DJ Spooky

I first heard about DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller) when he came to the Festival of Sydney a few years ago to perform his 'remix' of the infamous American film Birth of a Nation. Also known as The Clansmen (which might give you some clues about its politics), Birth of a Nation dramatised the history of the American Civil War. When it was released in 1915, US President Woodrow Wilson described the film as being 'like history written with lightning' - it is widely regarded as one of the first films to realise the potential of film as a medium for dramatising history. The film is notorious because it pretty much depicts the Ke Klux Klan as the saviours of American democracy, and the African American characters as either depicted as imbeciles or bestial, would-be rapists, played by white actors in blackface. DJ Spooky remixed the film (with a new score) to give the film's iconic images new meaning in a contemporary context - you can see an extract from the film here . Miller's remix uses the film against itself, repeating visual motifs and juxtaposing images in a new and (obviously) unintended ways. While the remix pulls the film apart and gives it new meaning, Miller commented that 'in a certain sense, what I'm doing is portraying the film as [Griffith] intended it', with its racism exposed through the re-presentation of the film its remixed form. 

On DJ Spooky's website, you can read his commentary on Rebirth of a Nation and also see his remix of the trailer of a fantastic seventies concert film, Wattstax. The trailer remix is a kind of history 'wink' from Miller to those who can read and understand the cues and signs (and especially sounds) he is offering to us. While his work is certainly not conventional documentary, it relies on the power of juxtaposition and a degree of audience familiarity with the material being presented - and isn't this a plausible description for a lot of 'media history'?

Who Do You Think You Are?

This parody of the television genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? screened on the ABC last night on The Armstrong and Miller Show - I thought you might enjoy it!

History/Listening

Following this afternoon's discussion with Sharon Davis and Eurydice Aroney, I thought I might open up a space for us to discuss the possibilities and challenges that radio offers for making history. Radio tends to be overlooked when we think about history and media, but radio, as I think we all saw (heard?) opens up all sorts of new possibilities for communicating history to broad audiences. Radio's intimacy and scale are suited to different kinds of histories and Sharon and Eurydice's work shows how potent these can be when used well.

I'd be curious to hear what you think sorts of histories radio might suit, what works well on radio, and how you might come to terms with its limitations in making history-themed features, as well as your experiences with interviewing (which is common to most of the formats we're discussing and seems to spark intense discussion whenever we mention it).

Some links to explore that might be useful if you're suddenly contemplating reviewing a radio feature for your first assignment -
you can find BBC radio history programs, including a series on 1968, here, and Radio Eye, where 'The Search for Edna Lavilla' first aired, on ABC Radio National, here. There is already a link to Hindsight, the ABC's dedicated history program slot, on the right hand side of this page.