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Cultural and religious practices and traditions might seem strange and pointless to a side observer, yet they are imbued with crucial cultural meaning and value for members of the specified group. In her essay, Rony represents taxidermy as a crucial cultural tradition stemming from the beliefs associated with the afterlife and the concept of human reality (Rony 116). In essence, the author communicates the idea of taxidermy being a cultural practice reflecting the necessity to cope with death and accept it as an inevitable part of the life cycle (Rony 117). The specified definition stands in rather stark contrast to the Western one, which boils down to creating a stuffed replica of a formerly living creature.
In his approach to depicting the tribe, the movie director portrays it as dead , creating a rather complex ethical issue. In other words, Flaherty actively seeks to represent6 the tribe stuck in outdated customs and traditions instead of portraying it as a dynamic and evolving community. As a result, instead of a tribe that honors its traditions and continues to progress, the community is depicted as gradually dissipating and slowly disintegrating (Rony 121). While driven by a comparatively innocuous attempt at keeping the focus on Nanook traditions, the specified approach results in a rather harmful outcome of viewing a community as becoming obsolete.
The approach of the director to portray the Nanook community as not being ruined by the civilization while being well-meaning is quite controversial. The described perspective juxtaposes the notion of civilization and the community of Nanook, which portrays the latter as savage and steeped in outdated and, by extension, erroneous ideas. The attempt to represent what he refers to as the vanishing culture labels the specified community as having no future and lacking the necessary means to evolve (Rony 102). Therefore, Flahertys approach in his effort to shed light on the Nanook community ultimately causes more harm than good.
Work Cited
Rony, Fatimah Tobing. Taxidermy and Romantic Ethnography. The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle. Duke University Press, 1996, 99-249.
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