ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the development of Ascher’s practice and analyses the four animated films that comprise his entire cinematic oeuvre. Because animation in general and direct, camera-less animation in particular is such a unique pursuit for an anthropologist, the chapter provides a brief history of the practice and those film-makers who influenced Ascher. Knowing nothing of the tradition of cameraless/direct animation, Ascher began to draw directly on clear motion picture stock. Cameraless film-making emerged in both Europe and the United States at a time of great experimentation in the arts. Robert Ascher experimented by drawing directly on film to produce a ‘cameraless’ interpretation of myth—a technique found in experimental films. In societies where photographic representation may be problematic because it conflicts with cultural beliefs about representation, animation may be a way to make films that “do no harm.”.
