Howl’s Moving Castle in a
Global Context
CULT 100- March 12, 2025
Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away
• Spirited Away became popular in several international festivals (Berlin,
Toronto, Cannes) and was nominated for an Academy Award in the US.
• Promotions for Spirited Away in America focused on Pixar director John
Lasseter, who championed the English adaptation and served as the executive
producer for the English dubbing. Lasseter’s status as a “star director” have
the film an American voice.
• Lasseter was also featured on the DVD release, in which he gave an interview
about the making of Spirited Away (the English version).
• Treats the original Japanese version more as source material that is supposedly
of less interest to the American public, the dubbing is the main event of the
publicity.
Howl’s Moving Castle
• Miyazaki had become furious on being told that Spirited
Away’s success in North America had been due solely to its allout marketing campaign, not the film’s content,
• He responded by declaring his next feature would have no
major marketing camping
• Despite a modest marketing campaign and Miyazaki’s
reluctance to appear in public, the film was a blockbuster in
Japan and Miyazaki’s highest-grossing film overseas.
• Howl’s was original set to be directed by another artists and was
conceived of a light, fun, fantasy, when Miyazaki took over he
reconceived it as a melodrama set against the background of
war
Adapting Howl’s Moving Castle
• The British book on which the film is based contains almost not
references to war, with the missing prince making up the bulk of the
narrative tension and the Witch of the Waste serving as the central
antagonist.
• Subplots around Sophie’s stepmother and sisters and Howl’s love life
were reduced to brief mentions and Howl being from modern day Whales
were completely cut.
• Changing the Witch of the Waste to a more ambiguous figure, as well as
Howl’s transformation into a monster and the instability of Sophie’s curse
were also Miyazaki’s addition and are themes that often occur in the
director’s films.
Fantasy Films in the 2000’s
Small Group Exercise: Film Analysis
• On Your Own: Take a moment and consider how one of the following
themes appears in Howl’s Moving Castle from one of the following list. If
possible, try and pull in some visual images or symbols in addition to plot
or character:
• War
• Identity
• Home & Family
• Villains & Heroes
• In Groups: I’ll invite you to join a breakout room based on the theme
you’ve selected. Discuss your observations as a group.
• As a Class: Come back and share what you talked about in your groups
War in Howl’s Moving Castle
• Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941 and grew up in the aftermath of
WWII. Many of Miyazaki most popular films are set against the
backdrop of wars
• The inclusion of war in Howl’s was largely in response to the
American War on Iraq that followed 9/11, of which Miyazaki was
openly critical
• The war is important but often vague: we know little of the nature of
the conflict or its players, few of the main characters are directly
involved, more is done to avoid then engage with it.
• One reading of this suggests that Miyazaki is more interested
depicting and protesting the impact of war on civilians, and on
relationships. Miyazaki is arguably not interested in the details of war
and resists glorifying
• The war itself is faceless, where those whose lives are threatened by
it are given full focus and depth
Transformation and Identity
• Nearly all of the main characters change : Sophie’s
curse, Howl into the monster, the Witch’s aging,
Markl’s old man disguise, The turnip head prince,
Calsifer from star, to fire, to demon.
• Most of these transformation are recurrent: most
change back and forth frequently
• Many of these transformations also trouble a simple
reading of the characters as purely good or bad:
identity and morality are not fixed and innate but are
tied to action and thus mutable.
• Again as transformation is often depicted with
optimism: Sophie embraces her age, the witch is
softened. Some critics point to the contrast between
this and attitudes towards the aging of Japan’s
population in the 2000’s.
Home and Family
• As the “title role” the castle itself is one of the central images of the film.
Despite its monstrous exterior its interior is cozy an entirely domestic.
• The castle itself is built a resistance to war: it protects, hides, and is
perpetually on the run.
• Sophie gains entry into the castle and wins over Howl by domesticating the
space and Howl.
• The addition of new occupants to the house are referred to as “family.” The
growing the chosen family provides a counter balance to the war and soften
Howl’s character.
• The sanctuary Howl “creates” for Sophie is connected to his childhood
• When Howl transforms the castle to further protect it from the war he merges
it with Sophie’s old home/shop, further combining the domestic and safety
• Threats to safety are often communicated by how close the war is getting to
the safe home spaces Howl has created.
Heroes and Villains
• Like many Miyazaki films, Howl’s complicates the notion of villains and simple
evils
• The Witch’s transformation into a sympathetic/pathetic character is an invention of
the film; in the book is a fairly straightforward antagonist
• Much of the “antagonizing” forcing in Howl’s are vague and off-screen.
