Film Reflections The reflections are designed to explore the meaning, symbolism, and themes of the films being watched and discussed in an anthropological framework. Therefore, the reflective essays answer the assigned question (s) related to the films or documentaries. Your answers should explore and include key terms and concepts from the textbook chapter that the film(s) are associated with. Your assignments should also demonstrate a basic knowledge of pertinent terms, concepts, and examples from the course and textbook. Also, please pay attention to grammar in your answers so that they are relatively free of errors. You will also be graded on your effort and thoughtfulness in your answers. Chapter 1. The Study of Human Diversity: Old and New Depictions of Cultures Key Concepts: Anthropology as Cross-Cultural Discipline with connections to many aspects of human existence. Four fields of anthropology. Eclectic nature of Anthropology Material culture versus symbolism Enthnocentrism and cultural relativism Fieldwork and ethnography Holism: many links Cross-cultural comparisons and ethnology Syncretism This course: film as ethnography REFLECTION for School of Babel (2015): Answer the following questions. List five keywords to describe what it is about. A. What is the theme of this movie and how was it shaped by the film maker? B. What different religious and cultural views were evident in the lives of the students in the School of Babel? C. Did you notice any cultural specific behaviors or perspectives in individual students as a result of these cultural differences? D. What types of conflict or tensions arose because of cultural differences and what can we learn about conflict resolution in cross-cultural situations from the students in the reception class? E. How did the teacher minimize ethnocentrism and encourage cultural relativism? Chapter 2. Understanding Culture Key Concepts: Culture - How do we define culture and how do we portray it in film? It is given to be behavior transmitted by symbols: what does this mean? Why are symbols important in film making? Ethnicity and society Subculture Modernization Ethnographic present Enculturation Schemas of cultural behavior Concept of “race” Latah https://sites.stedwards.edu/comm4399sp2014-radams6/2014/01/28/nanook-of-the-northsinfluence-on-documentary-film-making/ Seeing Anthropology: Nanook of the North (1926) Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_of_the_North or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4kOIzMqso0 At the Sea Ice Camp Canada http://www.nfb.ca/film/at_winter_sea_ice_camp_pt_1/ REFLECTION FOR FILM CLIPS 1. Other than film quality, what types of differences are noticeable in comparing these two films made over 40 years apart? What parallels or similarities in culture are evident? 2. Nanook of the North was made by a private individual whereas At the Sea Camp was part of a film project by the National Film Board of Canada. Neither has a narrator. Yet their messages and portrayals are different. How is this achieved? 3. Both films are excellent examples of ethnographic film making. Nanook is in fact regarded as a classic film. Do you think one is a more accurate portrayal of traditional Eskimo life than the other? What kinds of ethical issues might be raised about their production. Give an example of each of the following from one of these film clips: Culture as Learned Culture as Shared Culture as Symbolic Unique Patterns of Behavior Week 3. Doing Anthropology: Fieldwork and Theories What is fieldwork? Participant Observation Techniques of Fieldwork: Interviews, Focus groups, Questionnaires, Historical Documents, Media, Observation, Recording Seeing Anthropology: Fieldwork in Neighborhood Tokyo (1992) Japan Can’t Go Native (2010) Japan REFLECTION FOR FILM CLIP and FEATURE Today’s films are about being an Anthropologist and doing anthropological fieldwork. List five techniques that were/ are used by the two anthropologists (Bestor and Brown) to do fieldwork and meet people as seen or discussed in these two films or film clips? What issues of confidentiality might occur when doing field work? Keith Brown talked about his research on Modernization in Japan and whether it led to Westernization. Based on what you saw, did Post WW2 modernization of Japan produce a culture that is identical to that of the USA? Keith Brown ended the video by talking about the value of long term fieldwork such as his. Why does he think this historical perspective is important? Chapter 4. Meanings Language, Symbols and Art Signs versus Symbols Symbols are a fundamental part of every culture and their importance reinforced through myth, religion, art, historical stories, and symbolic meaning. Features of Human Language (see page 103) Sapir=Whorf Hypothesis (linguistic determinism vs linguistic relativism) Symbolic Structures in Narrative Art: myths, legends, folktales Symbols and Cultural Identity Focus Culture: Art and Ceremony of the Kwa Kwaka' Wakw of the Northwest Coast. Film Clip : Art and Identity of the Kwa Kwaka’Wakw: Box of Treasures. (1984) Canada (See discussion pp 127-132) Feature Film: Earth Rising (Sioux Nation USA) REFLECTION FOR FEATURE Earth Rising. What is the theme of this movie? List five keywords to describe what it is about. A. What important symbols of the Sioux are either featured or discussed in this documentary. List and discuss three. B. How has the film maker used the pervasive and sacred meaning of important symbols as activism or a from applied anthropology in discussing concerns in this documentary? C. What contrasting symbols of power, vulnerability, midwestern farm town culture, and Sioux identity are portrayed? Week 5: Psychology and Culture Learning Styles Cognition Personality Margaret Mead Cultural Construction of Personality Biocultural Model of Behavior National Character Studies Process of “othering” and “The Other” Individualism vs groupism (sociocentric) Ethnopsychologies (Indigenous psychologies) Culture of acquisition and situated learning Multiple Intelligences Cultural Display rules Seeing Anthropology: Cultural Themes in Vietnam Film Clips: How to Behave (Chuyen Tute). (see pp 167) Latah: A Culture-Specific Elaboration of the Startle Reflex in Malaysia. (See discussion p 53-55) Feature: Spellbound (Reflection on-line at D2L LIVE) USA See and read http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/thirteen-years-later-did-spellbound-showus-power-or-myth-american-dream-180955434/?no-ist REFLECTION FOR FEATURE Spellbound 1. What impacts of class, personality, and family background might be responsible for the outcome of this spelling bee as seen in this movie? 2. After reading the linked article in the Smithsonian magazine, are these effects of class and background still evident in the lives of the eight students featured in this film. Why or why not? 3. Intelligence and achievement are seen as important values and portrayed as linked to spelling bee success. Does this value link play out in terms of outcomes and achievement for each student 13 years later?
