(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
In the NRK series The Great Journey, which premiered at NRK1 last Saturday, the Prøis family move from Drammen to the Waorani Indians in Banemo, Ecuador, who walk around naked and live in a primitive way. But the Indians take off their clothes to go to work on the set, according to anthropologist Laura Rival at the Center for International Development at the University of Oxford.
She has been following the Waorani tribe since 1989, and was in the village of Banemo when the Belgian edition of the series was recorded.
– The Waorani are undressing for these programs. I know them. They never walk around naked in groups anymore, except for tourists and reality shows, she says.
"The Waoraniis are naked, men's penises are tied up in a leash around their lives," NRK writes in a section on tribal rules and way of life on their websites. In the television series, on the website and in the promo pictures, all the Indians pose completely without clothes.
- This has been staged, says Rival when she gets to see NRK's group photo of the naked extended family.
She recognizes NRK's varanias from the Belgian recording, and can name the adults in the picture. They have the habit of playing role-playing games during TV recordings in the area, according to Rival.
Popular reality participants
The starting point for NRK's investment is the Belgian concept Ticket to the tribes, launched by the production company Eyeworks in 2005. "Three western families give up their luxury lives to spend three weeks with the most primitive tribes in Africa, Asia and South America," says Eyeworks ' description.
- The Belgian TV recording took place in an artificial village to make it more authentic. There were too many disturbing modern elements in the village where they actually live, says Rival.
- Their lives are a mixture of modernity and tradition. It is we in the West who create the myths about them. The Waorani have changed, but so have our notions of them, she says.
Responsible producer Malin Østli from the production company Strix does not recognize in Rival's description of life in Banemo.
– We have flown an hour and a half into the Amazon. We have not seen anything that people live in a western way. That they have seen white people before and have been in contact with the outside world is completely natural since they live next to an airstrip. Some go to normal with a t-shirt, but most go naked and live in a completely traditional way, she says.
- Do people usually live in the house where you filmed?
- Not everyone we have filmed lived in the house as usual. We have made the family bigger to get more grades. We chose to fill the house with a little more people than those who live there as usual to make it a little more lively. Traditionally, they live with the extended family, so it was not completely unnatural. Everyone lived there during the recording, and this is the real everyday life for people in the area we visited, she says.
The Waoranians have participated in a number of reality shows. The BBC's Tribal Wives and several country versions of Ticket to the tribes have been filmed in the area.
- We do not publish it to be a "fly on the wall" documentary. The genre is a kind of staged documentary to bring out the differences and make it more thought-provoking. It is a collision between two very different lifestyles, says Selstrøm.
- Are the tribes not portrayed as more primitive than they are?
- I do not think so. Is costume about primitiveness? When Norwegian Sami are to sell souvenirs on the North Cape, they dress in Sami costume, he says.
- Doesn't NRK go too far when you refer to them as "primitive tribal societies"?
- It is conceivable that we would weigh the words on gold weight. But I would encourage people to follow throughout the series. The series ends with one of the waorani boys starting school, says Selstrøm.
Playing with
Anthropologist Laura Rival compares the role of the Indians in the Belgian television production she observed with an actress job.
– They undressed and went to work in the newly built house. Afterwards, they got dressed and went back to their ordinary, complex lives. It can be compared to a job where they put on their uniforms and play plays for the tourists, she says.
She believes the reality shows provide a superficial view of the complex life of Indians, balancing traditions and modernity in a globalized world.
– These programs are based on the same ideas one has had in the West for 400-500 years: Finding the last wild people and living with them. Television companies are interested in recreating Western myths. It is very condescending and orientalizing, says Rival.
However, she does not believe that it is negative for the Waorani to participate in reality television.
– They play along and are not exploited. There are worse things than stupid TV teams and families wanting to move in. It could not possibly do more harm than the oil extraction in the area, which brings with it prostitution and drugs, she says.
The Indians take all television coverage in a good mood, according to Rival.
– They're playing. They are very active in the discourse that is created about them and are not passive victims. It's a mix of "I do not care as long as I get some money" and role-playing games. They are also proud to educate white people and show them that there are better ways to do things. Tourists are like circus animals to them, she says.
Killed missionaries – became famous
In 1956, the Waorani killed five missionaries who tried to contact them. Since then, the tribe has been shrouded in myth – and popular with filmmakers and TV crews.
– Two to three programs have been made a year about them since the 1970s. But reality TV is a fairly new phenomenon, says Rival.
As an anthropologist, she is often contacted by documentary filmmakers and journalists who want to contact the tribe, which counts in excess of 2000 members.
- It has become comical, because the TV teams want to surpass each other, and go to the most underdeveloped village where no one has filmed before. When I say that there is no airstrip, the TV teams say "we are building it". But a film has already been made in every village, she says.
Rival would have liked to turn the camera during the Belgian reality recording she witnessed in Banemo.
– Several planes flew a day to supply the production team, which had a full medical team with it. It was like a Hollywood studio. It would be much more interesting to film it, she says.
