Cinema Canada (Nov 1977)

HISTORICAL NOTES "= ROLAND BARTHES AND THE NFB CONNECTION “Since myth robs language of something, why not rob myth? All that is needed is to use it as the departure point for a third semiological chain, to take its signification as the first term of a second myth.” -Roland Barthes, Mythologies (1957) If there are times when structuralism and semiology seem like foreign imports, critical methodologies to which we must adjust and adapt ourselves but which emanate from distant cultures, it comes as a rather pleasant surprise to learn that early on in his illustrious career, Roland Barthes — a major figure in French structuralism and author of Mythologies, Writing Degree Zero, S/Z, Pleasure of the Text — made a film for the National Film Board. Of Sport and Men, an hour-long black-and-white production, was made in 1961 in Montreal. I heard about the film only recently, through a teacher of cultural studies at the University of Toronto, who invited me to view it with his class. He, in turn, had learned of it through colleagues exploring the sociology of sport. I mention these contacts only to illustrate that the film has had a reputation and a viewership among sociological circles, but appears to have escaped notice from film studies practitioners. The film is quite fascinating on several levels, and it certainly deserves to be rescued from the impending oblivion which may be in store for it, since, according to executive producer Guy Glover, Of Sport and Men has been withdrawn from the new NFB catalogue for 197778. There is always the hope that a deluge of requests for booking might avert the archival abyss. Joyce Nelson has taught filming at Queen’s University and is presently working on a radio documentary. She and Seth Feldman have just completed the compilation of the Canadian Film Reader, soon to be published by Peter Martin. 14/Cinema Canada The credits on the film itself call Of Sport and Men a film “by Roland Barthes”. The late Hubert Aquin is named as producer, Guy Glover as executive producer, but no director, writer, or editor credits appear on the film. Robert Russel is given a translator credit, and Al Bachulus listed for music. At the NFB Reference Library, Ms. Todd checked the files and found that there Barthes is listed as writer for the film, but director and editor remain unnamed. To find out the extent of Barthes’ involvement in the production and the story behind its making, it seemed worthwhile to contact Guy Glover, who kindly sorted out some of the confusions, shared his recollections about the people involved, and explained the larger context within which Of Sport and Men was made. During the late Fifties, a series called Comparisons was initiated at the Board. Made for television-viewing, the series, in its first phase, was “an attempt to popularize certain sociological themes” through what were called prestige productions: highbudget hour-long films involving wellknown experts as commentators. Between 1959 and 1961, four such films were made: Four Families (1959), Four Religions (1960), Four Teachers (1961), and Courtship (1961). Each production involved on-location shooting in four different countries; a famous expert in the relevant field scripted the commentary and appeared on-camera for studio sequences which bridged the location footage. For each film there was a team of at least five directors and _ crews, with Ian MacNeill responsible for all the studio shooting, and a different director sent to each of the four countries being compared. Thus, for example, Four Families explored the daily living habits of one family in Japan, another in India, one in France and one in Canada, with Margaret Mead providing the commentary in the studio. Each of these four films was first released for television as an English production, and only a year or so later was there a French version made. Hubert Aquin was involved in the pre paration of the French versions. After 1961, the Comparisons series went into its second phase, during which the hour-long format was abandoned and fifteen half-hour films were produced, also for television. In between these two phases came Of Sport and Men -— given the Comparisons logo, but quite unlike its predecessors in the series in conception, production and style. According to Glover, after the four “prestige productions” had been completed, Hubert Aquin proposed his idea for Of Sport and Men, an hourlong film comparing a national sport in each of several countries. There was no more money for another highbudget film of this length, but it was not Aquin’s intention to do any of the expensive location-shooting which had characterized the other films. Instead, he argued that the film he envisioned could be made quite inexpensively by purchasing stock library footage from a variety of sources like the BBC and US newsreel companies and by using material from the NFB’s own library. Glover recalls him saying, “You could shoot for a year and not have a better selection of material.’”’ As _ well, Aquin’s conception of the film did not necessitate studio sequences, but he did most definitely want the expert he had in mind. Roland Barthes, involved in the production. Glover remembers that Aquin, former film critic for L’Authorité, CKAC and producer for Radio-Canada, was ‘“‘a devoted follower of the work of Roland Barthes”, whose essays on culture were being discussed enthusiastically in Quebec’s _ intellectual circles at the time. Once the idea for Of Sport and Men was approved, library footage of famous sporting events was purchased from several countries and a special editor, Robert Russell, was brought in to work with Aquin. “They were very excited about the film, and so saturated with Roland Barthes’ approach to analyzing culture and sport that they may have constructed the film according to it.” Barthes was brought over from Paris for a week to write the commentary. He was presented with a cutting copy of the film, a shot list