Indonesian Culture Week

Review: Watching Balinese Ethnography Film with Professor Lee, Ki Jung

By Joo, Dow Kyung

On the last day of the Indonesian Culture week, November 28^th, Balinese Ethnographic film screening with Professor Lee, Ki Jung has taken place. Lee, the lecturer for the film screening has earned Masters  in religion and film and visual anthropology, and Ph.D in film and visual anthropology. Lee has also won awards from American Visual Anthropology Association for the documentary film “Wedding Through Camera Eyes.”

The two films screened were by the infamous ethnographic filmmaker Timothy Asch, A Balinese Trance Séance(1979), and A Balinese Séance & Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed(1981)

The first film portrays the process of communication among Jero, the spirits, and her clients.

The second film is of the Jero watching the film of herself in A Balinese Trance Séance, and having a conversation with the anthropologist about the film. The anthropologist asks questions, and Jero answers, explaining how it feels when she is communicating with the spirits. Jero also speaks of her thoughts on trance séance.

In traditional anthropology, ethnographic films are mostly analyzed in the cultural aspect only. However, Professor Lee has analyzed the two films in cinematic technical aspect. According to Lee, A Balinese Trance Séance is in a documentary format with narration, focusing on one event of trance séance, rather than the trance séances of Bali overall. Psychics, sacrifice, communications with the spirits, purification ritual, and other various rituals and Balinese culture can be learned through this one event.

In A Balinese Séance & Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed, the feedback of the information provider is well captured. To account for the previous films that did not include the feedback of the subjects in the documentary, Timothy Asch had decided to record the reactions of the subject watching their own film. As ethnographic films are usually filming people speaking different languages, capturing the reactions in film is a good method of gaining the feedback from the subjects of the film. Ethnographic films can be used in a new way to overcome the limitations of ethnography only by words and characters. (more details on ethnographic films and the ethnographic films by Timothy Asch can be found in <Human Kind in Lenses>  by Lee, Ki Jung, Published by Nul Min, 2014)

In the discussion followed by the lecture on cinematic technical analysis, the discussant, Kim, Yong Jin, a Ph.D candidate of Anthropology at Chicago University, added detailed explanations of the cultural aspects. Kim, currently studying Balinese culture, pointed out that what has been shown in the film merely represents a small part of the Balinese religious culture, as Bali is dominantly Hindu in culture. This phenomenon may be observed to illustrate the two dimensions of Balinese religion. Balinese religion emphasizes the doctrine, Brahmin functions as religious expert, Male-centric Hinduism, and experiences are highlighted. Whereas in indigenous religion, psychics play the role of religious expert, in the female-centric environment. Balinese religion can be understood as having Jero and psychics to fulfill what has not been fulfilled by the official religion of Bali.

The lecture was easy to listen and interesting even for the audiences without any background information on the topic. The genre of “ethnographic film” may seem unfamiliar to many, but with the kind explanation by Lee, Ki Jung, a professor of Anthropology at Chonnam National University provoked curiosity, and growing interest on the genre amongst the audiences. In additions, having the discussant who majors in Balinese culture has attributed to creating a balanced perspectives on the films. It is hoped that a continuous active research and studies opening the new horizon of knowledge would prosper to be shared by the public. It should be more than just a reproduction of the known knowledge.