Post on 26-Jun-2020
The Third Eye: Power and Everyday Practice of a Blind Fisherman
Unaloam Chanrungmaneekul
Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand
Who is a blind fisherman?
BanglamungChonburi
Eastern Thailand
POWER RELATION OF
DOCUMENTARY FILM
PRODUCTION FIELD: VISUAL
ETHNOGRAPHY AND SELF-
REFLEXIVITY OF ‘THE THIRD
EYE’
Unaloam Chanrungmaneekul
SukhothaiThammathirat Open University
5th Southeast Asian Studies Symposium, 14-16 April 2016, University of Oxford
Research aim • To explore power relation between the
outsiders, the researcher team
including the film crew; and the
insiders, the local fishermen including
the community leaders on the
documentary production process.
Analytical framework
Habitus
Cultural capital
Embodied state
Objectified stateInstitutionalized state
Social capital
Symbolic capital
Observational cinema
Field(Bourdieu)
Research method
1. Visual research: filming observational
documentary: The Third Eye as visual
ethnography to explore and record the
villagers’ protest and uncle Banjob’s life
during the protest.
2. Self-reflexivity, three main stages of
filmmaking: pre-production,
production and post-production
process of observational cinema were
analysed by using Bourdieu’s theory.
Observational cinema
Colin YoungGrimshaw and Ravetz
• It shows a story, not ‘tell’ a story.
• Allow indigenous’ voices to tell their
stories.
• No script
• No directing subjects (characters)
• No settingAuthentic?
Method to record and
gather ‘the truth’ ?
Field ‘A field is a structured system of social
positions occupied either by individuals or
institutions – the nature of which defines the
situation for their occupants. It is also a
system of forces which exists between these
positions; a field is structured internally in
terms of power relations’ (Jenkins, 1992: 85).
Cultural capital
Embodied form
Objectified form
Institutionalized form
• Embodied form: dispositions of
individuals that are cultivated
through socialization and
construct patterns of cultural life.
Objectified form • refers to objects, such as books,
works of arts, and scientific
instruments, that require
specialised cultural abilities to
use.
Institutionalized form
The educational credential system
(Swatz, 1997:76)
Habitus Refer to use of body, feeling, thinking,
belief, faith in everyday life that are
cultivated for a long time.
Field of power
Need to understand relationships
between Field, capital and habitus.
Picture 1 Sources of power between the outsiders
and the insiders
The outsiders The insiders
Embodied form Embodied form
Objectified form Institutionalized form
Institutionalized form Social capital
Symbolic capital Habitus
Two main arguments
1. Observational documentary production
is not only a visual cinematic style of
recording indigenous’ culture and life,
it is actually a ‘field’ of power relation
which is negotiation between
stakeholders involved in the
filmmaking process by using various
kinds of ‘capital’.
2. Capitals and habitus became sources
of power that each group of people
possessed unequally.
Film crew and supporters
Director: Unaloam Chanrungmaneekul and
Thitiphan Bumrungwong
Screeplay: Unaloam Chanrungmaneekul
Director of Photography: Sukrit Phumsrichan
and Donlawat Sunsuk
Film Editor: Thitiphun Bumrungwong
Sound: Donlawat Sunsuk and Aniwat
Phandinthong
Producer: Unaloam Chanrungmaneekul
With cooperation with Film and Television
School, Gen1, Burapha University, Thailand