Hamrah’s critical sensibility is indebted to one of his heroes, Manny Farber. In his 1962 essay “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art,” Farber skewered the type of “white elephant” films that “overfamiliarize the audience with the picture it’s watching, [that] blow up every situation and character like an affable inner tube with recognizable details and smarmy compassion.”
Instead, Farber praised the “termite” movies that, less conscious of their own artfulness, eat away at their own borders, emphasizing an immediate artistic need while moving, grub-like, against the more grandiose affectations of the medium.
