Jump to content

Les maîtres fous

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pedro Felipe (talk | contribs) at 22:27, 27 January 2011 (→Historical background). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Les maîtres fous
Directed byJean Rouch
Release date
1955
Running time
36 minutes

Les maîtres fous (The Mad Masters – 1955) is a short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director and ethnologist. It is a docufiction, his first ethnofiction, genre of which he is considered to be the creator.

Historical background

The subject of the film was the Hauka movement. The Hauka movement consisted of mimicry and dancing to become possessed by British Colonial administrators. The participants performed the same elaborate military ceremonies of their colonial occupiers, but in more of a trance than true recreation. Les maîtres fous review.

The Hauka movement, according to some anthropologists was a form of resistance that began in Niger, but spread to other parts of Africa. According to some anthropologists, this pageant, though historic, was largely done to mock their authority by stealing their powers. Hauka members were not trying to emulate Europeans, but were trying to extract their life force – something “entirely African”.

This stance has been heavily criticized by anthropologist James G. Ferguson who finds this imitation not about importing colonialism into indigenous culture, but more a way to gain rights and status in the colonial society. The adoption of European customs was not so much a form of resistance, but to be “respected by the Europeans.”[1]

Les maîtres fous offended both colonial authorities and African students alike. Indeed, the film was so controversial that it was banned first in Niger, and then in other British territories including Ghana [1]. The film was considered offensive to colonial authorities because of the Africans' blatant attempts to mimic and mock the "white oppressors". On the other hand, African students, teachers, and directors found the film to perpetrate an "exotic racism" of the African people [1].

The film, Les Maitres Fous, focuses on Hauka spirit possession in the area of the Gold Coast (more specifically, Accra) and portrays the message through extremely graphic and uncomfortable imagery. This reaction paper is designed to critically understand why the film was created, what the intentions of Jean Rouch (the film maker) were and what the reasons behind such a violent ceremony are. The film has been heavily criticised and it was originally suggested that it be destroyed (Henley, 2006: 731), though, it is clear through responses such as this that the vulgarity of the work evokes strong responses by those who watch it. Through summarizing the messages and the themes of Les Maitres Fous, this reaction paper shows how the film challenges what one understands as real and unreal and shocks one into a new awareness of Africa spirit possession.

Jean Rouch commences the film with an invitation to the audience to “participate completely” in the ritual, despite the explicit and often vulgar imagery. Complete participation would mean that the audience would not only have to be open to the idea of spirit possession, but also stop themselves from viewing the film from an ethnocentric standpoint and rather immerse themselves in the themes the film presents. This film is described from the opening lines to be a reaction and readjustment of some African people to western civilization and by initially stating that the imagery is graphic and violent, and with the name of the film being Les Maitres Fous (The Crazy Masters), Jean Rouch sets the audience up for the opinion that these Gold Coast migrants have of the west. The violence and explicit images are a means in which Rouch creates an uncompromised view of the ritual and provides the expressions of these Hauka spirits in a raw and genuine manner (Henley, 2006: 735).

The film begins by demonstrating life in Accra and displays the hustle and bustle of the city through imagery of the multiple occupations of the inhabitants of the urban centre. These include “Grass Boys”, “Cattle Boys” and “Hygiene Boys” and these images, as well as other images of the city demonstrate a demanding place with many people living in close proximity to one another. This demonstration of the city of Accra (“the colonial capital of the Gold Coast”; Reddy, 2001: 3) shows the environment to which the people must adapt and therefore creates a backdrop for the reason why Rouch states that the Hauka ceremony can be seen as a readjustment to the western lifestyle. Reddy (2001: 3) states that it is the confrontation between the modern and the traditional that gives rise to the development and the spread of spirit possession cults like the Hauka and therefore the juxtaposition of the modern life of the city with the ceremonial Hauka possession provides the viewers with this understanding.

Henley (2006: 756) states that the Hauka ritual is “a vehicle for the expression of cultural identity and solidarity of the migrants” and Rouch demonstrates the importance of this ritual, to those involved in it, through a representation of how far the individuals have to travel in order to perform the ritual. Rouch emphasises the long taxi journey and the hour long walk to the site that is required by the participants in the ritual. A sharp contrast to the city is made in these scenes through imagery of the dense bush and presentations of how the road is covered with vegetation, making it impossible to drive over. Therefore, the performance of the Hauka ritual is done away from the typical portraits of western living. The message being communicated through these contrasting images therefore, is that the socio-cultural change that the West African individuals are experiencing (with regards to colonial rule) is physically manifested in the imagery of the city and this emphasises the tensions that the Hauka mediums have to cope with daily. Henley (2006: 735) highlights this point well through saying that the migrants “are ‘forced’ to turn to the cult as refuge from all this ‘noise’ [of the city]”.

Public confessions and the presentation of ‘the new one’ mark the beginnings of the Hauka ceremony. Purity is emphasised and people are divided into the pure ones (those allowed to partake in the circular dance ritual) and the punished ones (those forced to remain out of the circle). The importance of music for the ritual is made clear in the film as it shows images of people dancing to music and making noise with the clapping of wooden guns. Sound is largely believed to be a means of opening the mind and inviting spirits and Rouch highlighted this through filming the circular dance and allowing the hypnotic, repetitive beat to be heard.

