Multicultural Film Final Study Guide Includes all green material as well as additional relevant information from the articles Race and Ethnicity Week 2 U S Latinos in Film o This article comes from a recognition that Latino and even more Latina identification has been underrepresented and misrepresented in American film race dichotomy often revolves around black white o Latinos or Latin Americans are neither a race nor an ethnic group when conceived of as a social category there is confused or inconsistent representation Huge problem is that Hispanic often refers to everything in South Central Questions were raise in the 90s as to whether Latino film existed if they were America represented at all o 3 Different responses to race in culture overt racism cultural nationalists talking about racial mixing and cultural rights neoconservatives trying to remove race from the conversation effectively ignoring it o Big Idea Latino movies Latino criticism is not really there in American film it hasn t come into its own yet Although a criticism of film that it has stereotyped Hispanics has gone back almost 100 years used to be groups against the portrayal of Hispanics in film o Refers to the Hispanic population as a sleeping giant o Mestizaje process of racial mixing think of Latinos as Mestizo o It s White America White Americans are in control o Example of Justin Volpe who beat sodomized a Haitian man this served as a rallying point post 9 11 for those seeking to mark unrestricted violence related to underlying embedded racist and imperialist nature in American culture o Combination of whiteness and American or what is good right has happened which creates a wide degree of problems o Idea of White America is expressed in actions like Justin Volpe s to keep the social order in place both So the question becomes whether this idea is expressed through ISAs or RSAs o Feminization of Space penetration of spaces people feel that this is their area that it is owned by Americans and it is their right to control it so they feel violated when Latinos come into this country The groups in charge are able to express domination and power through the rhetorical device of this feminization of space maintains hegemony o Two viewpoints on the issue Reverse discrimination white victimization people are coming here and we pay taxes for their healthcare and schooling etc Whiteness and Non Whiteness Whose America is It Problems with White privilege white victimization is a joke to some because racism puts one party at a disadvantage but also advantages someone else there is an Invisible Knapsack of privilege that comes from skin color and race Financial reliability clothing choice being told that people of your color made this country what it is these are just some examples Makes people of color feel like outsiders and underprivileged The Film School Generation Belton o Related to French film critics the idea of developing criticism as a legitimate component of film o New Wave began in 1958 what is film about the potential to communicate ideas people who studied film did not apprentice anymore for the first time in history o The American Cinema was written by Andrew Sarris a critique of American film what worked what didn t and who were the greats Initial response in American culture was very negative and critics were not taken seriously BUT Hollywood tended to receive this positively because the new guys with new ideas could be hired for less which paid off in the box office In 1967 there were 200 American colleges offering courses on film this created a whole generation that was educated in film changing the demographic of viewers and changing what film focused on o Around 1970 there was a change and people started recognizing that these young directors could actually make money off of their films in addition there was a 500 million dollar net loss from 1969 1972 so Hollywood felt things had to change o In the early 70s people noticed the average age of moviegoers dropped dramatically 43 between 12 and 20 climbed to 50 before long o Started producing genre pictures films particularly geared towards one subject caused films like The Godfather Jaws Star Wars to go big budget which has not happened before o The way that films were coming out also changed released on a bigger scale rather than in just one area like New York and then later in other areas this widened the audience past a single city o It was during this era that people realized doubling the marketing of a film paid off in how many people came out to see it o Film Trends of the era Some of these film makers and directors emulated the styles of previous directors without calling attention to it this is called Pastiche The Nostalgia Film arose due to cultural context Vietnam Watergate etc called for a return to innocence with clear cut lines between good and evil Sometimes they would use song titles of the 50s and 40 50s music to make it seem simpler and more attractive Brat Pack Films focused on tough teens who banded together didn t use big stars though they later became famous for it more relatable to kids usually the characters were fighting oppression and the like A focus on group performances ensembles with non star acting The Outsiders The Reagan years were also formative in film The movement overall refused to define by low vs high culture which is what began this practice in cultural studies Films were now advertised in the Media Class Week o Precarious Dystopias Fisher o Dealt with class and precariousness a danger dissatisfaction with a group that is very close to something bad happening falling off of the edge of safety o Why are the bad guys rich in these movies Perhaps the majority of us are not rich and it is easy for us to divide along these class lines Fisher attributes the age of protagonists in these films of post 2008 as due to the financial crisis in America now our future is not financially secure Our future may not be as easy as it was for our parents creating a sense of instability of precariousness Provided a direction for films to go in for this generation o Similarities with In Time Never Let Me Go and Hunger Games Age of protagonists Disadvantaged position is not due to fate something or someone put them there usually the upper class extremely marginalized Hope is an important trope in these films the presence vs absence of it the reason they stay subjugated is because it is missing it is why they don t rebel immediately
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