Educational Media and 'Agit Prop': I. The legacy of Vertov
Title:
Educational Media and 'Agit Prop': I. The legacy of Vertov
Author:
James, Sheila
Appeared in:
Learning, media and technology
Paging:
Volume 22 (1996) nr. 2 pages 111-123
Year:
1996-07
Contents:
A 75 year-old educational media process, involving interactive multimedia, formative evaluation, and a sophisticated distance education system, is described. Although these techniques are mainstays of modem educational technology, their origins in the work of 1920s' film director Dziga Vertov have not previously been recognised. This article (the first of a 2-part paper) registers the techniques' roots on the Leninist 'agit prop' film train, and their development by Vertov for social intervention purposes. It describes their essence, a feedback process whereby media footage is viewed and discussed by its producers and the people it portrays, and used as a catalyst for mass education and change. The Vertov Process culminated during the 1930s in the work of Alexander Medvedkin before being suppressed by Stalin. The article charts the subsequent influence of Vertov's educational techniques on the European schools of film documentary led in Britain by John Grierson, and in France by the avant-garde movement and by the anthropologist film-maker Jean Rouch. In 1996, Vertov's centennial year, the two articles indicate the film-maker's role as an unsung founding father of the modern educational media, and political and cultural reasons for the lack of recognition which his visionary educational impact has received.
Journal description