Space, the Black Frontier

[Adrian II]

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H8TJv0C58Q)had me literally crying with laughter. I think it says a lot about both political correctness and a certain genre of American documentaries.

But what exactly does it say? Only our American members can fully appreciate all the references, the cinematic and musical quotes and the atmosphere that is parodied here. I would love to hear their thoughts.

[Pannonian]

Just to make the reference overt, The Civil War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(documentary)) by Ken Burns is obviously the model for this parody, right down to the sepia photos, fiddle music and cracked voiceovers.

[Husar]

:laugh4:

Yes, it reminded me of some civil war documentary(-ies).
I like it and yes, we have some american documentaries here as well, they're always dubbed but in documentaries they sometimes keep the original voices in the background.
Have to say it included some really typical elements and it makes you think about overhyping and other things in such documentaries, not like I never noticed before, but it's like they all tell the same story with different words.

[Adrian II]

[..] it's like they all tell the same story with different words.Init? That's what struck me, too, but as a non-American I have trouble putting my finger on things. It's a very old, genuinely American documentary style, right? I mean it didn't just start with Burns - or did it?

I have the feeling that this style has become repetitive - even though it can still be mesmerizing in its own way - for the simple reason that it has been so successful. It was originally used to glorify participants in the Battle of New Orleans, the Civil War, the First and Second World War, certain professions (atomic research, space travel, Polar research, whaling, sports teams, mountain climbing expeditions), etcetera. They were all about noble, patriotic, high-spirited people. Their lives were always given a meaningful framework, which is extremely reassuring to the viewer. Even in the Civil War no one just up and died like an idiot for no purpose at all.

In recent decades this style was re-used, so to speak, to document the achievements of ethnic minorities. The double irony that made me laugh so hard is that now that this documentary style is over hill and somehow tired, it is being used to glorify minority heroes and such.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Having seen a few documentaries in this style, i lol'd, or chuckled, if i may.

'Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that only omnipotence can break.

But **** woman, it is cold as **** up here.'

[Pannonian]

Sullivan Ballou (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Ballou)

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

...

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.
Also, try The Old Negro Space Program (http://www.negrospaceprogram.com/)

[Samurai Waki]

had me laughing at a few points. I think maybe even only Black Americans can could really appreciate it completely though.

[Lemur]

It's a very old, genuinely American documentary style, right? I mean it didn't just start with Burns - or did it?
Nope, Ken Burns invented that style of documentary when he did The Civil War. It's even called "The Ken Burns Effect." He credits a couple of other filmmakers with giving him the idea, but he's the guy who brought it to the mainstream.

And BTW, very funny video. I don't know if there's a whole lot that a non-American wouldn't get; the humor is pretty straightforward.

[drone]

The Civil War mixed with the Negro League mixed with The Right Stuff. Genius. :laugh4: The only thing missing is another 14 hours of it.

Loved the photoshopping on the old stock footage. Klan hats on the mission control guys, space helmets on old Negro League baseball players, the "Whites Only" lettering on the space capsule entrance.

[Geoffrey S]

Now I finally know what the 'Ken Burns Effect' in iPhoto refers to!

Indeed, as with many documentaries it follows a particular style. Possibly because of the relatively short length necessitating a familiar frame of reference, but often it's as if they have a particular framework of cliches through which a recognizable story is observed - much like (old) plays often follow a particular, rigid pattern.

[Adrian II]

Nope, Ken Burns invented that style of documentary when he did The Civil War. It's even called "The Ken Burns Effect." He credits a couple of other filmmakers with giving him the idea, but he's the guy who brought it to the mainstream.I don't know - I seem to remember lots of examples of the style applied to a variety of subjects: the introduction of individuals 'typical' of the subject, the zooming-in on some of their old photographs, accompanied by folksy music and a Henry Fonda/Lorne Green type voice-over that slowly develops the story-line to frame their lives, etcetera.

I can not list all the examples for the simple reason that my mind is not a digital archive, but if it were, I have no doubt that I could produce titles from the 1950's, 1960's and certainly the 1970's. I recall stuff on whaling, sports, Polar research.

In fact the Wikipedia on Burns credits the lamented Alistair Cooke, the BBC's invaluable roving correspondent in the United States (whose weekly World Service column I always tried to listen to) with inventing the 'Burns effect' in 1973..

[KukriKhan]

The Canuckistan-ians started it with City of Gold (http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=10659), 1957, using photographs, music, and voice-over narration to tell the story of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Burns, borrowing from others, perfected the zoom-in and pan of the still photos, while a voice-actor read from actual words penned by the person in the photo, making the effect not only an historical story-telling, but also a series of personal memoirs.

Ever since his Civil War and Baseball epics, the style has come to be recognized as the standard for telling pre-motion-picture stories. The History Channel uses it extensively to tell their stories, as we've all seen.

Funny things is, it's so effective as an audience attention-getter, that it's bled over into post-motion-picture era docu-drama storytelling - the makers using stills taken from movies to tell a story about WWII, Korea, 'Nam, civil rights struggles, etc, etc.

That effectiveness and popularity is being parodied in AdrianII's piece. Along with the more obvious digs at racial stereotyping. They should have put the white prof "African Studies" guy in a dashiki, IMO, to put it more over the top.