The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia
by Jennifer Baichwal
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DVD details
Actor: Shelby Lee Adams, Walter CronkiteDirector: Jennifer Baichwal
Cinematographer: Nick de Pencier
Producer: Nick de Pencier
Producer: Jennifer Baichwal
Editor: David Wharnsby
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Running Time: 75 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Video Group
DVD Reviews of The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia
DVD Review: Skewed, not relatable and damaging
Summary: 1 Stars
Both sides of my family hail from the hollers of Kentucky. And I find this portrayal unrecognizable.
No doubt you could find a family from any locale in the nation that lives in the extremes of poverty - and witness what that does to body and soul and lifestyle. City or country. But the way Adams structures and presents most of his work, hanging the label "Appalachia" over it in some definitive way, implies that this is the majority reality of the region, not a small, sad slice. I can't know his personal motives, but he's in denial if he thinks that people from outside the region don't look at his work as a fascinating freak show and a reinforcement of all the most damaging stereotypes of Appalachia. If he had *tried* to make a companion Doc to "Deliverance", he couldn't have been more successful.
If you want indulge the desire to gawk upon beyond hard-luck people, exploited for our supposed edification and our open-minded "sympathy", then go ahead and buy this DVD. And pretend that it doesn't just offer the opportunity to feel a secret or not-so-secret superiority to those poor, damaged "hicks".
But as someone whose family lived the holler life, coon dogs and outhouses, wood stove and well water and all, I can tell you that I never even met a family that resembles these. It might not fit in with preconceived notions of the area, and Adams "artistic vision", but that's simply the truth.
DVD Review: Lies!!
Summary: 1 Stars
This film and his book are all lies...I know some of these people who he photographed and he staged them and told them what to wear how to look etc...it is disgusting...these people did not know they were going to be made fun of and put on display...they thought he was just taking pics for his own personal collection. Yes, there are poor people here, but we are not dirty, uneducated, and lazy...we are a proud people who work hard for what we have...I can't believe he would do this to his own family!!DVD Review: Never buy from this Seller
Summary: 1 Stars
I have never recieved my DVD that I purchased from this seller at the beginning of March. I emailed the seller, and I have not recieved a response. I would never trust this person or buy anything from them. All this seller does is take your money. DVD Review: A Fascinating Look Deep in the Holler
Summary: 5 Stars
As a photography instructor in Kentucky I am often presented with the dubious task of trying to explain to the outside world that yes, indeed, thoughtful, creative artists are born, raised, and work in our wonderfully unusual state. Shelby Lee Adams is a Kentucky born artist who has dared to venture into the deep recesses of our amazingly diverse state to show the world both our challenges of poverty and our seemingly incongruent capacity for hope and resilience. This absolutely compelling video has captivated several hundred of my current and former students of photography, leaving some of us speechless and others ready to engage in spirited discourse about Shelby's motives. I have watched this film so many times that I can almost recite it line by line and as such I have grown increasingly amazed at both its content and the brilliant editing that builds each story to a fascinating climax without any visible evidence of coercion or interference by the filmmaker. I have lived here in KY for over twenty years and I had never before seen footage of the snake handlers that he documents with such unabashed intimacy. His photographs of the lifestyles of the "holler dwellers" are beautifully evocative if sometimes a little hokey in their choreography and the critics make solid points in this regard. Other commentators, such as the infinitely luminous Mary Ellen Mark, speak with great reverence for Shelby's approach to his subjects. No matter what you might think about Shelby's work, this is a fabulously crafted piece of precision documentary, ripe with thoughtful insights and poignant statements from persons of every level of economic and social strata (and a few who have curiously migrated from one to another level). There are fascinating bits of archival video footage that take us right into the lives of many of the subjects who we see depicted in his stunning large format black and white prints. I have in my collection most of the Photography related films that are reviewed here and I am perplexed that this one has not received the overwhelmingly positive reviews it is due. "The True Meaning of Pictures" is every bit as candid, provocative, and compelling as "War Photographer", the brilliant film chronicling the work of James Nachtwey. If you are even the slightest bit interested in the culture of Appalachia and a photographer willing to show us a side that we might otherwise never see, this fine film will most certainly leave you with more mental fodder than you bargained for!
DVD Review: Ignorance Goes Both Ways
Summary: 1 Stars
I think Shelby Lee Adams fancies himself the ringmaster of a modern day freak show. He, along with other "artists" in the Appalachian Gothic genre seem to be popularizing the "Woe is me, I grew up in Appalachia" movement; this is trite, insulting and artistically irresponsible. People like Shelby are the reason ignorant people across the country ask me why I am wearing shoes when I tell them I am from Eastern Kentucky. Anyone from the region can look at his pictures and tell that they are staged; that he is profiting off this garbage by peddling it to people eager to gobble up these stereotypes is sickening.
Description of The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia
An audience favorite at Sundance, THE TRUE MEANING OF PICTURES is an introduction to the work of renowned photographer Shelby Lee Adams. Born in Eastern Kentucky, Adams has devoted 30 years of his life to visiting and making portraits of families living iCanada DVDs
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