Nomadland

[arsenal]

Nomadland is about itinerant workers in America. Directed by Chloé Zhao. It won 3 Oscars.

The style resembles the British masterpiece, Kes. Few actual actors with the majority of the cast being real life people and the script seemed very loose. The use of steadycam gives it a documentary feel.

The lack of a real soundtrack makes it quite hard going. A little Einaudi early on but little after that and at one point I played Divenire independently so I basically seasoned my own chips.

Vaguely unsettling it never tries to paint the lifestyle as free or noble but as a daily grind to be got through rather than cherished. There are few highs and many lows.

Although she won an Academy Award I found it difficult to judge the performance of the lead actress Frances McDormand as she's mainly reacting to real people telling real stories.

Interestingly the film and its awards success has been greeted in China with frosty suspicion. Zhao is Chinese. No doubt the Chinese authorities are worried and with good reason. If she can make such a thoughtful and sensitive movie about a culture so far from her own roots what might she do if she turned her attention to one of the many many issues that China tries to sweep under the carpet.

[Nirish guy]

Thanks - after reading your post I googled that and watched a trailer, it's now saved on my "to watch" list.

I always like the various TV / Movie recommendations that pop up on the board from time as they take me in directions movies I sometimes wouldn't instantly gravitate towards.

[francois]

Just watched Nomadland last night and truly enjoyed it.

[latintopxxx]

...dunno...based on the dreary negative portrayal of life in the US she's probably in cahoots with the Chinese commies attempting to prove that life in the US is horrible compared to the China workers paradise...now wheres my tin foil hat..gotta watch out for 5G

[arsenal]

First Contact. Lost Tribe of the Amazon. 2016

Watching this docu I was struck by the similarities in lifestyle of these two disparate/desperate groups. The inescapable truth that they long for something better. The Amazon tribe welcome the clothes, shoes and tools that the camera team provide for them. One tells of going hungry for four days while sitting in the rain. Don't look at their teeth.

The nomads and the Amazonians share what amounts to a life of want and misery. Not free, not at one with nature, not at one with themselves and not happy.

[a447]

I remember seeing a similar (the same?) documentary and was struck by the fact that the guys were very happy to get clothes. Apparently they were embarrassed by their nudity.

That's something I never thought I'd hear as I figured they would be totally ok with it. I guess wanting to hide your "junk" is universal.

[Brad the Impala]

They never thought of themselves as naked until they saw people clothed. Any self respecting anthropologist should have stripped off!

It's the same as poor people being content when they don't know they are "poor". Discontent comes when they see wealth and realise how really poor they are are in comparison.

[a447]

The point I'm making is that the anthropologists didn't see the need to get naked, but members of the tribe saw the need to hide their goods.

Why? Maybe because they have always been embarrassed by letting it all hang out and when they saw clothes for the first time they realised there was a way to solve their problem.

[arsenal]

The rainforest is full of stinging insects, venomous snakes, poisonous plants and others with sharp thorns. The very last place to walk about with your naked big dangly flip floppin about. Makes me eyes water just thinkin about it.

[francois]

The point I'm making is that the anthropologists didn't see the need to get naked, but members of the tribe saw the need to hide their goods.

Why? Maybe because they have always been embarrassed by letting it all hang out and when they saw clothes for the first time they realised there was a way to solve their problem.

So you say.

[francois]

The rainforest is full of stinging insects, venomous snakes, poisonous plants and others with sharp thorns. The very last place to walk about with your naked big dangly flip floppin about. Makes me eyes water just thinkin about it.

They did not have big danglys and did seem to be wearing some sort of cover.

[christianpfc]

I once read somewhere that the last tribes of the Amazon are protected, first from diseases and second from cultural influences. I would think this includes that scientists and film crew would require health check and dress in a way to blend in and not expose the natives to Western culture.


Why? Maybe because they have always been embarrassed by letting it all hang out and when they saw clothes for the first time they realised there was a way to solve their problem.
Clothing is mostly cultural. Children up to the age of about 5 are completely uninhibited to run around naked.

