The Ethnographic Optic

"The Ethnographic Optic in 1960s French Cinema traces the surprising role of ethnography in French cinema and studies its place in New Wave fictions and cinâema vâeritâe documentaries while the French colonial empire fell apart. Author Laure Astourian argues that amid a shrinking empire, the enthusiasm of prominent French filmmakers Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais to produce ethnographic analysis of their own society reflects their growing awareness that France's identity was unraveling. In response, they internalized what their similarly white, urban, bourgeois predecessors had long turned outwards against the colonies. Including some of the most canonical and best-loved films of the French tradition, like Breathless and La Jetâee, this is an essential book for readers interested in national identity and cinema"--