Cultural eye-opener

Now in LT9 for this Visual Ethnography module...

Very interesting, this module. My lecturer's a blond-haired woman, with a unique accent that borders on the near-unintelligible (or maybe I just don't understand what's she talking about haha). =)

She's lecturing now about this Iranian film made by an all-women crew. It argues "women need to do sociology from their own point of view, and starting from own bodily experience and tacit knowledge." Title is provocative: "Divorce Iranian style."

Thank God for this module, 'cos it's been quite an eye-opener, watching ethnographic films of people. And learning how the film-makers try to express the 'feel' of a culture through various filming techniques - e.g. angle of camera, closeness of distance, facial shots versus long-distance...

Think this is something that I'd love to do in future... maybe if I get to serve in a multimedia ministry next time... =) You know, this joy of trying to express a culture (need not necessarily be a remote tribe in Africa - can be your own caregroup: it has its own unique sub-culture within a sub-culture (my church) within a distinct culture (Christianity)).

Technical details aside, getting an insight into other people's cultures - think it helps open my heart to be more aware of how different people interact with each other - and particularly, how they express common emotions and perspectives (e.g. divorce) in different ways.

Hey... just watched this scene where there's this pretty-looking (and outspoken) woman who pesters a civil servant to find her file. The man sits there, sipping his tea, telling her that the file is mislaid, so she should come back in a week or 10 days' time. Obviously the man is irritated with the woman...

Then the woman keeps asking the guy when she can have her file ("in 10 minutes?"). The guy tells her bemusedly, "You turn my tea into poison when you stand over my head." And the lady says, "Enjoy your tea."

Wah.....

Still a lot more to go...