In another one of my classes, we have been examining the short film (around 10 minutes long) The Attendant, by Issac Julien, that explores many of the issues we are discussing.
A super-quick background on Julien: He’s an English cultural theorist, writer, filmmaker and artist ( he won the Turner Prize in 2001). FYI, one of his films, Frantz Fanon, Black Skin White Mask,is about the writer of one of readings this week (Frantz Fanon).
I thought Amistad was a great and very emotional movie. Steven Spielberg did a great job showing the plight of the Africans during that time period (or so we popularly believe). In the very beginning of the movie, the audience is given the impression that Africans are primitive savages, especially the riveting scene where Cinque kills the captain of the slave ship: (20 seconds into the clip)
They are shown to be wearing nothing but loincloths, screaming like primitive creatures shedding “white” blood: they are portrayed as uncivilized beasts. The impression I got throughout the movie is Continue reading →
Amistad is a film in which the themes of communication, language, translation, and silence function at the forefront of understanding. This is first evident in Spielberg’s choice not to subtitle the first 15 minutes of the film. The audience hears a foreign language, Mende, from Sierra Leone but can not understand it, thus establishing the void of communication that will continue throughout the film. The barrier of communication continues into the trials, making the slaves difficult to defend unless they can find a way to communicate. This comes in the obvious form of a translator. In addition, translation is also present in more subtle ways in other aspects of the film such as its cinematic techniques. Spielberg’s choice to translate meaning both in flashback and in storytelling allows the audience to know/understand more than the characters in the film.
The following shots depict defining moments of communication throughout the film:
The denouement of Amistad emphasizes that everyone speaks the same language. John Quincy is able to connect with Cinque because they both ‘understand’ the African violet (2:02:39), the metaphor of killing the lion, and the ‘very nature of man’, which Quincy explains in his trial speech is a state of freedom. The freedom American colonists sought from Britain is equivalent to the freedom described in the Declaration of Independence is equivalent to Continue reading →
I really enjoyed reading this one! I thought the layout was a bit busy and distracting, but there was some fantastic analysis across different spheres (soap opera-African-American-reality tv etc.) of television. Off of the first point, I was never quite sure where I was supposed to be looking, but there were so many interesting things […]
http://comixgroup.wordpress.com/ I thought the group did a good job of juggling the idea of “myth” in different ways, and presented adroit analysis of their respective source materials. In looking at the first page, I think the simple but attractive layout worked well to highlight the great JFK quote in the corner. As for the individual […]
I really enjoyed going through the project “Advertisements”. The group had obviously done a lot of research and talked to each other about what they hoped to achieve with the project. I do think, however, that they could have organized their website better so that the mission statement was the first page. Reading the mission […]
I’m offering a critique on the Africa in Fashion project. I was intrigued with the use of the homepage to bring each group member’s ideas together under one broad theme. The clickable pictures were very user-friendly and gave the project a professional feel. Great job! In the Magazine, the pictures were attractive and complemented the […]
As many of you may know, Dave Chappelle disappeared to Africa a few years ago to escape the pressures of the entertainment industry. I watched this interview on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” recently in which Chappelle talks about some of his reasons for going to Africa. It almost reminded me of Dr. Garrigan in “Last […]
Someone posted on Tyra and African American hair and reminded me of a documentary I watched on Black hair and Koreans in the black hair idustry. The documentary points out that almost 90% of black hair beauty supply stores are owned and operated by Koreans, but supported 100% by African Americans. Do you think there’s […]
http://www3.amherst.edu/~jflores10/native.html Wonderful work pals, your channel is great. I love the home page. It constitutes various images and captions about different issues; links to detailed information just like any other internet-based channels. Holistically, the project is good and the links between the sections is reasonable, although the technic […]
While it is the end of the semester I am still faced with some challenging questions I would like to share. With the American movies we have watched in mind: How much of an effect do these movies have on the public? While of course they provide awareness , do they inspire action? Or, have […]
I immensely enjoyed reading, watching, and simply looking at all the images of the fashion project. It’s hard to give an extremely detailed assessment without choosing one individual project for the each had so many facets. This group did a very good job on the aesthetics of the website, even including an intro page introducing […]
On the surface, The Constant Gardener is a great film, both for its plot as well as its execution. I first came to like it because it was able to capture and hold on to my attention to the point where I became emotionally involved in the film and outcome of the characters. “Will he […]
I thought that this was a pretty interesting project. Particularly the point where the writer points out that shifts in depictions and descriptions of Africa have “progressed” only because of changes in globalization, and far less than we would assume. I think that this is a great point because it seems to really hint at […]
I think one of the cooler parts of Ruined was the interaction between the cast and the audience. There are a few moments when the cast breaks the 4th wall that really appealed to me, notably the scene in the play’s opening where the Professor chugs down a Fanta. I feel like when you break […]
While screening “Laura Croft Tomb Raider and the Cradle of Life” I attempted to look closely at every scene to try and see any representation of Africa, however as the film progressed I was sucked deeper and deeper into the film and became lost within the text, whether if this was just because I am […]
The filmmaker Prashant Bhargava visited the campus of Amherst College to discuss and share his progress on the film-in- the-making “Patang.” Bhargava shared with the audience his methods and concept in creating the film about an annual kite festival in India. His technique exhibits a bit of documentary style with the mark of a true […]
I must first say, before sitting down into the theatre to be absolutely amazed and taken aback by “Ruined” I was nothing if not apprehensive. My sister and her friends, who are actors and dancers of the theatre, had unfortunately never heard of this new play, at least new to New York City, and I […]
One of my friends and I sat down to watch Bamako together, hoping that one would be better than two in trying to find meaning in and interpret the text. Throughout much of the movie, that we sometimes thought to be a documentary of some sort, we would just look at one another in confusion […]
