Study of Narrative Genres in Visual Anthropology

Study of narrative genres in documentary depends on narrotology and theories of narration in cinema.
However, it seems what differentiates documentary from other genres of cinema, is immediate reference
to the events occurred in the historical world. Hence, this inseparable connection of documentary
to the issue of reality has led to lots of controversies in analysis of this type of cinema, efforts made
to study narrative genres have only resulted in enumeration of its diverse forms. But the documentary
position relative to reality must be investigated in order to expound the main traditional and new narrative
approaches, since the belief of the present time which considers reality as manipulated reality
has brought a new strike to body of the traditional conventions and had opened a new chapter in the
field of documentary analysis, On the other hand, one of the oldest documentary forms is ethnology
or ethnography documentary, or in new terms, visual anthropology which in direct relation to the science
of anthropology by posing question in the nature and origin of customs and institutions, and the
way culture is applied to humans’ life looks for contemplation in the meaning of cultural and social
differences. In the traditional view, anthropology includes two observational and participative narrative
approaches in which subject-filmmaker viewed native people as an external and wisely factor.
However, in the present time, influenced by new methods appeared in documentary which have a
kind of self-reflection as well as the belief of post-modern in existence of manipulated realities, visual
anthropology has been led to a new path. In the area of neo-documentary, anthropology interprets the
real fact by two reflexive and per formative methods in which subject-filmmaker takes a new stand
versus object so as an inter-mental position between subject, object and audience is obtained. At any
rate, it seems that the narrative genres in visual anthropology ought to be investigated by emphasis on
the position of subject-filmmaker versus object