Discussions surrounding contemporary Indigenous artists popularized in the NFB documentaries continue to reference the compromising racist framings embedded in the films. Furthermore, educators continue to unquestioningly trust these documentaries as educational source materials concerning contemporary Canadian Indigenous art.
dc.format.extentix, 246 leaves, ill. ; 30 cm.en
dc.identifier.citationRobertson, C. L. (2005). Reel Artists: National Film Board of Canada portrayals of contemporary Aboriginal and Inuit artists and their art (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/17096en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/17096
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/41929
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyEducation
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.titleReel Artists: National Film Board of Canada portrayals of contemporary Aboriginal and Inuit artists and their art
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEducational Research
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
ucalgary.thesis.accessionTheses Collection 58.002:Box 1604 520492121
ucalgary.thesis.notesUARCen
ucalgary.thesis.uarcreleaseyen
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