Cultural Criticism In The Film Kypseli

The film Kypseli not only portrayed elements of mendacious comments, but is also considered unethical and contradicting. While previewing the film, one could see that the film contained lapses and the narrator was being self-consciousness and ethnocentric. According to Ruby, “one can become self-conscious without being conscious of that self-consciousness” (Ruby 2000, 155). That is to say, non-anthropological films tend to be misleading and portray false assumptions because of cultural biases. For instance, the narrator, Ruth Silveira started out the film by mentioning “the peasant society of Kypseli, a small isolated Greek village on the island of Thera” (Hoffman, Cowan and Aratow 2006). As an anthropologist, one is influenced by cultural

For instance, the film displayed qualities of ethnocentrism, both Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman are not anthropologists, and the film was made in a Western gaze, which means, the intended audience would be the American society, rather than students and scholars. That is to say, during the film, the camera would zoom in when the natives were not clothed properly and when they went to beach and the park, which does not seem like a normal activity for them. As a result, the confirms the promotion of othering and stereotypical, which is not ethical to an anthropologist. Also, Briski had direct interaction with the children, but not with their parents, which can be questioning to the scholarly eye. On the other hand, the filmmakers, Briski and Kauffman interacts with the natives and experiences communication complexities throughout the film, which is considered anthropological. Although Briski was trying to help the children to get an education and promote awareness in the red light district, she was doing this in order to let the Western society know that these children not only need help, but they need to be rescued from this tragic life. Last, but not least, Briski remains the hero and the American society continues to look up to her as a savior due to her position in the film. In addition, the music in the film also went back and forth, between traditional and Western, depending on the scene of the film. For example, whenever the children were involved in stereotype activities, the camera would zoom in and the music would become more Westernize. Thus, Born into Brothels is not an ethnographic film, instead, it remains a