A film by Virginia Yans-McLaughlin
"A thorough portrait of one of this century's most influential people, this is suitable for class room and general audiences." Booklist
This documentary is a fascinating portrait of one of the most influential women of our time. Using never- before -seen archival footage, stills, interviews and dramatic re-creations, it weaves together a story of a scientist, adventurer and international celebrity whose ideas shaped how we think about ourselves.
The film tells how she first gained attention in the 1920's and '30's with her pioneering studies of youth and gender in Samoa and New Guinea. By age 33, the five-foot, one-hundred-pound Mead had traveled three times around the globe, explored unchartered lands where few men and no women dared to go. By age 34 she had published three bestsellers, taken the second of three husbands, and revolutionized our understanding of what it means to be male or female. When she was not doing fieldwork, most of her professional years were spent at the American Museum of Natural History. In her later years she was often seen on television as a bespectacled, sometimes outrageous advice-giver to the Vietnam War generation. This film deals with the controversies as well as the accomplishments of her life.
Hot Springs, Documentary Film Festival, 1997
Silver Apple, National Educational Film & Video Festival, 1997
American Historical Association, 1997
Hon. Men., Society for Visual Anthropology, 1996
Margaret Mead Film Festival, 1996
Here is a valuable film for Women's Studies, Anthropology and History, as well as public library audiences.
This film was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
85 min. Video or DVD. Sale $250. Video rental $85.
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