The Liminal Space Between Life and Death in Documentaries

Case Study: “You, Margaret” (2021)

Authors

  • Csilla Peter

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46522/S.2022.02.6

Keywords:

liminality, observational documentary

Abstract

The concept of liminality is explained and developed by anthropologists and aims to give the reader a closer look on how rituals are conducted in small societies combining everything with something that is based on experience. This paper aims on addressing  the issue of old age, the connection between the passage of time and the gradual degradation of man, but it also focuses on other problems that arise with aging and the transition from life to death. Theoretical approaches are used to explain the use of the observational style in documentary filming when real people’s experiences are followed and then transposed in an observational style into a documentary film. It uses as a case study on my personal observational documentary entitled “You, Margaret” (2021).

References

LARSON, Paul, 2014. Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Boston, MA: Edit. Springer US. [accessed 12 Apr 2022]. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_387#citeas

MCHUGH, Ian, 2010. Liminal subjectivities in contemporary film and literature. Sussex: Edit. University of Sussex. [accessed 10 Apr 2022]. Retrieved from: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/38659/1/McHugh%2C_Ian.pdf

NICHOLS, Bill, 2001. Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

SZAKOLCZAI, Arpad, 2009. International Political Anthropology. Liminality and Experience: Structuring transitory situations and transformative events. [accessed 20 Apr 2022]. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/8343072/Liminality_and_Experience_Structuring_transitory_situations_and_transformative_events

VON GENNEP, Arnold, 2019. The Rites of Passage. Second Edition, Chicago: Edit. University of Chicago Press. [accessed 20 Apr 2022]. Retrieved from: https://press.uchicago.edu/dam/ucp/books/pdf/course_intro/978-0-226-62949-0_course_intro.pdf.

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Published

2023-01-20

How to Cite

Peter, C. (2023) “The Liminal Space Between Life and Death in Documentaries: Case Study: ‘You, Margaret’ (2021)”, Symbolon, 23(2(43), pp. 75–82. doi: 10.46522/S.2022.02.6.

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2(43) (2022)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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