This is a film project created in October of 2021. It contains script, storyboard, digital film, and project summary. It is about ethical issues in the film industry, such as the adoption of unions for workers in that field.
See the film below! Along with pictures of the accompanying work…
In 2009, the statute of Judge Matthew Baiillee Begbie ‘went missing’ from its plinth in the foyer of the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. https://uvicgradstudents.blogspot.com/2009/05/begbie-statue-stolen.html
In 2013, law students Derek Deacon, Nathan Lapper, and Mike Thain (in the context of a law and film class), set out to ask and answer questions about the statue, its disappearance, and law student thoughts about what should be done with the empty space left behind.
Breaking the Ice They Stand On is a 32-minute documentary about the securitization of the Canadian Arctic during the Cold War, and the resulting impacts to Inuit communities who found themselves on the front lines of the conflict. The film uses footage from National Film Board (NFB) productions from the Cold War Era, created by the Canadian government to glorify and legitimize its assertion of sovereignty in the North, as well as Inuit sources like the final report of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission. The film is a multidisciplinary project, pulling in ideas from the realms of security studies, environmental studies, economics, and law, among others.
Written Comment: Breaking the Ice They Stand On
Films which earn cult classic status often combine silly features and overwhelming truths. Ride It Till The Wheels Fall Off uses scenes from John Landis’ 1980 cult classic screwball-comedy The Blues Brothers, to try and capture a pure and indescribable truth about our bizarre and violent situation in modern western society.
Through this repurposed footage, Ride It Till The Wheels Fall Off surveys a number of contemporary issues in the Canadian criminal justice system. It interrogates ideas of good-and-bad and redemption. Overall it is a meditation on “the criminal,” the person whose mere existence in free society is a crime.
Nick Noble, January 23, 2023
The students in the Inuit Law and Film (Legal Theory Workshop) class once again produced a really rich variety of final projects. I was warned by one member of the class (Brittany Goud) that her proposed project would require my active participation. I agreed that I would be willing to give it (whatever it was…she was closed-mouthed about it).
I have now participated! I also took a few photos along the way to capture the ‘installation/participation art’ nature of it.
What Brittany had delivered to my office was a lovely pink box with instructions on the front (to go to a webpage and start watching before opening the box). I cheated and opened the box first, but I still could not figure out what would be required from a visual glance at the box or contents alone.
So…. the website is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQkfPVWXs0Q
If you go there, you will see a kind of DIY/How-To video for beading an earring. The box contained all the material I would need to make a giant earring (made out of foam tubing, covered by colourful duct tape.
As per the visual instructions (no words, only sound is the soundtrack from Nanook of the North), I laid out the material and began working…
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| …What it should end up looking like…. |
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| Laying out the materials |
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| Half way there! |
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| Success! I did it! |
I gotta say, it has been MANY years since I was a serious beader (I am now referring to my pre-teen and teen years at the Shuswap, where I spent the summers beading rings and necklaces), and I was a bit panicked about it…. would I be able to follow the video (particular since she use NO WORDS…)?
It was great fun.
Here is a photo of the completed earring hanging on the wall….it is alongside a drawing by Peter Ragee, that I bought in Iqaluit last summer.
Generally, there are two drawings usually there: the first (hanging) has the hunter waiting for the seal. The second of the companion drawings captures the moment when the hunter GETS the seal.
I took down the second in honour of Brittany’s project: in her video, while she uses the music from Nanook, she actively did not use any of the music where there was an ‘actual’ kill (keeping instead the part where the actors are on the hunt.) I am now thinking of my earring as ‘the kill’ (hahah). I think that is in part a kind of auditory reference to one of the articles we read during the term, Kulchyski’s “Hunting Stories” (double play, both on ‘hunting’, and on the search for stories).
Now I am left with the question: does my success with the earring mean I am a good student, or rather that Brittany is a good teacher? 🙂
Joseph Mooney wrote this song in the context of Law 315: Business Associations, UVic Faculty of Law, 2018 (taught by Rebecca Johnson). The song is an engagement with questions raised in J.K. Gibson-Graham et al, Take Back the Economy.
