The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia

Starring:Shelby Lee Adams, Walter Cronkite
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Studio: New Video Group
Product Type: DVD

Description

An audience favorite at Sundance, THE TRUE MEANING OF PICTURES is an introduction to the work of renowned photographer Shelby Lee Adams. Born in Eastern Kentucky, Adams has devoted 30 years of his life to visiting and making portraits of families living i

Customer Reviews:

Insulting to Kentucky Appalachia folks.......2007-06-08

Unfortunately, I purchased this item with the hopes that it would be as historically interesting as some of the other books and dvd's I have purchased on this area. Sadly, I sent it as a gift to a dear friend who lives there and was shocked to see the reaction. They feel it is an insult to the Appalachia of today and just continues to portray an ugly picture to anyone who has not been to the area. Some 'holler' dwellers may be very poor and less educated than some of us but they are still family folks and loving ones. Are they any different from the very clannish New Englanders? Are not there areas in each and every state that could show areas of poor, uneducated folks? Modern Kentucky Appalachia has come a long way and I think folks need to see that and not the one portrayed in this book. My heart goes out to the poor folks that were exploited herein and from now on, I will preview things before accepting reviews from others.

Haunting and Compelling.......2005-08-09

This documentary is, at times, poignant, haunting, and eerily compelling. It is also, at times, graphic and disturbing. Photographer Shelby Lee Adams' representation of rural Appalachian life the film contains both a critique, and a defense, of Adams' methodology. Because Adams himself grew up in Appalachia, the viewers are afforded access to an astonishing and often uncomfortable level of intimacy with the subjects. We learn the stories behind the pictures of the "holler dwellers", the people who live in virtual isolation up to 20 miles down dead end dirt roads in rural Kentucky hollows. Adams unflinchingly takes us all the way to the end of the hollows where life becomes increasingly hardscrabble with every mile. The subjects' stories were, for me, alternately depressing and uplifting. The subjects themselves run the gamut from pitiful to stoically dignified, and despite their individual circumstances, they are as fearless to reveal themselves to the viewer through the camera's lens as Adams is to show Appalachian life as he sees it. The documentary is difficult to watch at times. Ultimately, it is left up to the viewer to reach his or her own conclusion as to Adams' motivations. A fascinating and difficult to watch look at a rapidly vanishing American sub-culture.

Definitely worth watching for Appalachian scholars.......2004-12-07

This film does a good job of presenting an unbiased examination of Adams' photography. If you are unfamiliar with his images, find some and examine them...some of them are almost haunting in the way they portray poverty in Appalachia. The problem, as most Appalachian scholars in the film see it, is that his photographs are often staged (completely) and can be seen as portraying a slanted/biased view of poor Appalachians as stereotypical hillbillies. I offer no conclusions on this issue; Adams says this was not his intent and that he's not responsible for his audience's interpretation. I have a hard time reconciling some of the staged shots as anything but exploitative, but I'd have to become more familiar with Adams' work to draw a solid conclusion. In any case, this film would be an excellent introduction to the idea of stereotypes in the region in a basic Appalachian Studies course. It offers several topics that could lead to course-long discussions that could serve as a foundation for an entire course.

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