Rhetorical Devices In - OAPEN

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EEF MASSONFRAMINGFILMWATCH AND LEARNEEF MASSONWATCH AND LEARNEEF MASSON IS LECTURER IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA STUDIESAT THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM.ISBN 978 90 8964 312 49 789089 643124AMSTERDA M UNIVERSITY P R E SSW W W. A U P. N L“Who knew the long neglectedclassroom film could yield suchinsights? Subtle and unexpectedly subversive In EefMasson’s able hands, a criticalreflection on the ‘purposivefilm’ transforms into a brilliantmeditation on the nature of filmtaxonomies, institutions andaudiences, and sheds new lighton the rhetorical operations ofthe medium and its texts.”William UricchioProfessor and Director, MITComparative Media StudiesWATCH AND LEARNSince the late 1990s, there has been a marked increase in academicinterest in what are sometimes called ‘utility films’, intended forpurposes of information, training, teaching or advertising. Althoughsuch research was long overdue, the current academic output tendsto be restricted in scope, paying little attention to the films’ textualfeatures: the means they deploy in defending their informational,educational or commercial arguments. In the absence of suchstudies, the image survives of very ‘formulaic’ genres. This bookseeks to modify this picture, and suggests a methodology that helpsto foreground the films’ rhetorical diversity.Taking her departure from a historic collection of Dutchclassroom films, Masson proposes an approach that considersan audio-visual text as part of a so-called dispositif: the set-up oftechnology, text and viewing situation that is relevant to the specificcorpus under scrutiny.Rhetorical Devices inClassroom Films after 1940“Far from contributing a merefootnote to film history EefMasson’s exciting new bookshows that Dutch educationalcinema has to teach us morethan just a lesson or twoabout cinema as a culturalpractice. Focusing on film atthe crossroads of pedagogy,science and aesthetics Massonengagingly demonstrates thegrowing importance of work onthe margins of film history toour broader understanding ofcinema culture.”Vinzenz HedigerProfessor of Film, GoetheUniversität FrankfurtFRAMINGFILMAMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESSEYE FILM INSTITUTENETHERLANDS

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FRAMINGFILMframing filmis a book series dedicated to theoretical and analytical studies in restoration,collection, archival, and exhibition practices, inline with the existing archive of EYE Film Institute.With this series, Amsterdam University Pressand EYE aim to support the academic research community, as well as practitioners in archiveand restoration. Please see www.aup.nl for more information.

Eef MassonWATCH AND LEARNRhetorical Devicesin Classroom Films after 1940a m s t e r da m u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s

Cover illustration: still from the film Een wens verhoord binnen 24 uur: De post(Stichting Nederlandse Onderwijs Film, 1953)Cover design and lay-out: Magenta Ontwerpers, BussumISBN978 90 8964 312 4e-ISBN978 90 4851 411 3NUR670 E. Masson / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2012All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, nopart of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright ownerand the author of the book.

Table of ContentsAcknowledgements7Introduction 11pa rt o n e1Film for Education: Debates, Idea(l)s and Practices 27Introduction 271.1Film as an Educational Tool 291.1.1 Possibilities 301.1.2 Limitations 551.2The Classroom Film: Institutionalisation 661.2.1 nof: Organisation and Procedures 691.2.2 nof: Rules and Regulations 77Conclusions 962Classroom Film Use and the Pedagogical Dispositif 99Introduction 992.1The Reception and Use of Classroom Films 1002.1.1 Scepticism and Resistance 1012.1.2 Some Hypotheses on Film Usage 1092.2Classroom Films and the Pedagogical Dispositif 117Conclusions 124 5

pa rt t wo3Rhetoric: Text & Frame 127Introduction 1273.1Rhetoric: Conceptual Exploration 1293.2Framing Rhetoric 1333.3Textual Rhetoric 138Conclusions 143Textual Rhetoric I: Motivational Devices 145Introduction 1454.1Textual Motivation: Foci and Strategies 1484.1.1 Matter Made Appealing 1494.1.2 Viewing Made Appealing 1744.2Strategies of Motivation: Blurred Boundaries 1954.3Textual Motivation Reconsidered: Didactic Matter andPeriphrasis 199Conclusions 20546 5Textual Rhetoric II: Referencing the Pedagogical Dispositif 209Introduction 2095.1References to the Dispositif: Discursive Variety 2115.2A Historical Perspective 2265.3Referencing the Dispositif and Issues of Authority 230Conclusions 238Conclusions: Towards a Conception of the Dispositif Notion as aComparative Tool 241Notes 255List of Illustrations 321NOF Films Online 323Filmography 325Bibliography 335Index 355watc h a n d l e a r n

