Ruby

Since Ruby's article was written in the early 1990s, many things have changed during the last twenty years in terms of images. Today, you do not need to a professional filmmaker or photographer to produce a film or an image. The current use of Iphones and cell phones has allowed anyone to take a picture or video and instantaneously post it on the internet so it has world wide access. The line between filmer and those being filmed has narrowed since in many cases it is one and the same. We saw this in the images posted worldwide during the Arab Spring.
Ruby writes about an all Native American crew trained by Canadians who produced You Are On Indian Land and the discussion on whether it was made by white men even if it was made in consultation with Indians and only a documentary by us about them. Yet, at time goes on and more and more Native Americans make their own films will the white man's influence wear away so they fully control the image?
This also makes you think about the success of the Kayapo of the Amazon Rain forest in Brazil and the Walpiri of Central Australia. Ruby writes that after being trained in video production in 1985 by Brazilian researched, the Kayapo used video production to document traditional culture and to document transactions to be used in future litigation. The question is whether their success is somehow related to the fact that Sting has taken up the cause of the Rain forest? Ruby comments that Sting's latest MTV video includes Kayapo footage. Does having a celebrity give more credibility to the Kayapo video?
Ruby discusses TV which has definitely changed since he wrote his article. He writes that gay men and lesbians do not exist since they are not depicted on TV. Today, there are many shows both on network TV and cable that include gay storylines. Shows such as Six Feet Under, Modern Family, Glee are a few that come to mind. Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell both have popular talk shows. It writes there has been some progress on news announcers. Yes there are more African Americans, Asian Americans women and Hispanics but everyone has become homogenized and everyone looks and sounds the same. There is no such thing as a regional accent.