Join us as we open our ears to the stylized sounds of a bustling commercial existence circa the 1930s — that is, the way they sound in some of the more daring documentaries of the time. Tanya Goldman, a Cinema Studies PHD candidate at NYU, walks us through these films, how their radical soundtracks express their politics, and how the soundscapes of documentaries have shifted in the decades since. All the major films of discussion can be viewed for free online, and are linked in the shownotes below.
An extra special thanks to Tanya for enthusiastically providing the majority of content and links for the shownotes this week.
In this episode, we discuss:
The unique audio depictions of commerce in several films, with audio examples from scenes.
How the wild sound designs of these films belies impressions of the era’s documentaries as stoic and dull.
The different political goals in play for each film.
The production means and methods for each film — how and why each got made the way it did.
Shifting philosophies of documentary ethics and actuality, with comparisons between these films and the fly-on-the-wall documentaries popularized in the 1960s.
Additional Resources:
Full viewing links to the films discussed, along with some readings if you wanna dig deeper:
The City The first of three films we discussed.
Song of Ceylon The second of the three films.
Men & Dust The third film. If you only watch one of the three, it should probably be this one.
To Experience Song of Ceylon An article with deep analysis of the film and useful historical context.
An essay on Men and Dust (pdf) that offers details on its makers and an assessment on how the film stood out from its documentary contemporaries.
An essay on The City (pdf) that makes interesting observations on its prescience and contemporary exhibition.
Some experimental works by the directors of The City:
H20.
Len Lye’s incredible 1937 short Trade Tatoo — we’re big fans of this film and Len Lye in general around here.
About Tanya Goldman
Tanya Goldman is a PhD Candidate in the department of Cinema Studies at New York University. Her research primarily focuses on mid-twentieth century nonfiction film and its history as a political and cultural practice. Her work and reviews have appeared in Cineaste, Cinema Journal, Feminist Media Histories, Film History, Film Quarterly, and Senses of Cinema, and - most recently - in edited volume Screening Race in American Nontheatrical Film (2019). Find her on Twitter @tangoldman.