Vulgar and violent episodes that occurred during this possession ceremony were caught on film. These include the squashing of a chicken’s head in sacrifice, the licking of a dog’s blood, the boiling of a dog’s flesh, the burning of human skin and foaming at the mouth of the Hauka mediums. These images were included into the film by Jean Rouch in order to shock the audience into awareness of the graphic nature of these rituals and also shock them into a realisation of just how little people know about spirit possession in Africa. According to Reddy (2001: 3), Les Maitres Fous is a clear example of how Jean Rouch rejected the notion of the purely objective anthropologist and how Rouch uses filmmaking and film editing in order to powerfully present a message about one’s own society and the society of the West African migrants presented in the film. The Hauka is described in Les Maitres Fous as being “ceremonies that we [westerners] still do not understand well” and through this, Eurocentric philosophical notions of the world are challenged. The combination of this and the graphic imagery shocks the viewers into a new perspective- a perspective that confronts the ontological question of whether or not this Hauka performance is real.

It is said that the Hauka spirits present themselves through the bodies of their mediums and thereafter need to prove that the body they possess is no longer human, but is, in fact, a Hauka spirit (Henley, 2006: 755). This is done, by the mediums, through the undertaking of various tasks such as burning themselves with large flames. The burning indicates that they are no longer bound by the physical constraints of humanity, but are able to withstand what is usually physically impossible. This film’s depiction of the ritual challenges one’s understanding of the way things are in the world through the fact that it demonstrates a transgression of social norms and bodies undergoing almost god-like experiences. Humans are usually unable to endure the pain of burning flesh and of their hands being dipped into boiling water and both of these were endured, with no visible signs of pain, by the Hauka. This indicates a sort of suppressing of humanity or a human consciousness shift (by the mediums) in order to make way for the consciousness of the Hauka spirits and links very clearly to the earlier point that these Gold Coast migrants know things that are not yet know to the western world.

Killing and eating a dog is seen as an elementary taboo in the culture of these West Africans depicted in the film, as well as the European culture that is mimicked by the Hauka spirits. Therefore, by creating a soup from the dog and licking the blood from the slit neck, the Hauka present themselves as apart from their human mediums and also, through vulgarity, present their disdain for the colonial system (Henley, 2006: 755). The killing of the dog therefore becomes evidence of the grotesqueness of colonialism and by demonstrating the ultimate inversion of British/French society in a situation of mimicry and mockery, the Hauka spirits in fact assert their intense hatred for the colonial system. The entire act of eating the dog becomes more that just that, it becomes an elaborate play of social dynamics and an expression of deeply rooted societal tensions from the wider social context.

The images of the mediums during the possession are unsightly, but at the same time, evocative. The possession starts slowly at first, starting in the feet and moving upward toward the head and the viewer is made to witness convulsing human beings who seem to be in the middle of an uncontrollable fit. It evident that Jean Rouch does not want to omit any part of the outlandish actions of the Hauka spirits for omission of such will not do justice to the over the top antics of the spirits and will therefore not represent them in a truthful light. The reason for their over the top mimicry is to emphasise their view of the colonial military and to mock them through vulgar actions. Mimicry is said to be the ultimate form of flattery, but this is not the case for the Hauka ritual. The mimicry is used to make a fool of the colonial system and prove the strength of the Hauka spirits. This unmerciful behaviour is said by Rouch (cited in Henley 2006: 737) to be “a form of ‘group therapy’” and therefore, by including their vulgar actions, Rouch gives acknowledgement to the stresses of the Gold Coast migrants and their strong feelings toward the colonial social context they find themselves in.

Les Maitres Fous is clearly an example of how the surrealist movement influenced Jean Rouch as many ideas of ethnographic surrealism are evident in the film. Surrealism can be seen as “the coupling of two realities, reconcilable in appearance, upon a plane that does not suit them” (Ernst, cited in Clifford, 1981: 539) and the use of unexpected and evocative juxtapositions are said to shock people and awaken their consciousness to a new reality (Clifford, 1981: 540). Les Maitres Fous shows powerful examples of this sort of juxtaposition throughout the film, but never so powerfully as at the end. The hard, stressful lives of the participants of the ritual are shown with contrasting flashes back to horrific images of them the day before- foaming at the mouth covered in dog blood. These participants are thereby shown to have to reabsorb the tensions of the colonial city (Reddy, 2001: 3). The pick-pocketer, the gravel mover and the rest of the Hauka mediums are depicted with smiling faces, a sharp change from the violence that was the day before. These contrasting images are used to emphasise the fact that the Hauka ritual is a counter-hegemonic performance and by contrasting the violence of the ritual with the regular day-to-day lives of the participants, Rouch places greater emphasis on the vulgar imagery through drawing the viewer’s attention back to ritual.

Therefore, Jean Rouch’s powerful work in the Gold Coast of Africa highlights some of the fundamental questions that humanity has about the supernatural. Rouch challenges Eurocentric notions of the world and puts forward the possibility that this violent, over the top and vulgar possession ritual might, in fact, be real. With an invitation to suspend one’s disbeliefs and challenge one’s notions of one’s own boundaries, Rouch presents images of what is perceived to be impossible (like the painless burning of human flesh) as possible. The influence on his work by the Surrealist movement is echoed through his juxtaposition of contrasting images for greater effect and to shock the audience into a new realisation of their own reality, as well as the reality of those who are filmed. Therefore, in conclusion, the Hauka ritual (as represented by Jean Rouch in Les Maitres Fous) is a ritual demonstrating the struggle of individuals to deal with their changing lives and is a violent counter-hegemonic performance that, through mimicry, allows the Hauka mediums to mock the grotesqueness of colonialism.

References

  1. ^ a b c Ferguson

James G. Ferguson (2002). "Of Mimicry and Membership: Africans and the "New World Society"". American Anthropological Society. {{cite journal}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Les_maîtres_fous&oldid=410452485"