AcknowledgementsI would like to express my gratitude to a number of people, without whom thewriting of this book would have been much harder, but also less instructive,and above all less gratifying.First of all, I would like to thank Frank Kessler and Nanna Verhoeff atUtrecht University, who supervised the project in its early stages. Also, RogerOdin (University of Paris III), Joost Raessens (Utrecht University) and WilliamUricchio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), for their valuable remarksduring my PhD defense. Other members and former members of the Utrechtstaff who I am indebted to for suggestions and support are Sjaak Braster (nowErasmus University Rotterdam), Ann Rigney, Martina Roepke (VU UniversityAmsterdam), Simone Veld and various attendees of the Media Research andMedia and Performance Seminars.At the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, I would like to thankpresent and past employees Bas Agterberg, Hans van den Berg, Bert Hogenkamp, Peter Klinkenberg, Jan Pet, Tom de Smet, Richard Soeter and KarinWesterink as well as the late Henk Verheul (Smalfilmmuseum/NetherlandsInstitute for Sound and Vision). At Nationaal Onderwijsmuseum, Lenja Crins,Jacques Dane, Tijs van Ruiten, and above all, Ed van Berkel, faithful guardianof NOF’s papers and memorabilia. At Eye Film Institute Netherlands, RommyAlbers, Giovanna Fossati, Rixt Jonkman and Annelies Termeer. At Cineco/Haghefilm, Ed Frederiks and Juan Vrijs.I am indebted to both the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Visionand Eye Film Institute Netherlands for making a selection of films from theNOF collection dealt with in this book publicly accessible. Sound and Visionpreserved and digitised the films; Eye provided the web space and put themonline. For help and advice during the editing and publication process, mygratitude goes out to the people at Amsterdam University Press. 7

8 For bits and bobs of information and advice, thanks also to Catherine Cormon (Eye Film Institute Netherlands/Heineken Collections), Leen Engelen(Limburg Catholic University College), Anita Gertiser (University of Zurich),Thierry Lecointe (independent researcher), Sabine Lenk (Cinémathèque de laVille de Luxembourg), Floris Paalman (University of Amsterdam), Mette Peters(Netherlands Institute for Animation Film), Walter Swagemakers (Eye FilmInstitute Netherlands), Marjolein de Zwaan (formerly NIAM/TMS) and interviewees Harry Jongbloed, Gerrit Lansink, Kees van Langeraad, Ole Scheppand the late Jan Marie Peters. For language advice and editing, kudos to GuyEdmonds (Eye Film Institute Netherlands) and Joanna Poses, and above all,to Claudy Op den Kamp (Plymouth University) – indefatigable! – and TawnyaMosier (University of Utah).And last but not least, for support and advice (and large quantities offood), my parents, brother and friends. And you Kaat, for love, care and lots ofstamina throughout the process.watc h a n d l e a r n

IntroductionTidings of any ‘new’ audio-visual medium entering the domain of public consumption invariably seem to cause commentators to speculate on its potential educational use. In recent decades, it was the advent of innovative digitalapplications that provoked such thought; earlier on, it was the promise of analogue media such as still and moving photographic images. Pronouncementson the subject tend to be made in rather grandiloquent terms: authors claimthat the particular technologies they advocate might in some way revolutionise current educational practice. The media they deal with are considered tohold the potential of radically changing didactic methodologies, and by thesame token, solve century-old problems, both on the teachers’ part and on thepupils’ or students’.In practice, of course, the objects of such speculation do not always findaccess very easily in (regular, formal) education. As a rule, compulsory schooling is financed at least in part out of public funds; therefore, the institutionsthat provide it can rarely keep abreast of the most up-to-date audio-visualdevelopments. In addition to this, optimistic predictions are often counteredwith objections, originating among others in the teaching field itself. If anyconsensus between proponents and adversaries is eventually reached – oftenat a time when the technology concerned has not been so new for quite awhile – one of the conclusions is that while it may indeed have certain didacticbenefits, its educational use ultimately depends on the production of mediatexts that are sufficiently adapted to the specific purposes they should serve inschools. The immediate implication is that such texts necessarily differ fromthe kinds of material that are already available, and that are used in other,non-educational environments. 11

