Films of Margaret Mead

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Margaret Mead

Here is a list of films that Margaret was involved in and a brief synopsis them.

Margaret Mead: A Portrait by a Friend

Jean Rouch filmed this loving and humorous portrait of anthropologist and filmmaker Margaret Mead in September 1977 while he was a guest of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival. As both a friend and colleague, Rouch reveals a glimpse of the legendary Mead in her later years.

Survival of Spaceship Earth

Earth's environmental crisis--brought about by uncontrolled technological progress--is endangering life on a global scale. At the core of the threats to the planet - wars, overpopulation, pollution, and the depletion of natural resources - is the inadequacy of the nation state to come to terms with the surmounting problems of twentieth century living. What is urgently needed is the kind of international cooperation where nation states relinquish part of their sovereignty to a world body entrusted with the management of mankind's future. Mead was interviewed for this film.

Trance and Dance in Bali

Records a performance of the Balinese ceremonial kris (dagger) dance-drama, which depicts the never-ending struggle between witch (death-dealing) and dragon (life-protecting), as it was given in the village of Pagoetan in the late 1930s. The dancers experience violent trance seizures, turn their krises against their breasts without injury, and are restored to consciousness with incense and holy water. Narrated by Margaret Mead against a background of Balinese music. From the Character Formation in Different Cultures series. Written and directed by Mead

The Natural History of Our World: The Time of Man

Narrated by Richard Basehart, the film traces a series of case studies of animal populations and primitive human cultures that have survived or perished according to their ability to adapt to their environment. The film’s message: if man is to survive, he must maintain the environment that sustains him. Mead was interviewed for this film.

Designed by: Heather Rodriguez, Mary Barzelay & David Spencer