Reading Response Eight

3. Filmmakers who influenced Poe, Mitchell and Dick include filmmakers of the new-wave movement, including Godard, Rohmer, Warhol, Truffant and all other influential artists of this era.

5. By "double voicing" Zryd means saying one thing and meaning another. For example, the ironic voice-over in the film contrasting with the image of the Chiquita banana label. Relating this technique to politics, Zryd describes the "demonizing" of leftist government in order to justify right wing operations. in relation, the film "Tribulation 99" uses the extreme racist conservative and Christian fundamentalist in order to illustrate the message of extreme left-wing ideals (thus "faking right, going left).

6. "Realist" found footage is usually found in mainstream documentary films. It is "illustrative or analogical." This is historical or archival footage that is usually overlapped by voice-over to reinforce the main argument. "Figurative" footage is metaphorical and is often used in experimental films. He does argue that all footage, in experimental or nonexperimental films, can be metaphorical and illustrative. Figurative footage is more important in "Tribulation 99" because most of it's images are symbolic and the footage is not historically from the events that might be being represented. For example, the use of a Chiquita banana label to represents economic priorities of corrupt corporations. A realist approach would be to actually show footage of these corporations.

7. "Media jujitsu" applies to the use of found footage as an icon to criticize the culture from which it came. When films use a symbol that represents a cultural icon in a certain way, they can be reversed to actually critique that very organization, etc. that it represents.

8. By including science documentaries, conservative conspiracy narratives, and fundamental Christian apocalypse films, Baldwin is not only criticizing extremist conspiracy groups, as well as making a statement that these groups are "distilled manifestations of extreme political positions," or the bases of U.S. political culture. He uses the example of right-wing militarism and it's roots in Christianity, with it's connections to American government and ideology.