Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

would show an accurate portrait ofJewish culture:
Barbara: The Schindler's List thing was cenainly­
Sy: But that doesn't show Jewish culture.
Mikel: So. ifSchindler's List isn't about Jewish culture. what category
wouldyou-?
Sy: It's a - that's a historical drama. and there would be other films of ..
or about the Second World War. or about the Nazis or whatever
and I would put it into that category (Sy and Barbara. personal
interview. 9704).
Here we see. not only Sy's ability to understand the differences between different
culturally bounded distinctions of film within a culture. but also to apply those
differences outside of the immediate. text-by-text accwnulation, into an active taxonomic
system. Schindler's Lisl is not a film about Jewish culture. says Sy; it is a film about
Jewish historyu. Even within the context ofJewish topics, further ernic distinctions need
(0 be made. distinctions which [ shall be making across the fonhcoming chapters.
Perhaps here is the point at which I should begin to discuss the vernacular
taxonomies which emerged from this fieldwork I., As Sy above demonstrates. these
expert practitioners categorize these films in such a way so they make cultural sense,
independent ofany etic genre distinction.
II Ben-Amos noted that "the functional approach (to genre] is concerned not with what
genres are. but with what the members of the society say they are" (Ben-Amos. 1976b:
223).
I. The importance oftaxonomies is noted by Hymes: "The work oftaxonomy isa
necessary part of progress toward models (sU'Uctural and generative) of ... description.
formulation of universal sets of features and relations. and explanatory theories" (Hymes.
19n43).
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