Last week in class, we watched the documentary The Gleaners and I by Agnès Varda (2001). As part of our chapter and for a test in my french class, I was surprised I had watched another French Documentary so soon after. The name of the film was Être et Avoir by Nicolas Philibert (2002). Être and avoir translates to to be and to have. They both took place in a rural setting in France and both were in French throughout the whole film. I found both of the documentaries styles very appealing to me. They both had a sense of beauty and patience, and a touch of their own personal personality within it. Varda’s film had a reflexive approach in her film since herself and her voice were in it. In Être et Avoir, it was styled more like an observational documentary. The main teacher in the film, George Lopez, was not the actual film maker. I found Varda’s film educational because I personally learned about gleaning for the first time. Watching Être et Avoir feels almost like a mix of The Gleaners and I and High School by Frederick Wiseman. It was very entertaining to watch and to see how the children and the teacher reacted. Instead of including a trailer, I entered a small clip from the film so you can kind of get a feel for the style.

 

The documentary I posted was sent to me by my father. I watched the whole thing on my tiny phone screen. It’s a topic I learned a little about from my SOCY101 class. I find it very interesting to learn about other countries. The film is good in the fact that it always has the everyday civilians being filmed. The film is meant to educate and create awareness. It’s about people in the Philippines being influenced/targeted by big oversea businesses and companies to buy infant formula. In a country that’s very poor, the parents of children will spend all their money on formula that can “Help make your child healthier, stronger, and smarter.” In the US, we understand that women’s breas milk is the best option for a baby for many reasons, and that formula here is just used when needed. The film is an attack on those companies taking advantage of people’s situations. The doctor’s get a kind of bonus when they get a mother to believe in infant formula and have them buy it. It is a big business for these companies because it is normal to have many children per couple. It’s very sad that these kids suffer and die from malnutrition while companies like Nestle are raking in the big bucks. They also film the groups that are trying to educate the women in the Philippines. The video is hopeful, but I noticed I shun away from Nestle products in general now. There are many greedy companies, but companies that are greedy and evil should be banned.

Grace neutral is a woman from London who travels and interviews people from different parts of the world. I stumbled upon her on Youtube and found her very interesting. She has an eccentric look with many body modifications including tattoos and piercings. In this episode, she travels to South Korea to discover the illegal beauty scene. The culture of tattooing is still very much frowned upon. In South Korea, a Doctor’s license is needed to be tattoo artist. The media and older generations still associate tattoos with solely gang members. This sounds very familiar to the US back in the day. It was not that long ago, as explained in the video, that you can be taken away in the 80’s in South Korea if you were caught with tattoos. Taken away, whatever that means. There is visible prejudice throughout the film.  She interviews tattoo artists, illegal tattoo artists, gang members, older people, as well as the young pioneers who are trying to change the times for self-expression. Not only can tattoos affect your own life, but your families’ life and your career in the country. In the film we see and hear about crying mothers and fathers who haven’t talked to their child in five years. The youth has built communities in certain parts of the country where they can all be themselves and enjoy a space with people like them. One man talked about how he cannot take public transportation. It is not fully explained why. The young people interviewed were not criminals, but art lovers and are inspired by tattoo culture. Those people felt more real throughout the film because they are so normal in personality, but are seen as rebellious. They all had a story and a situation and they want change. We even hear about stars/idols in Korea that are trying to influence the future as well. It’s always nice to see people pushing toward their goals to help everyone feel more accepted which is why I enjoyed this film and all their testimonies with it. It is something that in the US that we don’t think bout too much. Body art is not illegal here and you can have it done, by an artist, when we turn 18. I would’ve never known there was an illegal beauty scene until I saw this video. We learn that plastic surgery is very common in South Korea, a “billion dollar” industry. We learn body modification is already a HUGE thing in South Korea, but for some reason, body art is not yet fully accepted.