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MMQ: —until the break. Will that be alright?

[Students mumble assent.]

MMQ: Are we certain? Genuinely?

[Students mumble assent more confidently.]

MMQ: All right. Let's get into it, then.

MMQ: At this point in the course, most of our discussion has remained focused on the film-makers of Thu-Athamar. Now that our little timeline has moved past the secession, however, I think it's time we see what the Elves in the Commonwealth are getting up to. Is that a hand, Pok?

POK: Yes, um—are they all Elves in the Commonwealth? Or is it like, half Elves, half... the other one.

MMQ: Ah! Okay, let's break this one down. Here—

[Merrem Qentak writes three words on the board: Vezhekhbariz, Ethuveraz, Nazhmorhathveras.]

MMQ: What do these three words have in common? Anyone? Krenn?

KRN: I mean, it's like... Vejek-barij. Ethu-beraj. Um.

MMQ: "Nazh-mor-hath-ver-as".

KRN: Yea, that one.

MMQ: That's right. Despite the slight differences in spelling and pronunciation, these three terms share the key component of "-veraz". In fact, scholars of Dakhenbarizheise linguistics have argued for years whether the three languages are truly three separate sister languages, or merely dialects. Indeed, none of the three are related to any other living language, only to each other.

MMQ: But let's focus on that component, "veraz".

[Merrem Qentak underlines and adds arrows so the board reads: Vezhekh → Sea, Thu → Land, Nazhmorhath → Night Sky.]

MMQ: If these are the first components of these words, do we have any thoughts on what "veraz" might mean? Yes, Krenn, you can answer again.

KRN: Is it like, "born of?"

LRL: "People of?"

MMQ: Exactly! Do we have any Estelveriära speakers in the class? Ah, Kali is not in today. Unfortunate. Well, what we call the "Elves", or the "Elven peoples"—"Elven" being an Estelveriära word before it was ever a Pencharner one, believe it or not—call themselves the "veraz", or the equivalent word in one of the other languages-slash-dialects; it's usually translated as "the people".

MMQ: Their three major ethnic groups are the "People of the Night Sky" in the North, the "People of the Sea" to the South, and the "People of the Land" in the middle. All three have a significant minority presence in the other geographical areas, but historically there's a pretty strong association between where someone lives and what they look like: Nazhmorhathveras is the race, but it's also the country; in the historical nation of Ethuveraz, they actually tended to overcorrect and add "-eisei" when they talked about themselves as a people, which is kind of like us saying "citizens of the Republic of Pencharn" instead of "Pencharners".

MMQ: Talking about each other, well... depending on which films you chose to watch for your responses, you might have already learned some slurs. The most polite word commonly used in Ethuverazhin for Vezhekhbariz during the Varedeise dynasty and early Edrehasivareise Revival was actually "Barizheisei", literally something like "citizens of Barizhan", the southernmost pre-unification Commonwealth country—and it was used indiscriminately, including actual citizens of Barizhan but also Ethuveraz-born Vezhekhbariz.

MMQ: Intraspecific racial vocabulary remains a fraught topic to this day. The Elven peoples considered themselves to be very separate races and cultures. Many still do. If any of you have classes with any of the five Commonwealth exchange students for this year, I would not recommend bringing it up with them. It can get... touchy.

MMQ: Anyway! For bragging rights, can anyone guess what "Thu-Athamar" means? L'rell?

LRL: Land of... the Athamar?

MMQ: Very close! The principality of Thu-Athamar, like the other principalities of the pre-unification Ethuveraz, is named for its primary river. In this case, it's the Athamara. The other principalities—Thu-Evresar, Thu-Cethor, Thu-Tetar, Thu-Istandar—are named for the Evresartha, Cethora, Tetara, and Istandaärtha respectively. Still with me?

[Students shrug and nod.]

MMQ: Good. Because if I spend any more time on linguistics and geography lessons, the department head will have words for me. You're lucky these class periods are so long! But does that answer your question, Pok?

POK: Yea, I think so.

MMQ: If you change your mind, see me after class. I'm happy to provide resources.

MMQ: So! Barizheise animation. When we say "Barizheise" in this context, we're talking specifically about the pre-unification nation of Barizhan, the southernmost nation. The first thing that you need to know about Barizhan is that of the elven nations, it's the only one with access to the Chadevan sea. Pre-unification, if the Ethuveraz wanted anything from nations that it did not share a direct land border with, they had to go through Barizhan.

MMQ: Imagine you're on a boat. It's going to be a week before the next time you reach port. The weather is hot in the day and freezing at night, there's not much drinkable water, and you're bored out of your mind. You need something to keep yourself sane, right? So you bring a book. Yes, L'rell?

LRL: Books are expensive, though, so you don't.

MMQ: Books are expensive! And prone to water damage. Even as the materials to bind books get cheaper, it's rough to be caught in the middle of a chapter when—whoooosh—the wind picks up, the waves get choppy, and now you won't find out who murdered the merchant's scheming accountant until you find another copy. Terrible, right?

