While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, especially the first 15-20 minutes, I was a little bothered by the way the film played out. The interviews with the clearly disturbed brother, sister and the mother, who obviously, was in for a cut, didn't need to be in the film. Then the woman who suggested abuse, yet seemed to have her life defined by Maier, as she tried to muster every ounce of emotion and fake guilt. Her friend, more than happy to be party of the charade. People who talk about abuse for the first time, usually don't do so on camera. The fact these scenes were so prominent, shows that they felt wronged that they were not rewarded. Maloof on the other hand, seems to disappear from the documentary during this part, almost hiding away from the fact, he went from complete praise, to even making money off of her, to destroying her personal legacy. He almost mentions the family of boys taking care of her rent, as an afterthought. Her burial spot, never shown, yet a video of her basking in the happiness of the boys detailing the spot. I feel as if Maloof brought us something wonderful, in allowing us to see her brilliance, but in the end, let her down, by never defending her privacy.
This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo...
I just responded to this and it disappeared. I agree with your review. I would be interested to hear from the two men who were paying for her apartment, and for the time period, it does not seem as if she was cruel or doing anything out of the ordinary to those children, as children were not coddled back in the 60's and 70's. I think perhaps they need to relieve themselves of guilt or come up with some rational for their mistreatment perhaps of her, or dismissing her in a way - for not being important in their eyes, meanwhile now they see she was extremely unique and talented.
ReplyDeleteI just responded to this and it disappeared. I agree with your review. I would be interested to hear from the two men who were paying for her apartment, and for the time period, it does not seem as if she was cruel or doing anything out of the ordinary to those children, as children were not coddled back in the 60's and 70's. I think perhaps they need to relieve themselves of guilt or come up with some rational for their mistreatment perhaps of her, or dismissing her in a way - for not being important in their eyes, meanwhile now they see she was extremely unique and talented.
ReplyDeleteI had my father watch this tonight. He said he loved it and we both agreed, there seems to be some jealousy, maybe hatred in the fact that Maier has gained some success at their expense. I mean that only in that they didn't profit from it. Imagine all these families being told by Maloof was now the owner of all these pics, many including pictures of their family and not getting a dime. There seemed to be a strong theme of jealousy. Maloof stated in an interview, he feels the tales of abuse were 100% fabricated, but couldn't exclude them, because that was the bulk of what they spoke of. I disagree, but he did state, he purposely didn't show a single of her photographs while anything negative was being said about her.. Something that I actually noticed and found annoying, but now I appreciate.
DeleteOh and I'd like you to put me in your will as executor of your instagram acct, your private photos and your phone. I promise, to produce a documentary about you, called Muppets in Manhattan and give half of my earnings to local bookstores and eating establishments. I will also start a foundation for Pizza Delivery Boys in your name.
DeleteYou can keep all the earning and just spend some of it in local bookstores and eating establishments... hmmm maybe that's what you meant by half! haha
ReplyDeleteand another thing... all those years she was taking photographs, did none of these people ever ask to see her photos? I guess not. Maybe they feel kinda stupid now.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vivianmaier.com/ have you seen her portfolios in the attached link?
ReplyDelete