Balinese Trance Seance

Film Titles: Balinese Trance Séance and Jero on Jero

Filming Dates: Balinese Trance Séance (1979); Jero on Jero (198).

Filmmakers/Task: Balinese Trance Séance and Jero on Jero: Timothy Asch (Ethnographic Filmmaker, Co-Producer, and Cameraman); Patsy Asch (Editor, Co-Producer); Linda Connor (Sound Person, Narrator, and Translator).

In Balinese Trance Séance, Jero Tapakan, a spirit medium in central Balinese, works with a family whose son has died in her shrinehouse. Before the main séance occurs, we are given background information on Jero and her craft. The family members wish to contact their dead son’s spirit so they find out how he died and how they should proceed with his cremation services. The family has brought with them a variety of offerings; rice, flowers, and woven coconut leaves. As pre-trance ritual, Jero lights an incense brazier, sprinkles holy water, and speaks mantras. Several relatives and eventually the spirit of the dead son speak through Jero. He informs his relatives that sorcery was the cause of his death, while he instructs them on his cremation.

In Jero on Jero, filmed two years after a Balinese Trance Séance, Jero is observed watching herself in the first film. She offers us her reactions as she watches and listens to herself. In this film we get a further exploration of many of the themes of Balinese Trance Séance, inclu

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linese who were possessed usually reported afterward to me that they could not remember what they felt or did at the time. Indeed, the experience of possession is often referred to colloquially by the word engsap, ‘to forget’” (51). We see Jero uses this word in her comments on her possession in the first film. There are numerous other themes explored in the first film that are further expounded upon in the second film. Sorcery is one of these. In Balinese Trance Séance, the spirit of the deceased son explains that his death is due to sorcery. Sorcery is significant in Balinese culture. Sorcery is basically black magic. Evil spirits or those with evil intentions often plague others with myriad evils or troubles. The son blames his death on sorcery in Balinese Trance Séance. In Jero On Jero, we see Jero further explain what she knows of sorcery. Sorcerers often make people ill or cause their death from evil intentions. In Jero On Jero, we see that Jero is a firm believer in sorcery though she does not pretend to have a full understanding of the evil art. In one exchange between Linda Connor and Jero, the following dialogue takes place: Linda: The doctor said it was typhoid, but the boy’s father said the doctor couldn’
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1490
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)