MMQ: Additionally—sure, not every sailor was illiterate in those days. When practicing scholarship of Ethuverazheise arts and culture, it's a common mistake to assume that Barizhan was, as a nation, less literate than the Ethuveraz. Let's be completely clear here, this is rooted entirely in racial bias. When comparing literacy rates between Barizhan and the Ethuveraz in the Varedeise dynasty, you'll actually find that Barizhan comes out just slightly ahead. The statistics are almost evenly matched in the upper classes; among the working class, however, while a higher percentage of Ethuverazheise households have at least one literate member, Barizheise households are more likely to have multiple readers, and it is four times more likely for a working class Barizheise woman to know how to read than an Ethuverazheise one. Among sailors, the literacy rate was 12%.

MMQ: Imagine you're on that boat again. All your coworkers are exhausting themselves trying to keep this ship afloat. On deck, you communicate in a jargon-heavy pidgin with people from half a dozen different nations and species. Even if you can read, do you want to be known as the shipmate who spends his free time analysing poetry? Not ideal, no.

MMQ: So books are out. Big ones are, anyways. So what do you read instead? What is easily printed on cheap paper, can be read quickly and efficiently, and can still be understood through a few rounds of water damage? That's right: sequential art.

MMQ: Those of you who read the chapter from Kino Barizheise—which should be all of you, by the way—do you remember the four examples that were included at the end of the chapter? What did you notice about them? How were they similar? How were they different? Here, we'll start with T'mil and end with Shess.

TML: The first one was just shapes. Like, there weren't any faces, it was just ovals with triangles for the ears.

MMQ: Mhm.

POK: The two at the end had backgrounds, but the first two didn't. And the backgrounds were like, real pictures, not drawn.

MMQ: Good. Next?

LRL: To go off of what T'mil said, the ear-triangles moved around a lot. Like, when they were surprised, the ears went up. When they were sad, the ears drooped down. Which, I feel like I may be stating the obvious here, but it seems like that's to represent the, uh—the elf ears. How they can be expressive sometimes.

MMQ: Yes! Alright, Krenn, I see you've put your hand down. Are you sure?

KRN: I was gonna say that, but um, I guess... well, only the last one had a lot of words. The first one didn't have any dialogue. Like Pok said, it was just shapes. But you could still tell what was going on.

MMQ: Yep, yep! Shess?

SHS: I, um, have a friend from Celvaz who draws. Online, I mean. When she's drawing, she starts with the gesture, then blocks in the basic shapes, then gradually adds detail. The vis-lit pages in the textbook did the same, kind of. Also I was talking to her about them, and she pointed out that the backgrounds aren't just pictures. They also have some, um, I don't remember the word she used, but basically, someone took a picture and drew right on top of it.

MMQ: Ah, I always love getting an artist's perspective in this class! Has your friend seen any of the movies on our syllabus?

SHS: One or two.

MMQ: She might end up having an interesting outlook on some of them. If you have the chance, you may want to watch a few with her. The same goes for the rest of you—all of these movies are best watched in a group, especially with people from other disciplines. I know I said it at the start of the course, but I really do mean it. In past years, I've had students host weekly movie nights with their friends. Generally speaking, I find that my students get better grades when they have outside perspectives to play around with.

MMQ: Anyway. Yes, everything mentioned here was correct. In order to save on time, labour, and printing costs, Barizheise "vis-lit" artists, as Shess put it, often simplified the shapes of their characters. If you've ever read a novel from the Commonwealth, you may have noticed that what's expressed with the face is treated as what the character wants you to think they feel, but what happens with the ears is what they really feel. It's the same thing here: the face is less important than the set of the ears, so many artists settle for eyes at most.

MMQ: Now, another thing worth mentioning here is how the popularity of vis-lit helped bridge cultural gaps prior to and during unification. On either side of the border between Barizhan and the Ethuveraz, people of all economic and educational backgrounds were able to engage in the same stories, regardless of fluency or literacy.

MMQ: Even emperors read them! A number of Barizheise children's vis-lit volumes were found in the library of Isvaroë, the childhood home of Edrehasivar VII—a name I expect you all know by now.

MMQ: Now, let's return to Thu-Athamar for a moment–or rather, to its border. Though the distribution of film and photography was most certainly illegal in the Commonwealth, that did not stop enterprising individuals from bringing movies in anyways. How do you think they accomplished this? Anyone?

TML: Um. They... smuggled it?

MMQ: Well, yes. But let's imagine you, T'mil, are one such smuggler. What if you get caught?

TML: I'd be, um. Taken to jail?

MMQ: Before that. What do they find on your person?

TML: The reel.

MMQ: And?

TML: Um. Oh, wait, where did they put the sound part?

MMQ: There we have it: cylinders! Those aren't illegal. The visual component, yes, but sound cylinders? Those were another matter entirely.

LRL: Wait, Merrem Qentak—why wasn't sound recording illegal? Did recordings of a person's voice not also trap their soul?

MMQ: Fantastic questions! Let's begin with the latter: I don't know. It's possible. For all any of us know, just about anything could prevent a person from reaching their intended afterlife. Only the dead and truly gone would know, really. As to the first, there are a number of factors at play. The advent of sound recording wasn't tied to any sudden bouts of illness, it wasn't used for pornographic material in the same way photography was, and sound recording doesn't require the use of mirrors. Were Ulis the god of wax, we may be having a very different conversation.

