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Film analysis the beautiful
Film analysis the beautiful
Film analysis the beautiful
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“[A] film's ‘accuracy’s is that it relays the voices and the perspectives—we emphasize the plural—of the community or communities in question. While image evokes the issue of mimetic realism, ‘voice’ evokes a realism of delegation and interlocution, a situated utterance of ‘speaking form’ and ‘speaking to.’”.
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam in “Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle over Representation” provide discourses into how not only the marginalized groups have come to their state of powerlessness, but, also, how the institutions perpetuate and audiences receive the information. They state, “That films are only representations does not prevent them from having real effects in the world; racist films can be mobilize the Ku Klux Klan, or prepare the ground for retrograde social policy. Recognizing the inevitability and the inescapability of representation does not mean, as Stuart Hall puts it, that ‘nothing is at stake’”. In essence, a film’s quality of representation can move individuals to ascertain ideas of positive or negative thoughts. In “The Orchestration of Discourse” section, Shohat and Stam find that multivocality plays an integral part in constructing the positive image and “accuracy” for films. This paper will explore how different voices in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre functions as a mirror of the real world and reaches the “mimetic accuracy”.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is set in the remote Sierra Madre Mountain in the Mexico border. Although Spanish is the dominant language of that specific location, English is still the primary language spoken throughout the film, which reinforces a notion of whiteness is a still a kind of dominant power. Other than the trio and Cody, the minor characters in the fil...
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...ey need, while Howard is responding accordingly; therefore, the voice is speaking from a Mexican, he is speaking to Howard, and vice versa when Howard speaks to them.
To fully understand the conversation between Howard and the Mexicans, some level of Spanish fluency is required. And yet, this is what Shohat and Stam claim as multivocality, “an approach that would strive to cultivate and even heighten cultural difference while abolishing socially-generated inequalities”. Dobbs and Curtin are not the ones that do not understand the Spanish conversation; most of the audiences, including myself also wonder what the entire conversation is about since subtitle is not provided. Perhaps by doing so, John Huston, is able to allow the voices of the given group to be heard and understand by a given group and reflect the real world as it is and reached the “mimetic accuracy”.
To summarize the story, Richard Rodriguez is Mexican-American peer coming from his parents who were immigrants and attends a Catholic school. He realizes that his bilingualism wasn’t acceptable in his community and had to conform to having a different identity throughout the course of his life, which
Alvarez demonstrates generational boundary when discussing,“The quince tradition has always been important, but there’s this retroculturation going on right now” (56). Alvarez illustrates that retroculturation is a pattern within the Hispanic community where loss of culture is present for a generation. Alvarez explains how the first generation wants to assimilate in America with their culture, while the second generation has adapted to American norms so they have lost their culture and no longer speak spanish; however, the third generation is born and bred in America and now wants to learn about their hispanic culture by learning Spanish. Teens shop at popular American malls but listen to Spanish radios to embrace diversity (56). Similarly, Munoz is confronted with the issue of generational boundaries when he admits, “I was born in 1972, a generation that learned both English and Spanish” (308). The generation before Munoz grew up speaking only Spanish which causes a barrier between one families generation to the next. Munoz speaks Spanish at home and English in public along with his other cousins who serve as translators for their household. While the second generation before Munoz have no way of following Spanish because they have already adapted to American norms and in some ways lost an important cultural aspect (308). Alvarez and Savan are interconnected because each
Both authors write about the confidence the main characters receive from their culture. Rodriguez talks about his “private language” being spanish; A language that makes him unique. He is adamant in his pride of not belonging to the public society of the “gringos”. In Tafolla's poem, Richi is introduced as a boy who is strict about the pronunciation of his name. By making sure that others pronounce it with the intended accents, he gives the impression that he is not ashamed of his hispanic background. Rodriguez and Ri...
