Director: Jed Riffe, Pamela Roberts;
Writers: Anne Makepeace;
Filmed in: California
The Cultural Influence: this is a documentary unlike any other with the exploration of a lost Indian tribe in California 20 years later with one lone survivor.
Writers: Anne Makepeace;
Filmed in: California
The Cultural Influence: this is a documentary unlike any other with the exploration of a lost Indian tribe in California 20 years later with one lone survivor.
Chiefdom is in power in this film with the structure of the tribe and the representation of power and succession as the years continue. In the cultural schema of things the expression of culture for the Yahi is in things and not in actions. Ishi fought to stay alive and expressed his spiritual values through his actions and the ways in which he honors the people that he has lost along the way. The one night that they went back to Ishi's home, he had a spiritual meeting with the spirits of his lost tribe and through that meeting, he was pure in a sense and he was able to continue believing that his people are free now and safe. Another key topic from the anthropological perspective is cultural adaptation, in order for Ishi to adjust to modern day society, he started to observe and explore the different aspects that Americans have such as the way citizens dress and the proper time to change and where.
The spiritual aspects of Ishi's life continued on into the hunting of food for the Yahi. Kroeber and his colleagues learned a lot about the process of making the kill holy and cleansed. Ishi taught the men that you have to go through a process in the correct way in order to make the kill acceptable to the spirits and able to eat. In order for the men to kill their prey, one of the scientists need to stop smoking and sure enough once the air was clear and the animal could not suspect human life being near, they were able to capture the animal and cleanse it and eventually eat it. The entire outlook on life reflects on the spirits and at the end of their human life, they travel down south for entrance to the other world. The communication barriers allowed for a continue cultural adaptation considering that Ishi was the last Yahi and the wild language was only spoken by his tribe.
In my personal perspective, this video was very intriguing and had a lot of different cultural aspects tied into the life of Ishi. I found it very intriguing that the hunting of Indians was legal and even profitable, the fact that one person can hunt another for profit just makes my skin crawl. Ishi had suffered so much and yet he continues to be strong and fight to survive in this new world for him. Ishi even wanted a bride and one that was shocking for most that he would want to marry Lily Lamia who was the eye candy for most men at this time. Kroeber took great care of Ishi and the way he respected him was honorable but I could not imagine asking Ishi to recall such a tragic time when he lost all of his Yahi village and culture because of competitive cultural differences. There were a lot of spiritual aspects in Ishi's culture for instance when his sister was calling him from the next life and that was very interesting with his hope that they would all move on and they did through his discussion at night with them. One thing stuck with me more than any other and I wanted to cite it, "Ishi was the teacher, scientist were the novices" when Ishi and Kroeber and a few other men went back to Ishi's village, Ishi taught them all about their methods and how they lived day by day and the scientists were the ones learning from his lifestyle.
The spiritual aspects of Ishi's life continued on into the hunting of food for the Yahi. Kroeber and his colleagues learned a lot about the process of making the kill holy and cleansed. Ishi taught the men that you have to go through a process in the correct way in order to make the kill acceptable to the spirits and able to eat. In order for the men to kill their prey, one of the scientists need to stop smoking and sure enough once the air was clear and the animal could not suspect human life being near, they were able to capture the animal and cleanse it and eventually eat it. The entire outlook on life reflects on the spirits and at the end of their human life, they travel down south for entrance to the other world. The communication barriers allowed for a continue cultural adaptation considering that Ishi was the last Yahi and the wild language was only spoken by his tribe.
In my personal perspective, this video was very intriguing and had a lot of different cultural aspects tied into the life of Ishi. I found it very intriguing that the hunting of Indians was legal and even profitable, the fact that one person can hunt another for profit just makes my skin crawl. Ishi had suffered so much and yet he continues to be strong and fight to survive in this new world for him. Ishi even wanted a bride and one that was shocking for most that he would want to marry Lily Lamia who was the eye candy for most men at this time. Kroeber took great care of Ishi and the way he respected him was honorable but I could not imagine asking Ishi to recall such a tragic time when he lost all of his Yahi village and culture because of competitive cultural differences. There were a lot of spiritual aspects in Ishi's culture for instance when his sister was calling him from the next life and that was very interesting with his hope that they would all move on and they did through his discussion at night with them. One thing stuck with me more than any other and I wanted to cite it, "Ishi was the teacher, scientist were the novices" when Ishi and Kroeber and a few other men went back to Ishi's village, Ishi taught them all about their methods and how they lived day by day and the scientists were the ones learning from his lifestyle.