Listen Here:
My interest in corporate law and business associations was first sparked following the financial crisis of 2008. I was fascinated (and somewhat disturbed) by the sheer size and leverage ratios of the investment banks primarily involved in the crisis. In reading “Take Back the Economy” and reflecting on many of the author’s points, I continually thought about the tension between the advantages that large scale economies present in terms of providing goods and services around the world, and the apparent need to moderate the size of major corporations or the few “major players” in a particular sector. The authors make a strong case that we should be thinking about the sustainability of consumption trends and the economies that have been set up to meet (or some might argue, create) those consumption demands.
In writing the “Train Song,” I was attempting to illustrate the problems not only with massive corporations, but also with normative presumptions of what the economy is. As such, the song touches on the feeling of helplessness that many people feel in regards to affecting the trajectory of a given national economy, particularly those born into lower socio-economic classes. In regard to the problems with large corporations, the song attempts to illustrate the problematic nature of an obsession with growth and the, in my opinion, outdated notion of what a director’s fiduciary obligation entails. Nonetheless, I felt compelled to include some ideas regarding the utility of the corporate form, as well as the need for some kind of regime that can govern the allocation of goods.
I found that getting some of these nuanced ideas out in verse was quite difficult however. Simply put, it’s hard to describe and discuss complex problems with great concision. It certainly led me to an increased admiration of the many great singer songwriters who have an uncanny ability to express so much with so little, such as Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. The song is already longer than I would have liked, but there is a great deal more that I wish I could have included, such as the fallacy of today’s economy being the result of natural forces, the role of un-paid labor and alternative economic interactions in allocating goods, as well as the long-standing existence of forms of association that are alternative from the classic capitalist forms.
I think that the linear narrative of the song is also something that made it difficult to express the convoluted world we live in today. In this sense the need to maintain an engaging story took away from my ability to accurately convey how long it can take to change entrenched ideas. Rather than simply disconnecting a box-car, becoming a source of positive change on a large scale can take longer than a life-time. “Take Back the Economy” even caused me to question the utility of such a large scale goal and instead consider a “turn-inwards” towards the local community level. It’s not that I think so highly of myself that I assume I can radically change the world, but I still like to entertain the idea that some very large scale changes in the dominant conception of what an economy is and how it should function may occur during my lifetime. The fact that this process occurs bit-by-bit, person by person and relies on an interplay between, if I may generalize, the law reflecting society’s priorities and society’s priorities being reflected by the law only serves to bolster the author’s call to action at a local level.
The project was a great way to engage in an a-typical way with some of the broader questions of policy, law and philosophy presented in “Take Back the Economy.” While I feel like there is a number of concepts I was not able to explore, it was still a very rewarding and enjoyable experience.
“Reframe the Economy”
(David Litner)
In order to take back the economy,
We must reframe, imagine it differently
Abandon this notion
That the economy is a relentless engine
That we can’t effect change, rearrange
Because we can make the change, rearrange
Chorus:
Reframe the economy to reflect our reality
A reality considering the environment and society
Not just the profit, acting monetarily
We can then be effective economic actors
Not just beset, overwhelmed non-factors
Ordinary people must understand
We can provoke manifest change
When we take matters into our own hands
[Chorus]
Like the trim tab of a huge ocean liner
Small actions can have big effects
An idea can spread rapidly
Reframing our sense of possibility
Unleashing new capacities
I too was cynical about the practicality
Of ordinary citizens altering the economy
But like Margaret Mead claimed
Small, committed groups of citizens can change the whole domain
One example from Take Back the Economy
Shows positive change sparked by the ordinary
Indigent women in Gujarat, India
Changed their fortunes thanks to SEWA
Now Gujarati women’s embroidery
Trends and adorns fashion garments globally
The women are suppliers, managers, and share-holders
In this not-for-profit company
Poor women reframed as skilled producing artisans
With operational principles that are socially just
Take back the economy as a space of ethical trust
So the economy is not simply
A large capitalistic body, incomprehensibly
We can have influence, we can have control
Conscious citizens can absolutely change the whole
[Chorus]
