RUTLEDGE, MISSOURI, July 9: Recently Dancing Rabbit became the
stage for a new documentary on community life, which will bring our presence
to an international level. The documentary was filmed by three jovial
men from the Korean Broadcast System (KBS), the equivalent of the BBC or PBS,
and was shown across South Korea on July 3, 2003. Our three guests, Han,
Kim, and Kang, arrived on June 1st and stayed for ten days, pleasing
some
and somewhat annoying others. Perhaps the best outcome, on that note,
was the opportunity for a new cultural dialogue and learning process about
our
respective differences.
The KBS documentary crew
Over the course of their time here, the KBS crew
tried to find ways to shadow a number of DR members to get the fullest
possible picture of life here: why
people might choose to live here, what specific ecological and social practices
are pursued, the reasoning behind these, and the difficulties encountered.
Having such a close and novel presence in our lives turned some people off,
though most
people seemed to take it all in good humor, or even enjoy it.
Thomas Kortkamp
mentioned that overall it was a fun and positive experience, and that
he may even take the opportunity to visit Han, the producer, in
Korea! He brought up another commonly noted theme when he told me that
he felt as
if the crew was trying to turn the DR website into a movie: in fact, Kim
told us
that he had personally translated the entire DR website into Korean for
the Korean television viewers -- quite a lengthy endeavor! At times, members
of the crew
would even query us as to obscure and long forgotten statements in the
depths
of the website, which often no one could remember even authoring. They
even went so far as to videotape a few of us simply going to bed or waking
up
in the morning.
Sara said the experience made her look at documentaries
in an entirely new way. "It
was strange," she said, "to have your life framed for you," but
that she felt that overall, they had seemed to be asking the right questions
to get a true picture of life here. One of her favorite experiences with
the Koreans was on my first night here, at a group bonfire. Ted, ever the
charisma-tron,
was trying to rouse everyone up for a collective skinny dip. After shedding
his clothes, we asked Han whether there was much nudity in the Korean media.
Interrogating Tamar over dinner
Because Korea, like India, is
a much more communal society than ours, there is more of a presumption
of familiarity and a willingness to
quickly cross
social
bridges than in our individualistic country. Yet even I at times
found myself slightly shocked and bewildered at the new modes of interaction.
While off
to clean up at the solar showers one afternoon, Han asked me if they
could film
me taking a shower! "No! That's a little too much information." "Oh," they
replied, "how about if we just film your feet?" they asked
with eager smiles. Okay. But Just The Feet. Apparently, however,
this information was not
relayed to the actual cameraman, and I just may end up becoming Korea's
first nationally broadcast nude television star.
Andra explains the mysteries of the outhouse
Overall, the visit was a great experience.
A number of rabbits took the opportunity to begin learning the
Korean language: the
translation
of "Hey! Nice pants!" (ba
ji ga jo ayo) became a huge favorite. And on one memorable evening,
the Koreans even cooked us dinner, including their version of scallion
pancakes, some delectable
kim chee, and a fried rice dish. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival
of the completed documentary tape on our doorstep, and are hoping
to continue our correspondence
with our wonderful Korean friends over time.
Doug Morrow is a work
exchanger helping Skyhouse for the summer.
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