In Islam, women have to cover their hair and Western women are large regarded as sluts and whores for not doing so. For most Moslems, women's hair must be highly erotic, bordering on pornographic? Whereas in the West, even women not covering their breasts is acceptable in certain circumstances.


The rainforest is full of stinging insects, venomous snakes, poisonous plants and others with sharp thorns. The very last place to walk about with your naked big dangly flip floppin about. Makes me eyes water just thinkin about it.
Yet most indigenous people people walk around close to naked. Mostly only covering their back and front. Is this for cultural reasons or because this could be a place of entry for insects, or apart from the face the most sensitive parts of the human body?

[goji]

Clothing is mostly cultural. Children up to the age of about 5 are completely uninhibited to run around naked.

In Islam, women have to cover their hair and Western women are large regarded as sluts and whores for not doing so. For most Moslems, women's hair must be highly erotic, bordering on pornographic? Whereas in the West, even women not covering their breasts is acceptable in certain circumstances.

Cultural and often highly irrational.

What we're prepared to wear depends heavily on the location and fitting in. Many are happy to wear speedos on the beach, but not in a shopping mall.

One of the big oddities is the female breast covering in western culture. A covering is expected, yet taken to the extreme, the covering may be small, as long as it covers the nipples.
Now whilst I'm no expert on this, the actual female nipples look the same as male nipples, which do not need to be covered. The difference is the surrounding flesh, but it's OK to show some of that.

Also, expectations change with time. As reported previously, it was the norm in certain parts of the USA for males to swim naked in the 50s and perhaps more recently. Now not only do they cover up, but it tends to be more like large baggy swim shorts than nice tight speedos.

[arsenal]

Christian wrote.
"Yet most indigenous people people walk around close to naked."

Eskimos don't.

[christianpfc]

One of the big oddities is the female breast covering in western culture. A covering is expected, yet taken to the extreme, the covering may be small, as long as it covers the nipples.
I once read somewhere that boys in gogo bars wear a band around their upper arm (but nothing else) during parts of the show, because with this band they are technically not nude.


...As reported previously, it was the norm in certain parts of the USA for males to swim naked in the 50s and perhaps more recently. Now not only do they cover up, but it tends to be more like large baggy swim shorts than nice tight speedos.
This is new to me. I saw pictures of people swimming in the 1900's and 1910's, completely covered (long legs, long sleeves).

In Thailand, public nudity is punishable by law. In Vietnam, there is nudist beach in Hanoi (I have been there and joined).

[Nirish guy]

I once read somewhere that boys in gogo bars wear a band around their upper arm ..... because with this band they are technically not nude

Well, I don't know what kind of bars you're into Christian but I can safely say that this whole arm band fetish thing you're perhaps in to does absolutely NOTHING for me ! :)
11087

[francois]

As reported previously, it was the norm in certain parts of the USA for males to swim naked in the 50s and perhaps more recently. Now not only do they cover up, but it tends to be more like large baggy swim shorts than nice tight speedos.

Males swimming nude were mostly in YMCAs and high school and college gym classes.

[StevieWonders]

Males swimming nude were mostly in YMCAs and high school and college gym classes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k

[arsenal]

There is a nude swimming scene in Heaven Help Us, the 1985 movie set in a Catholic school (of course). Starring Andrew McCarthy who bares a striking similarity to Folk from Nice Boys.

[StevieWonders]

There is a nude swimming scene in Heaven Help Us, the 1985 movie set in a Catholic school (of course). Starring Andrew McCarthy who bares a striking similarity to Folk from Nice Boys.Was the pun intended?

[Armando]

"Swim classes for boys routinely mandated that all boys were to participate in the nude up through the mid 20th century with some schools and public pools keeping the policy as late as the 1970s. This was due to both custom and the crude water filtration systems of the era, which were easily clogged by the cotton and wool fibers of bathing suits."