The author highlights the Latino stereotypes and their effects on those stereotyped and on society. By carrying out a satirical tone, the author is able to manifest how Mexicans are treated; thus, achieving this through the secretary’s rejection of each character represented. The satirical tone elucidates on how people may acknowledge their own prejudices and comprehend how Mexicans feel. Through the Mexican-American character, the author makes it clearly evident of an attempt to end prejudice in itself. The author illuminates the ludicrous hypocrisy behind labeling; this play serves to help society see the injustice of their opinions and to meet their
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Rodriguez would, for example, use words such as “unsettling” “cloistered” and “alienation,” to describe the beginning of his assimilation in the public English speaking world. While he would use “calm” “enchantingly” “consoling” and “intimacy” to describe Spanish. As Rodriguez is being pushed to assimilate and English is heard everywhere including his home he becomes “increasingly angry” only from being obliged from his parents and trying to participate in class he begins to feel a sense of belonging in public. Rodriguez’s diction was evident and continuous in his essay which abetted the audience to understand that the author wanted the audience to be addressed formally and be known that he wants to be taken seriously and able to connect to his background and why he made his
Throughout Richards early childhood development he quickly understood that in order to succeed in America he would have to learn to confidently speak in English. Richard is Hispanic American and although he was born in America, Spanish was the only language that he was exposed to as a young child. He grew up in a home where Spanish flowed freely, but he soon realized outside of his home the language that he primarily knew was foreign. His parents spoke fluent Spanish along with all of his relatives. The brief encounters he experienced of his parents speaking English were only in public places and the proficiency was very poor. Rodriguez’s home was as a safety net for him and his Spanish speaking family with they are his only real connections to the outside world. It wasn’t until Richards encounter with his teachers that he and his family was heavily impressed on the importance of developing a public language. After the encouragement of the visit home from a teacher as a family
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
...cept of model Mexican Americans being traded, bartered, bought and sold for a price, as depicted in the play, is an accurate portrayal of what has taken place in Mexican American history. Mexican Americans have been accustomed to such inhumane acts and they continue to be looked upon as "Mexican" though their rights as citizens just as valid as the rights of any immigrant to this country. "Los Vendidos," or the sell-outs, had to familiarize themselves with the notion of selling short their heritage in order to establish a new heritage in this new land.
In attempting to discuss the history of Chicanos, or Mexican-Americans and their experiences in the United States, an economic analysis may provide the best interpretation for their failure to achieve the status of first class citizens. This difficulty in achieving equality of citizenship is deeply rooted in both the economic self-interest of the Anglo-Americans, as well as their inherent perception of Otherness in Chicanos. This paper will explain the importance of this history and its context in the American framework. Beginning with the Chicano experience of the precolonial period and continuing through the Mexican-American war, analyzing particularly the Mercantilist policy which guided the colonization, alongside the principles of self-interest which carried many Anglos to Texas resulting in the war. Following, will be a close study of the period between the signing of the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo and the Second World War which was strongly defined by the Anglo capitalist industrialization of the early 20th century, and its subsequent effect on the development of the Chicano condition. It will then culminate with the Chicano resistance movements starting after the Second World War to the present with emphasis on such events as the Grape Strike of Cesar Chavez in 1968 which brought national recognition to the Chicano situation largely through economic means. In light of the satirical revisionist comedies of Teatro Campesino, "Los Vendidos" a short play by Luis Valdez will bring a conclusive view of the experience the Mexican-Americans endured according to one of their own.
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
...scavengers in order to maintain a physical wealth rather a culture wealth. The rich man in the house takes the alleyway has a division where he can control the flow of Mexicans. The same with Puerto Ricans working as assistants, they are told to assimilate to the American culture by not taking pride of their name being misspelled in the telephone books. The Mexicans and Puerto Ricans have allowed the American wealth and culture to predict their every move.
The los gringos, school and the English language are associated with the pubic society. Several other kinds of separation emerge from this separation of public and private society. There are separations of sound and word, female and male, and reason and affection. Richard believes it is natural to move from one separation into another. He needs to do this in order to move from the private to the public society. This movement is voluntary by Richard and forced by his parents. It is done to help Richard’s education. It will give him better opportunities in the United States. Speaking only English at home initiates the movement, instead of speaking Spanish. Ultimately, Richard can have a sense of belonging to the pu...
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
The film is concentrated on Mexican-American nationalism and immigration. In the beginning of the film, the main character sees himself more of an American rather than Mexican. He speaks fluently in English but does not know how to speak or comprehend proper Spanish. This is an example of involuntary language loss. Rudy, the main character, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, does not see himself as a white man but does not see himself as a pure Mexican either and is stuck in the in-betweens of both ‘Mexican’ and ‘American’ culture. Because of this, he is not of specific origin or descent but rather a Chicano. A mix between both cultures instead of just one.