Realities of The Carnival Expressed By Ethnographic Film

The starting point of this paper is the idea that the ethnographic film, perceived as a visual expression, shows a certain standpoint about the phenomenon it presents, and enables distinguishing of the layers of meaning that the author, subjects and the viewers attribute to it. By analyzing three films about the Lastovo carnival, the author distinguishes meanings expressed in them, and names them the realities of the carnival: custom-performing reality, ethnologist's reality, television reality and audience reality. By distinguishing the realities from custom-related and film appearance of the Lastovo carnival, the author describes several components of a process: annual custom performances of the Lastovo carnival, films made during those performances, and the impact and interpretation of the audience and performances and films on new custom performances. This rounds up an inseparable entity of carnival events on Lastovo, whose basic characteristic is receiving and transmitting messages in the communication chain that extends through time and media.