Critical engagement of Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation

Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation is an ethnography that draws from fieldwork dealing with Tamil film in the south Indian movie industry of “Kollywood.” Anand Pandian distinguishes his book from other ethnographies with his writing style. He uses experimental writing in order to relate his writing back to the medium of cinema and to connect with his audience. Sequoia Nagamatsu notes that successful literary experiment “has to do more than look weird on the page (and I get the sense that a lot of newer writers think that experimental writing has to look weird on the page). There is content to consider, literary tradition, context, and the metaphoric and aesthetic resonance of artifice and construction.”

Here is a breakdown of the experimental writing used throughout the book:

Dreams: In the second chapter, entitled Dreams, Pandian includes dream sequences presented as excerpts. This is done to emphasize the similarity between cinema and dreams. While focusing on the dreams that are included you can see that they are telling the same story over and over again. They depict anxiety and the same characters. This also relates back to Freud as a permutation of the same story being told over and over again.

Desire: Throughout the chapter entitled Desire, Pandian purposefully uses no periods and no paragraphs. The chapter consists of one very long sentence. This is done in order to relate his writing back to the desire that he is trying to depict. The never-ending sentence can be compared to the “endless exhalation of want” or desire.

Color: A small detail added by Pandian in this chapter shows his attention to detail. Although it is something that can easily be overlooked, the only color photos in the book were purposefully placed in this chapter and it is quite obvious why.

Time: Pandian uses excerpts of two columns throughout this chapter. While reading, I did not understand why. The two columns are used to depict the two types of time, reel time and real time. They also represent time in that they while trying to read them at the same time you have physical limitations, you find yourself being distracted, and time is passing.

Sound: One of the most interesting uses of experimental writing from Pandian comes in chapter 13, Sound. He uses waveforms for his writing in this chapter, which recreates the movement of sound. It also draws the reader in by reading aloud and listening more closely to the text that you’re reading.

Rhythm: When I thought of rhythm I would think of something that has a beat and is very uniform. Pandian argues the exact opposite in this chapter. He discusses how rhythm is not regular or uniform and uses experimental writing to emphasise his point. In the chapter, he writes inconsistently and also uses a specific italicized point “In the life of cinema,…” randomly throughout the chapter with no consistency.

Speed: Throughout the chapter Speed, Pandian uses cuts and screen commands to show cinema’s transition from writing. He is also arguing how storytelling derives its aesthetics from writing.

Throughout the book he also adds experimental writing with his use of text messages and social media excerpts. This use of another medium gives the reader a sense of the intimacy of the relationships between Pandian and who he is studying as well as an idea of the time that this was written and access to certain technology.

Pandian believes that ethnographic writing should take on different forms if the material demands it and he uses the writing to capture the moments of creation that he observed and share them with his audience. Overall, Pandian is very successful in expressing his exploration of filmmaking with his audience through the use of his unique experimental writing.