Picture a parody combining colonialism, imperialism, racism, consumerism and the commodifying of cultures with a "Pee Wee Herman edge."

That is what UA Media Arts Professor Beverly Seckinger did in her video Planet In My Pocket, which premiered publicly yesterday before an audience of 50 students and faculty at the Department of Anthropology's weekly lecture series.

"It is a comedy with serious undertones," Seckinger said.

"If it makes someone uncomfortable, it is good," she said. "It is a departure point for discussion."

Leonora Livingston Peabody, played by UA Assistant Research Anthropologist Helen Henderson, is the main character of the 18-minute video. Leonora is the guide throughout the video and shows the audience, through parody, the stereotypes people have developed.

"The film is asking, 'Where is the Leonora in you?'" Seckinger said.

"Leonora is like a Disney character," Henderson said. "Everything she says I think I've heard, and some breaks down to be so ridiculous."

Henderson said for the role she asked people about what "stupid" things people have said to them.

The video's co-writers, all-student camera crews, and professors who volunteered as actors are all from the UA, Seckinger said. The video's script was co-written by Seckinger and computer engineering sophomore Susan Taunton.

Major roles in the video were played by Henderson and anthropology professor Jane Hill. English professor Susan White, history professor Hermann Rebel, and German professor Barbara Kosta played "safari goers." And French professor Irene d'Almeida also appeared.

Kosta said the video "makes fun of people going and identifying with an ethnic class," though being from a "dominant" or different group.

One such example Kosta gave was a person with a non-Mexican background buying a sombrero.

"The video is a parody about racism and colonialism," Hill said. "It is like something that you could see any night on T.V."

Hill said the fear of showing the video is that it will be taken literally and that it is too intellectual.

"It is to make people think of the dark side of things," Hill said. "I hope that students, in particular white students, see certain representations through the parody."

"I thought it was an intriguing project," Kosta said of her decision to work on the video. "It was a real learning experience to see how films are made and the time involved to create a scene and construct a scene."

Seckinger said the video cost about $9,000, with about $8,000 coming from grants and $1,000 coming from Seckinger's own pocket.

The Fine Arts Summer Incentive Grant and UA Media Production Small Grant provided the bulk of the project's funding, Seckinger said.

"I enjoyed the video," said archaeology and anthropology graduate student Rene Munoz. "It drew on common stereotypes and shows what everyday people think of."

Featured in the video are pictures from Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida; "The Thing," south of Tucson off Interstate 10; the gift shop by Picacho Peak; and clips from old movies and cartoons.

Seckinger said it took about two years to complete the project, which she finished last November.

"We had a lot of problems because people were going on sabbatical and schedules conflicted," Hill said. Overall, she said, the project took about a week's worth of work.

But Seckinger didn't want to change her actors.

"It would have been a different piece if I would have hired actors," Seckinger said.

The video was originally meant to be a documentary, Seckinger said. She said that due to audio failures with her equipment at Walt Disney World, her project had to be altered, taking an "ad hoc" course.

Seckinger said Main Library is trying to purchase a copy of the video and that she wants to show it in November at the national American Anthropological Association meeting in San Francisco.