Wiseman/Brakhage

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Titicut Follies shows an ugly part of society that we know of, but would rather not know about. As Keith Grant reiterates this idea by stating that the documentary "forces us to think about that 'someplace' of which we are all aware but may prefer not to acknowledge" (251). We do not want to see what goes on inside an insane asylum; the horrible treatment and lack of concern for the inmates. We would rather turn a blind eye. It's the same reason we turn the channel when a pledge for Africa program is on and a small, malnourished, fly covered boy is staring right into the camera with a small tear running down. If we sit and watch the program and don't help out, we feel even worse. And even if we do call in and sponsor a child, there are millions more out there who need help, and there are hundreds of other causes with TV programs asking for help. Grant notes that the documentary "'exposes more about us than it does about Bridgewater" (243). After watching the documentary we realize that we are not living up to our responsibility in society. We are not taking care of our own people, we are allowing the sick and weak to be treated like caged animals...actually, after being to some kennels and watching this documentary, I think the caged animals are treated better. It is an ugly part of our society that we do not want to be accountable for, so we just forget about it. When we watch this documentary that shows us without any mediation, our walls come crashing down. We feel we are there with them and we want to help them. Our first response is of astonishment... "that is so inhumane, I didn't know they were treated like that"...but, the point is we never really wanted to know what went on inside an insane asylum because then we would feel guilty.

Sometimes, to make ourselves feel good, we are better off not knowing the troubles in the world, and if we are exposed to them, we do not want great detail. An example of this is the dozens of stories every week of terrorist bombings, disasters, mass murders, etc. in developing countries. We hear of them and see some images, but we don't "see with our own eyes" we don't get to follow the people around in these terrible situations, we do not know their names or hear their pleas, we just see a headline and a few quick images. In Titicut Follies, we really "see" these people and how bad their lives are and we begin to feel for them. Brakhage takes us into an autopsy and for the duration, we forget we are anywhere else, we are really there seeing this with our "own eyes."



Stan Brakhages's The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes also shows us an ugly part of society that we would rather not know. The way he shoots the video, by not showing any faces, really forces your attention to the act of cutting open these bodies. It is almost like a first person view in a video game and you can kind of get a feeling that you are doing the cutting, which is what makes this documentary so effective. Before I watched this documentary, I had never what the inside of a human being looked like. I mean, I see the human body everyday, but not like that, so I was very fascinated, even though I was disgusted, and I could not turn away from the screen. I wanted to see with 'my own eyes' what was underneath a person's rib cage or what a human brain looked like. Then, at the end of the movie, we are introduced to this man who has just completed his autopsy and he is cleaning up. He does not seem to be the least bit effected by what we have both just seen, where as, I won't be able to eat a steak medium rare for a while. By looking at this man at the end of the documentary and looking at his facial expressions and body language, I wouldn't be able to tell you if he had just completed an autopsy or teaching a kindergarten class. And so, I thank Brakhage because now I will never have to experience an autopsy, but can still brag and tell people that I saw one "with one's own eyes."