Inhabiting Other Lives: Self and Other
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1 Inhabiting Other Lives: Self and Other IDH 2004 Spring 2009 Mondays, 2:00-4:45 pm Library 150 Instructor: Scott Kass Email: [email protected] Phone: (305) 919-5933 Office: Library 210 Office Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 am – 3 pm and by appointment This Honors seminar will expose you to issues of human commonality and diversity, and invite you to investigate and to understand the interconnectedness of other cultures, times and sets of life experiences. Specifically, we will study Third World cinema. Third World cinema opens up a new world of exotic traditions; amazing settings; fascinating architecture; strange costumes, objects, and people; and customs you’ve never heard of. You will read subtitles and listen to the sounds of languages you don’t speak. You will get to observe people behaving under extremely different circumstances but acting a lot like you. We will screen about a dozen films representative of contemporary Third World cinema. I hope they will help you understand the history, politics, society, economy and aesthetic conventions of their non-Western cultures. This is not a “mere” film appreciation course. Our objectives are to: • Learn how societies other than our own address human needs and concerns • Develop an understanding of non-Western cultures’ traditions, beliefs, and values • Interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes in different societies • Develop an understanding of diverse geography and environments • Develop an understanding of the ways in which culture, gender, and class affect individual and collective identities and experiences • Develop an understanding of political ideas, institutions, struggles, and conflicts • Learn of beliefs, sentiments, values and issues that unite and divide people • Stretch our eyes, ears, and intellect by acquiring a taste for foreign films 2 You are accustomed to viewing First World films (Hollywood commercial spectacles). Some of you have seen Second World Films (so-called art films of European auteurs). In this course you will be viewing Third World cinema and Third Cinema (we will discuss the distinction in class). I admit that it’s difficult, at first, for us to sit through Third World films because we have been raised on the artificiality, commercialism, and razor-sharp editing of Hollywood and American TV. We are unaccustomed to the complexity, ambiguity, intellectualism, oddness, and often downright clunkiness of Third World filmmaking. These films often make us feel uncomfortable. Sometimes they’re boring, or too “talky.” But once we have become accustomed to them, there’s no going back to MTV, Channel 7 and the shopping mall Cineplex. We will be viewing the films on different levels: • As documentary evidence of the Third World situation • As artistic creations that present stylized depictions of historical or contemporary situations • As indications of how Third World intellectuals are working through their own identities and those of their society. We will also be addressing fundamental epistemological questions: What do we know, how do we know what we know, and can we prove that we know what we know—all as applied to our understanding of people of other places and times. Texts: I will distribute readings, and you will access the university library and the WWW. Course Methods: • Film screenings • Lectures • Discussions • Research • Oral presentations • Formal writing assignments Course Requirements: • View all films in class • Actively participate in class discussions • Submit all work on time Grading • Class participation . 33% • Oral Presentation . 33% • Formal writing assignment . 34% 3 Course Policies Attendance Class attendance is mandatory. Exceptions will, of course, be made for illnesses, emergencies, and religious holidays. Excessive absences will result in a lower grade. Tardiness Please come to class on time. Excessive tardiness will result in a lower grade. Late Work Please submit work on time. Exceptions will, of course, be made for illnesses, emergencies, and religious holidays. Excessive late submissions will result in a lower grade. Academic Integrity This course adheres to all Honors College and general University rules and regulations regarding academic integrity, by which I mean plagiarism and cheating. Modification of Syllabus I retain the right to modify the course syllabus for any reason throughout the semester provided that (1) fair and adequate notice is given to enrolled students either by email or in writing, (2) modifications to the syllabus are not arbitrary or capricious, and (3) students are not unfairly disadvantaged by mid-semester changes to grading standards, attendance standards, or performance measure. The Films We will be watching many of the films described on the following pages; however, I reserve the right to substitute. 