NO MORE SCENERY, PLEASE!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 46, 10 May 1940, Page 12

NO MORE SCENERY, PLEASE!

What's Wrong With New Zealand Films ? When John Grierson, the founder of the documentary film movement in Great Britain, visited New Zealand recently at the invitation of our Government, he had some salutary criticism to make of New Zealand publicity films, particularly of the tendency in them to concentrate on scenery and to forget the human beings who live in it. We reproduce below part of a talk on this subject which was recorded by Mr. Grierson tor the NBS. It has already been broadcast by 2YA and will be heard later trom other National stations.

DO not know why I should come back to your scenery again but, you know, you do emphasise it to wandering strangers like myself. When I arrived at Auckland one or two officials came down to meet me at the ship. I wanted to hop into a train and rush off for Wellington and get down to work. "No, no," they said. "You must see Rotorua

and the scenery first." I said, "If we must go sightseeing don’t show me any scenery. Show me your housing estates, your schools, your Research Stations, your modern farming methods. Show me, in fact, something about the people"; and I’m afraid I must say that I also asked what were the local closing times. What Kind of People? I had a very gocd reason for switching away from scenery like that and I hope you believe that it was not out of disrespect for the scenery. You see, over in England, we seem to see and hear a lot about New Zealand but never anything about the human beings that live in it. I knew about your mountains and

glaciers, your tree ferns and your sheep country. I knew a dozen times over from your films how butter was made and a dozen times over that it always seemed to be called "Solid Sunshine." I knew that you had a lot of Macris who staged shows for rich tourists, and that you had mud that bubbled, and hot water on tap from out of the earth. I also knew that Taupo trout were the biggest in the world; but nobody had shown me so that I would remember it the face of a New Zealander. I knew the Maoris of Rotorua were all right for what they were doing but that, I was sure, was not the true creature of Polynesia, with a quality of grace and strange vitality. As for the pakeha-I wondered even more about him. I have been in a lot of countries, and one thing I am sure of is that every country has its oWn native genius, its own spirit, and that it writes these on the people’s faces, in their manners, in the way they see things. Nobody had told me about the native genius of New Zealand, or certainly they had not told me in films. Tourist Resort Plus Butter Factory The clue to the other side of the story is the clue of telling other nations about New Zealand. You may make very pleasant scenic pictures but it just is not enough to appear before the world as a mere tourist resort plus a butter factory. I have no doubt you want to sell your butter and your tourist attractions and that is why you send these films,

But just think for a moment. Think of all the other countries with tourist attractions; and I do not mind saying even to New Zealanders that every country has its own special beauty. Why should we concentrate on New Zealand except that there is something likeable or admirable about it in the way it lives and in the vision of life it demonstrates? When you are trying to engage the interest of other countries you come to the human factor, which is

the Vitamin D of nationality. What the World Wants to Know You know, when I. was sailing down the Pacific I kept wondering what I was going to see. I knew that this was a kind and gracious land, I knew that you were very English in your ways, and that the men wore blazers as they had in England before the last war. I also knew that the settlers were handpicked, and I hoped you would not turn out to be altogether too respectable; but what I wondered most about were the things you were doing in your drive towards Social Security. Here you were leading the world in a dozen things, pre-natal care, dental clinics, and so forth. In London I have seen faces light up when Mr. Lange stone has spoken of the Hous-

ing Scheme and State Health Service. Lord Bledisloe had told me that the average standard of your scientific research was even higher than in England, Here, in fact, are the things that the world wants to know about you. You have what I call international Validity because all over the world people are interested in these things, just because they are trying to create their own social security for themselves. I wanted to see how a leading country like yours does things. "Either Inhuman-or Liars" So I think if you want to show New Zealand’s importance to the world you should show the things which make New Zealand important. This sounds a simple proposition, but I am afraid you have not been doing it and we have all been missing a great deal. So when you send-us your films never send merely the scenic ones. Put in something about the real things you do. Do not be ashamed to describe your problems, and what you are doing about your problems fike that one I mentioned about erosion. Remember we are pretty imperfect ourselves, and if you appear always in the spit and polish of perfection we know very quickly that you are either inhuman or you are liars. Above all your country must send us films about people, so that we can see their faces and remember that New Zealand is not just a couple of spots on a distant map but a real place with a flash of the future in its eyes and a beat in its heart.