ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an argument for a different perspective on Stark Love, one that directly refutes neither Kevin Brownlow nor J. W. Williamson but rather seeks to situate this text within a specific constellation of extratextual historical and social discourses as well as a particular period in the history of the American film. It investigates how the film attempted to negotiate the tensions that arose from this contradiction in the 1920s, tensions equally manifest in the broader social and political context. Karl Brown sought to present in the form of a "pictorial transcript" the lives of Americans who still adhered to the ways of life of an earlier age. He appropriated aspects of American popular culture and historical legend to suggest a revivification of a nearly autochthonous people. The Anglo-Saxon heritage, prewar claims about race deterioration and the immigration tide, and increasing concern about eugenics "uncritical" methodology and politics were all taken up in the anthropologist's report.