4 RACHIDA (Algeria, 2002) The young teacher Rachida is teaching at a school in Algiers, when she is stopped in the street by a group of youths who demand she take a bomb and place it in the school. WHISKY (Uruguay, 2004) Set in Uruguay's gray and quiet port of Montevideo, Whisky presents a tale of self-realization and discovery. Jacobo is the dull and gravely serious owner of a sock factory. Every day, he follows the same routine - he gets up, drives to the factory and meets his manager Marta, a frumpy, quiet, middle-aged worker who is loyal to the factory and her home. DAUGHTER OF KELTOUM (Algeria, 2001) Rallia, a 19-year-old westernized woman, is on a bus in the mountainous desert region of Algeria in northwest Africa, surveying where homes blend in with the landscape. Rallia is returning to her birthplace, hoping to find her mother, Keltoum. HOLLOW CITY (Angola, 2004) Hollow City is set in Angola, the civil war-torn country in the southern west coast of Africa that had been colonized by Portugal until independence in 1975. In the tribal village of Bie, 11-year-old N'dala sees his family massacred by soldiers. He and other orphans are rescued by a missionary nun and flown to Luanda, Angola's capital, where he runs away from the group and journeys into the heart of the giant city. UNIFORM (China, 2003) Twenty-something Wang Xiaojian, who works for his family's tailor shop, finds himself caught in the clashing values of modern-day China. A policeman has not picked up his uniform from the tailor shop. When Wang Xiaojian attempts to deliver it, he is told that the policeman was in an accident and will not be back for a while. On his way home, Wang is drenched by a sudden downpour. After drying off in a subway tunnel, he puts the uniform on and his life changes. The uniform gives him power, authority, and the ability to get money. BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1967) One of the most influential films in the history of political cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Shot in the streets 5 of Algiers in documentary style, the film vividly recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point- blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed. SUGAR CANE ALLEY (Martinique, 1983) Tells the story of a young boy who is orphaned at the age of 11 and sent to live with his grandmother, who works on one of Martinique’s sugar cane plantations. Though he is bright, she realizes he has no future if he stays on the plantation. So she does what she can to keep him in school and away from the back- breaking, will-sapping hard labor to which she's devoted her life. MEN WITH GUNS (Central America, 1998) A well-heeled doctor in an unnamed Latin country leaves his comfortable home in search of former medical students who may be caught in the political violence of the countryside. SALAAM BOMBAY (India, 1988) An 11-year-old boy (real-life street kid Shafiq Syed) heads to the big city and joins a sea of homeless kids and down-and-out adults scrambling to survive the pitiless streets. The fantasy of Bollywood dreams hangs just out of reach in posters, movies, and radio tunes, momentary respites from the hard reality of a world ruled by brutal pimps and drug dealers. PIXOTE (Brazil, 1981) Pixote (Portuguese slang for "Peewee") is the name of a chubby-cheeked 10- year-old runaway played by real-life slum kid Fernando Ramos da Silva. He's a natural, creating a childlike and vulnerable character left emotionally hardened and morally adrift by his brutal experiences. In an overcrowded São Paulo "reform school," a cross between a prison and an army barracks, he learns the hard facts of survival as he watches gangs prey on weaker kids, and the cops and guards abuse, beat, and even murder their prisoners. STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE (Cuba, 1995) This charming Cuban film details the unusual relationship between the flamboyant, educated Diego and the young, homophobic, pro-Revolution David. Miserable at being dumped by his girlfriend, David at first spurns the attentions of Diego; however, at the prompting of his Communist roommate, Miguel, he cultivates an acquaintanceship with Diego in order to investigate his liberal 6 leanings. PATHER PANCHALI (India, 1958) Pather Panchali tells the story of a family inching slowly and irrevocably, over the course of several years, toward the edge of financial and emotional disaster. In a rural Bengali village, circa 1919, Harihar recites sacred texts and performs religious rites for a living. He dreams of being a playwright, but he must support his growing family.