‘Classroom Films’: What’s In a Name?In the early 1940s, entrepreneur A. A. Schoevers produced a memo, addressedto the Dutch government, that contained a number of guidelines for the establishment of a new, official body. The agency he had in mind would take on thetask of coordinating the supply of films for use in regular (compulsory) education. The document was part of a larger corpus of texts which, collectively,make a plea for the conception of such an organisation with money providedby the Dutch government. The first few paragraphs of Schoevers’ text read:12 If a film deals with a subject in its entirety, and from life – for examplea business, a region, the life or fortunes of people, animals, plants etc.– then it belongs, since feature films are not being considered here, tothe category of the Classroom films, Propaganda (Educational) films orCultural films. [ ]Classroom films, however, need [ ] to fulfil the following conditions [ ],by which they strongly distinguish themselves from Educational andCultural films.1. They provide a piece of reality, whereby subjects are addressed that fitinto the curricula of all primary schools. [ ]2. Life should be represented in such a way, that the suggestion is madeto the pupils that they experience the events in reality. [ ]3. A minimum of visuality needs to be provided [ ]. Redundant detailsneed to be left out or kept in the background [ ]. [ ]4. The events should be recorded and arranged in such a way, that theconnection between them does not give insurmountable problems.1In most of the documents that are part of the corpus, the author’s strategy isto question the intentions of other (existing) distributors of so-called ‘educational’ films. Arguing that their purposes are often purely commercial, heimplies that the films they provide cannot possibly be geared towards the educational needs of the children they target.2 In this particular text, however, hefocuses instead on the qualities of the items that the new institute is meant tosupply: on the subjects they should deal with, and on the ways in which theyshould select and structure their material. In the process, Schoevers basicallyspecifies how these films, as texts, distinguish themselves from other, morebroadly educational shorts – shorts which, therefore, he does not designate asonderwijsfilms: ‘classroom’ or ‘teaching films’.3Considered retrospectively, the author’s approach is not so self-evident.The requirements he formulates, after all, form part of a programme for intended production: the writer stipulates, even before the establishment of the bodywatc h a n d l e a r n

he advocates, the standards to which its films will be held. In the same movement he also creates, or gives substance to, a supposedly non-existent genre.He personally underlines this fact by making use of a newly-forged label.4In those circumstances, it is remarkable that the chosen term foundacceptance quite readily in subsequent months and years. As soon as the proposed organisation, which immediately integrated the label into its companyname, became operational, commentators readily adopted it.5 In most cases,the term’s users also employed it without questioning its semantic scope.From the moment it was introduced, then, authors seem to have known intuitively what sort of material it covered.Once again, this is striking, especially if one considers the fact that thelabel itself does not foreground the films’ presumed characteristic features,but rather the purpose they were meant to serve – or more accurately, theinstitution within which they were supposed to function.6 Apparently, then,the term onderwijsfilm, much like its German and French counterparts (Unterrichtsfilm and film d’enseignement/film scolaire), did not owe its semantictransparency to the fact that it concerned a textually well-delineated categoryof films, but rather to its relation to a very specific screening location, a setof institutionalised practices, and/or a given audience.7 As such, it may havederived extra resonance from the fact that the first half of the compound highlights what is exceptional about this type of film (as classrooms were not thesort of settings with which the medium was most commonly associated). Atthe same time, it evoked a number of connotations: it called up memories ofa series of then-recent discussio

EYE FILM INSTITUTE NETHERLANDS FRAMING FILM 97 8908 96 4312 4. watch and learn. FRAMING FILM framing film is a book series dedicated to theoretical and analytical studies in restoration, collection, archival, and exhibition practices, in line with the existing archive of EYE Film Institute. With this series, Amsterdam University Press and EYE aim to support the academic research community, as .