The Archive Effect: Found Footage and the Audiovisual Experience of History

239 Pages·2014·6.2 MB·English

by  Jaimie Baron

The Archive Effect
“History persists and seldom more powerfully than in filmed images – our
externalized form of memory. What happens when the past meets the present
in films that draw on archival films and photographs to engender meaning?
Baron’s explorations of this question are original and eye-opening. It will
change how we think about the archive and the persistence of history.”
Bill Nichols, San Francisco State University, specialist film consultant and
author
The Archive Effect: Found Footage and the Audiovisual Experience of History
examines the problems of representation inherent in the appropriation of archival
film and video footage for historical purposes. Baron analyzes the way in which
the meanings of archival documents are modified when they are placed in new
texts and contexts, constructing the viewer’s experience of and relationship to
the past they portray. Rethinking the notion of the archival document in terms of
its reception and the spectatorial experiences it generates, she explores the
“archive effect” as it is produced across the genres of documentary,
mockumentary, experimental, and fiction films. This engaging work discusses
how, for better or for worse, the archive effect is mobilized to create new
histories, alternative histories, and misreadings of history.
The book covers a multitude of contemporary cultural artefacts including
fiction films such as Zelig, Forrest Gump, and JFK; mockumentaries such as
The Blair Witch Project and Forgotten Silver; documentaries such as Standard
Operating Procedure and Grizzly Man; and videogames such as Call of Duty:
World at War. In addition, it examines the works of many experimental
filmmakers including those of Péter Forgács, Adele Horne, Bill Morrison,
Cheryl Dunye, and Natalie Bookchin.
Jaimie Baron is an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her
research focuses on the production and transformation of human experience
through technology. She is also the founder and director of the Festival of
(In)appropriation, an annual international showcase of short, experimental found
footage films.
The Archive Effect
Found footage and the audiovisual
experience of history
Jaimie Baron
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Jaimie Baron
The right of Jaimie Baron to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The archive effect : found footage and the audiovisual experience of history / edited by Jaimie Baron.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Stock footage. 2. Archival materials. 3. Experimental films–History and criticism. 4. Context effects
(Psychology) 5. Time in motion pictures. 6. Motion pictures and history. I. Title.
PN1995.9.S6964B37 2013
025.17’73–dc23
2013022802
ISBN: 978-0-415-66072-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-66073-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-06693-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Cenveo Publisher Services
For Jonathan, my special effect
CONTENTS
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: history, the archive, and the appropriation of the indexical
document
1 The archive effect: appropriation and the experience of textual difference
2 Archival fabrications: simulating, manipulating, misusing, and debunking the
found document
3 Archival voyeurism: home mode appropriations and the public spectacle of
private life
4 The archive affect: the archival fragment and the production of historical
“presence”
5 The digital archive effect: historiographies and histories for the digital era
Conclusion: the audiovisual experience of history – and beyond
Works cited
Index
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 49 Up: Neil at 7, 28, and 49 (Michael Apted, 2005).
1.2 A Trip Down Market Street: 1905/2005 (Melinda Stone, 2005). Courtesy of
the artist.
1.3 Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (Jon Alpert, Ellen Goosenberg Kent,
2007).
1.4 Rize (David LaChapelle, 2005).
1.5 Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983).
1.6 Tearoom (William E. Jones, 2007). Courtesy of the artist and David
Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2.1 Forgotten Silver (Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, 1995).
2.2 Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994).
2.3 Capricorn One (Peter Hyams, 1978).
3.1 The Maelstrom: A Family Chronicle (Péter Forgács, 1997). Simon
Peereboom in 1938 at the wedding of his brother Max. Courtesy of the artist
and Lumen Film.
3.2 Avo (Muidumbe)/Avo (Granny) (Raquel Schefer, 2009). Courtesy of the
artist.
3.3 Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003).
3.4 Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris, 2008).
4.1 The Tailenders (Adele Horne, 2005). Photograph by Karin Johansson.
Courtesy of the artist.
4.2 okay bye-bye (Rebecca Baron, 1998). Courtesy of the artist.
4.3 Decasia: The State of Decay (Bill Morrison, 2002).
4.4 (nostalgia) (Hollis Frampton, 1971).
5.1 Mass Ornament (Natalie Bookchin, 2009). Courtesy of the artist.
5.2 Lossless #3 (Rebecca Baron and Douglas Goodwin, 2008). Courtesy of the
artists.
5.3 Tracing the Decay of Fiction: Encounters with a Film by Pat O’Neill (Pat
O’Neill, Rosemary Comella, and Kristy H.A. Kang, 2002). Courtesy of the
artist.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Numerous people generously gave their time to help me with this project,
reading drafts and listening to me work through my ideas, offering provocative
questions I might otherwise have overlooked. I would like to thank Wendy
Belcher, Siobahn Byrne, John Caldwell, Greg Cohen, Heather Collette-
Vanderaa, Roger Hallas, Ilona Hongisto, Eve Luckring, Kathleen McHugh,
Michael Renov, Steven Ricci, Sharon Romeo, and Patrik Sjöberg for their
contributions to my thinking about the archive effect. Thanks especially to
Lauren Berliner, Allyson Field, Maja Manojlovic, and Victoria Meng for – in
addition to offering invaluable comments – always believing in me and boosting
my confidence when it began to flag.
I would also like to thank the many filmmakers who took the time to speak
with me in detail about their work, in particular Rebecca Baron, Natalie
Bookchin, Douglas Goodwin, Adele Horne, William E. Jones, Raquel Schefer,
and Leslie Thornton. Thanks also to Douglas Goodwin for his stunning design
work for the book cover.
I want to thank my editor Natalie Foster for supporting this project and my
anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on my manuscript.
My wonderful parents, Ruthellen Josselson and Hanoch Flum, have been the
ground that has allowed me to reach this place; and without the love and support
of Jonathan Cohn, this book would not have become a reality. He makes the
work – and my life – worthwhile.
Most of all, I want to thank my advisor, mentor, and friend Vivian Sobchack,
who gave so much time, energy, and attention to reading my work, commenting
thoroughly on everything from conceptual gaps to comma placement. She has
always pushed me to become a clearer thinker and better writer, and, without
her, I would not be the scholar I am. She embodies all that I value about the
intellectual project and I am truly lucky to know her.