Liked the first five minutes, got bored soon after, scrolled through the last part to see if there was any more interesting bead stuff coming up.
Not offended by the nudity. I think that kinda comes with the territory if you choose to film ceremonies in these specific groups.
I thought the attention to all the details of the ceremony was quite strange compared to the way the video as presented at first.
I saw a preview of this video earlier this year. I, too, found it barely relevant to the history of beads, and wrote an extensive critique that was passed along to the authors. I pointed out that they were perpetuating the myth that Manhattan was purchased for beads (and the movie-makers even knew which beads - chevrons!) and directed them to Peter Francis' award-winning research debunking the myth.
I also thought the extensive documentation of the Dipo puberty rites should have been in a separate film just on the anthropology of that culture. I kept waiting in vain for some sort of a discussion of the types of beads that were used, and why they were chosen, etc. I am not offended by nudity but I found the film exploitive of the young girls who probably had no say in whether their private images were published for a global audience.
Yes Dan, my reaction was the same as yours - the film seems to be a pitiful excuse to show extended sequences of semi-nude teen and younger girls.
Finally, the title, "The Glass Bead Game" is a rip-off of the title of a Herman Hesse novel and is also totally irrelevant to the subject(s) they presented.
Anyway, the authors had a typical "shoot the messenger" response to my review (which I was asked to do by a third party BTW) which basically was, "Who is this person who is criticizing our work?" instead of addressing any of the comments.
Cedi gave a demonstration and wouldn't you just love to have the regalia of one of these Krobo girls?
Did you bother to look closely at the Krobo beads?
And what about American and other "modern" women with their breast implants, pig-gut war paint, and metal fishing lures dangling from all parts of their bodies?
Look at the beads, pal, and get out your Merriam-Webster.
...noticing how nicely sculptural may some girl's breasts be.
there's no pain, cutting, and mutilation going on. But can they twerk?
Great shots (not enough) of Gold Coast forts and Dr. Francis interviewed the Bruce women back in the 1990s.
