Paper short abstract:

‘Because Goddess is Never Enough’ is a 10-minute poetry film, inspired by dancer and choreographer Tilly Losch. The film represents the intersection of poetry, film, dance, spoken word and collaborative artistic practice. But what if it had been made with an anthropologist too?

Paper long abstract:

‘Because Goddess is Never Enough’ is a 10-minute poetry film, inspired by dancer and choreographer Tilly Losch. The film represents the intersection of poetry, film, dance, spoken word and collaborative artistic practice. But what if it had been made with an anthropologist too?

Tilly Losch was a Jewish Austrian dancer and film-star who worked in Europe and the US, and was at the peak of her fame in the 1920s–40s. Research on Tilly drew from historic newspapers and photography, including Vogue and Tatler, and contact with her biographer. The film explores a woman who has fallen into the footnotes, lost from history as many women’s stories are, seen only through a patriarchal lens. It examines self-worth, the authentic self, and the credibility of creative women. The parallels of Losch and the way women are still portrayed in the 21st century, forms a thought-provoking statement about female identity.

With hindsight, there was potential for a far greater understanding to underpin this film. This paper proposes that an anthropologist is the missing link that would have helped answer questions raised by the research material. The film is a personal response, but is it appropriate for filmmaker and writer to avoid or skirt around social and cultural aspects of their subject? For example, Tilly’s film appearances as an ‘exotic’ dancer made-up as a race other than her own. In collaboration with an anthropologist, could this film have navigated the issues more effectively and could more questions have been answered and understood?

Film: bit.ly/tilly-film