Waiting for Harry is a film about the funeral processions of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. One member has died, but was buried in a Christian burial ground; he is being moved and given the proper burial among his peers. The main part of this event is the making of the coffin the man is to be laid in, is the painting of the coffin and the ceremony after that is complete. The painting of the log coffin is very interesting that it portrays different iconography that is important to these people. Some of the iconography represents some of the food resources they exploit and revere, such as the fish, but also much of the painting deal with sacred animals and sacred spirits. These spirits have a supernatural, natural, and human forms to them, they are usually associated with the two types of winds that blow through the clan’s area and create monsoons. But they also represent human figures that are the two other clans that are not too far away but share a common knowledge in these types of ceremonies and help out as well as check on how the proceeding are coming. These other clans also have strong trading ties with each other, and they make sure that the paintings on the log coffin are done well, and worthy of the ceremony and the deceased. This is an interesting aspect into these peoples culture, their ritual and religious practices reflect the art that they create, but the art does more. The art for these people are full of metaphor that are found in the natural and supernatural, but what most impressive is that its ability to bring people together and form communication between two different clans that don't even speak the same language.
Some other notable aspects on this particular ceremony and the art is that it places strict gender roles. Only the men are allowed to work on the log coffin and the proceeding of the ceremony at the end. Women on the other hand provide almost everything and have a large work load, this includes small scale hunting and gathering as well as trading, for money to support the family on top of all of the other responsibilities a women might have. Women though are allowed to participate in the ceremony but are not allowed to take part in the more important aspects like the dancing. The log coffin is then brought to the ceremony where it is presented in front of everybody and the traditional burial process begins.
The fact that the visiting tribes did not speak the same language but did have similar enough religious practices and social ties is a really interesting thing that I forgot about in the write up! Linguists argue that language defined how we view and think of the world, because how can you be aware of something if you do not know your thinking of it? However their shared ideas of what the art is communicating crosses that boundary. Do you think this example negates the linguists idea?
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