Film 162 The Afro-Brazilian Experience and Brazilian Cinema Fall 2008: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:00-9:50; Horace Mann 193 Instructor: Vincent Bohlinger Office: Craig-Lee 355 Telephone: x8660 E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Thursdays 10:00-11:50, also by appointment Course Overview: This course serves as an introduction to the cinema of Brazil by way of exploring issues of race and representation. We start with a study of the international stereotypes surrounding Brazil, then examine the Cinema Nôvo movement, and finally move toward commercial and critical successes of the past few decades. We will be analyzing a number of challenging films in order to understand their broader political, cultural, and aesthetic contexts. Required Text: Robert Stam, Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Culture (Duke UP, 2004) Recommended: one of the following dvds (for the analysis paper): Pixote (Hector Babenco, 1981); City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002); Madame Satã (Karim Aïnouz, 2002); Bus 174 (José Padilha, 2002); The Man Who Copied (Jorge Furtado, 2003); Antônia (Tata Amaral, 2006) Course Requirements: 10% Participation (note attendance policy below) 20% Mid-Term Exam (in class) 20% Research Paper (5-7 pages) 20% Analysis Paper (5-7 pages) 30% Final Exam (in class) Course Policies: - Attendance is mandatory and counts toward the participation grade. More than three absences will result in a lower grade and possibly course failure. - Please come to class on time and remain in class for the duration of the session. Late arrivals and early departures count as partial absences, as do temporary exits during screening, lecture, or discussion. - It is your responsibility to gather any notes, handouts, or assignment information that you have missed from another student in the class (not from me!). - Please turn off all cell phones, blackberries, iPods, etc. for the duration of class. - All written work is due in class at the beginning of class on the due date assigned. Late work is not accepted. No work is accepted by e-mail. - The punishment for plagiarism is failure in the course and a letter in your academic record. Consult your RIC Student Handbook for further clarification. Course Schedule: Unit One: Foreign Conceptions of Brazil 2 Sept (Tu) Introduction to Course 4 Sept (Th) Screenings: excerpt from Saludos Amigos (Norman Ferguson, 1942) excerpt from The Three Caballeros (Norman Ferguson, 1944) Readings: Stam, Introduction, Chapters 1-2; Julianne Burton-Carvajal, “‘Surprise Package’: Looking Southward with Disney”; Roger M. Allen, “Cultural Imperialism at Its Most Fashionable” 9 Sept (Tu) Screening: That Night in Rio (Irving Cumming, 1941, 91 min.) 11 Sept (Th) Screening: excerpts from The Gang’s All Here (Busby Berkeley, 1944) Readings: Stam, Chapter 3; Sérgio Augusto, “Hollywood Looks at Brazil: From Carmen Miranda to Moonraker”; Stephanie Dennison & Lisa Shaw, “Carnival, Carmen Miranda and the Birth of the Chanchada” 16 Sept (Tu) Screening: It’s All True (Orson Welles, 1942/1993, 85 min.) 18 Sept (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapters 4-5; Sir Richard Francis Burton, “Slave Life at Morro Velho Mine”; João Dunshee de Abrantes, “Scenes from the Slave Trade – Logbook Entries”; Thomas Ewbank, “Cruelty to Slaves”; Joaquim Nabuco, “Slavery and Society”; Princess Isabel & Rodrigo Augusto da Silva, “Abolition Decree, 1888”; Legislature of Minas Gerais, “Laws Regulating Beggars in Minas Gerais, 1900” 23 Sept (Tu) Screening: Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959, 107 min.) 25 Sept (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapter 6; José Clarana, “A Letter from Brazil, 1918”; Carolina Maria de Jesus, “Growing up Black in Minas Gerais” 30 Sept (Tu) Readings: Leslie B. Rout, Jr., “Brazil: Study in Black, Brown, and Beige”; Jeffrey Lesser, “Immigrant Ethnicity in Brazil”; Abdias do Nascimento, “The Myth of Racial Democracy”; Revista MNU, “The National Day against Racism”; Bernardete Toneto, “The Church Tries to Combat Prejudice”; Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, “What Color Are You?”; Jefferson M. Fish, “Mixed Blood” 2 Oct (Th) Mid-Term Exam Unit Two: Cinema Nôvo 7 Oct (Tu) Screening: Barren Lives (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1963, 103 min.) 9 Oct (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapter 7; Randal Johnson & Robert Stam, “The Cinema of Hunger: Nelson Pereira dos Santos’s Vidas Secas”; Carlos Diegues, “Cinema Novo”; Joaquim Pedro de Andrade & Alex Viany, “Criticism and Self-Criticism” 14 Oct (Tu) Screening: Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha, 1964, 120 min.) 16 Oct (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapter 8; Ismail Xavier, “Black God, White Devil: The Representation of History”; Glauber Rocha, “An Esthetic of Hunger”; Glauber Rocha, “The Tricontinental Filmmaker: That Is Called the Dawn” 21 Oct (Tu) Screening: Macunaíma (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1969, 105 min.) 23 Oct (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapter 9; Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, “Cannibalism and Self-Cannibalism”; Randal Johnson, “Cinema Novo and Cannibalism: Macunaíma”; Stephanie Dennison & Lisa Shaw, “Cinema Novo and Tropicalismo: Macunaíma” 28 Oct (Tu) Screening: How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1971, 80 min.) 30 Oct (Th) Readings: Richard Peña, “How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman” Unit Three: Contemporary Brazilian Cinema 4 Nov (Tu) Screening: Bye Bye Brazil (Carlos Diegues, 1980, 110 min.) 6 Nov (Th) Readings: Stam, Chapter 10; Carlos Diegues & Rui Guerra, “Popular Cinema and the State: Two Views” 11 Nov (Tu) No Class! (Veterans’ Day) 13 Nov (Th) Research Paper Due Screening: Xica da Silva (Carlos Diegues, 1976, 116 min.) 18 Nov (Tu) Screening: Quilombo (Carlos Diegues, 1984, 116 min.) 20 Nov (Th) No Class! 25 Nov (Tu) Readings: Stam, Chapter 11; Randal Johnson, “Carnivalesque Celebration in Xica da Silva” 27 Nov (Th) No Class! (Thanksgiving Holiday) 2 Dec (Tu) Screening: Orfeu (Carlos Diegues, 1999, 112 min.) 4 Dec (Th) Readings: Kenneth Maxwell, “Orfeu”; Caetano Veloso, “An Orpheus, Rising from Carcicature”; Jessica Callaway, “Two Poets Sing the New World” 9 Dec (Tu) Analysis Paper Due Screening: Almost Brothers (Lúcia Murat, 2004, 102 min.) 11 Dec (Th) Readings: Stam, Afterward (pp. 329-364) Final Exam: Tuesday, 16 December, at 8:00 a.m. .