MMQ: Ah, but cylinders. Some films could work very well as audio dramas. Others, however, would not. Shess, you just shifted to the edge of your seat quite quickly. Have you put the pieces together?

SHS: Um! I don't know, maybe?

[Merrem Qentak raises her eyebrows at me instead of continuing her lecture.]

SHS: Did they create illustrations to match the sound component? Is this–you mentioned animation earlier. Did they invent animation?

MMQ: That one's a bit complicated; it depends on your definition of "invent." The first animation industry, however, was definitely this one. Yes, the Barizheise graphical style, initially developed for vis-lit, did in fact become animation. The simplified forms, focus on gesture, and established use of nature photography as background all came together to lay a strong foundation for the Barizheise animators. The visual language was already there, as were nearly a century and a half of genre expectations.

MMQ: How many of you chose to watch Makh'avarsin this week? Two, three? Alright, a little less than usual, that's fine. Was there anything familiar about the simplified figures in the textbook? B'Emir?

BEM: Is it that a lot of the masks in the movie also didn't have much going on face-wise?

MMQ: Sure is. I've brought a hand-out for this week, if you could all help me pass it around.

[Shuffling of papers as students distribute the hand-out.]

[Chorus of remarks such as "What?" and "Creepy..."]

BEM: It was way worse in motion.

MMQ: If you recall, this week's chapter in Film, Faith, Filth referenced "faced" and "unfaced" cinema–the court decision being the "revethahal", or "death knell", of the former. When we're talking about "unfaced" cinema, we do not mean that there are no faces whatsoever. The faces in question just happen to be masks. As a result of the court case discussed in the chapter, the distribution of films depicting ensouled beings was criminalised. Veiling creates a somewhat sizable loophole here; someone who's totally covered up isn't technically being depicted onscreen. Masks—already used in some religious contexts, with a symbolic vocabulary familiar to an elven viewer—allowed filmmakers a degree of creative control when it came to distinguishing one fully veiled figure from another.

MMQ: "Faced" cinema, on the other hand, refers to movies without masks. Athamareise movies, such as Hotel Hanaveise, Corivero, Zhelsu, and Civulano, are all faced; there were no legal restrictions on faced films in Thu-Athamar. Makh'avarsin, filmed and produced in Sevezho, Thu-Istandaär, is our first unfaced film. Don't worry—there will be plenty more.

[Collective shiver from the class.]

MMQ: Oh, you'll get used to it. Or you'll have something to show off during the intersession. Either way, most of you will find some way to cope, I promise.

MMQ: Let's take a moment to review the masks on the hand-out. You may notice that some masks have more features than others. Generally speaking, characters who hold more importance–either to the story or to their social environment–will have more complex masks. Take this first one, for example: dramatically accented eyes, a defined pair of lips. Can anyone guess what this one is?

KRN: Opera singer?

MMQ: Close! A courtier.

LRL: Wait. Does that mean that the third mask...?

MMQ: Yes?

LRL: It's just that its skin is darker than the others. And it doesn't have a nose or mouth, just... eyes. That's not a servant, is it?

MMQ: It is, in fact, a servant.

LRL: Eugh?

MMQ: Agreed. Any thoughts on the second mask, then?

LRL: Um. More like a courtier than a servant, because it's at least got, like, a nose.

MMQ: Sure. I can see that.

LRL: ...Sorry, that's all I've got.

SHS: Maybe a soldier?

MMQ: A courier. Not important enough to visually indicate speaking, but as L'Rell said, somewhat above a servant in status. According to operaneisei, at least. We'll get into the topic of couriers and their associations later.

POK: So what's going on with the last one? Is that a dead guy?

MMQ: Aha! What made you think that?

POK: It's got, like, skull eyes. And the jaw is all like—

[He opens and shuts his jaw to demonstrate.]

MMQ: Not a deceased individual, but close.

LRL: Oh! Oh oh! A prelate of the, um! Death and mirrors! Moon!

MMQ: Ulis!

LRL: I forgot how to pronounce it, sorry.

MMQ: Quite alright. Yes, it's you-lis, not oo-lis, that's a common mistake.

BEM: I really hate that one. It looks like it's going to jump out at me.

MMQ: Do you think it would fit right into a horror movie?

BEM: Yes.

MMQ: Good news: there's an entire industry full of filmmakers who agree with you. Have you ever noticed how older monster movies tend to give their creatures those pale, unmoving faces? When movies from the Commonwealth first made their way into Pencharn, a good number of people discovered some brand new fears. Not a fan of horror, B'Emir?

BEM: It's not my thing.

MMQ: We've only got two horror movies scheduled, and they're fairly tame.

BEM: If that kind of stuff is normal to them, then I'm not sure I'm up for their idea of horror.

MMQ: You'll do great.

TML: She is going to scream.

MMQ: She'll do great! Anyway, we've finished five minutes early, so why not take our break now? Be back in fifteen, everyone.

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