• Suliman becomes the closets thing to a simplistic villain but her effect on the plot
is fairly minimal and her motives are vague.
• Both Sophie and Howl start out as reluctant heroes who opt out of participating in
conflict.
• The eventually take on heroic qualities like bravery and sacrifice but stop short of
more traditional “active/action” roles, instead veering towards passivism and
protection.
Connection with Miyazaki’s other films
• Environmentalism
• War
• The sky/flight
• Transformation
• Intergenerational communication/conflict
Scene Analysis: Midterm II Practice
• Conduct an analysis of the following scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqRfkrti0bw
• Remember to consider:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Signs and Codes: colour, objects, clothing, gesture, blocking and environment.
Multiple shots/Cinematography
Movement
Time and Progress
Music/sound effects
Dialogue
• You do not necessarily need to cover all of the above, but your analysis should touch on some of
these elements based on what you think is important in reading the meaning of the scene.
• Finally, you should touch on how this scene connects to (or challenges) one of the following
themes we've discussed in class: War; Identity and transformation; home and family; villains and
heroes
Next Week: Essay and Workshop
Midterm II
Monday March 17- Essay Workshop (Live Zoom but optional attendance for Essay folks)
Reading- hooks, bell. “Critical Thinking” in Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. Routledge, 2009. (711)
Wednesday March 19-Podcast Workshop (Live Zoom, required for podcast groups)
Reading- hooks, bell. “Critical Thinking” in Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. Routledge, 2009. (711)
Midterm II – Take Home Test (Due Sunday March 23)
Transnational Animation:
Anime in Japan and the West
CULT 100- Week 9
Key Terms
• Anime
• Tezuka Osamu
• “Cultural Odorless”
• Akira (1988)
• Can you tell from this intro montage that the following program is
anime and not a western cartoon?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOsuVJEY_No
Japanese Animation in the
Early 20th Century
• The first professional
• The Story of Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa (Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki)
1917, by Shimokawa Oten..
• 1930s and 40s anime films of this period focused on heroes striving for
honor and virtue
• (Masume and the Monkies, 1930, Momotaros Underwater Adventure, 1932)
• WWII: the government increasingly used anime as a form of propaganda
and financed the production of films with nationalist, military themes
• (Sanchkichi the Monkey: the Air Combat, 1942, Sea Eagles, 1943)
Postwar Japan
• During American Occupation (1945–52), film-making
activities did not come to a halt. Free speech was encouraged,
and the new administration took an interest in film but past military and
nationalist themed films were prohibited.
• In 1946 200 film prints were burned due to their “feudalistic or
antidemocratic” content
Japanese Identity in Postwar Film
• Economic hardship and the psychological impact of the war and
occupation effected story telling in film
• Animators started re-examining the concept of “Japanese Identity” on a
cultural and individual level
Western Television in Japan
• During occupation American Television became incredibly
popular in Japan, particularly cartoons like The Flintstones, Popeye,
and Superman, as well as Disney films like Snow White, Pinocchio
and Bambi
• Some theorists suggest that animation is easier to translate cross culturally
(dubbing is less obvious, settings are less realistic and thus less culturally
specific, children are less discerning viewers)
• By 1962 over ten million TV sets had been sold to Japanese
consumers, leading to an insatiable need for content
Tezuka Osamu (1928-89)
• Known as “the God of Manga”
• Is credited with the standard “big eyed” aesthetic of Manga and Anime
• drew inspiration from the western characters Micky Mouse and Betty Boop for this
aesthetic.
• started Mushi Studios in 1961.
• Many of his Anime were adaptations of his popular Manga characters
including Astro Boy, The Jungle Emperor and Princess Knight.
• Wanted to create anime films in the style (and scale) of Disney’s classic
animated films of the 1940s and 50s.
• Also, an early pioneer of adult anime which thrived throughout the 1970s
and well into the present.
Toie Studio
• Founded in 1948 by Kenzō Masaoka and Zenjirō Yamamoto as Japan
Animated Films
• Has produced such hits as Cyborg 009 , Sally the Witch, Dragon Ball,
Sailor Moon, Digimon, Toriko
• Much like Tezuka was inspired by Disney, who he also viewed as a
rival
Disney Influence on Toie
• The storyboard system, which allowed Disney to use a
variety of sequential pictures to convey the story and the
feeling of the scenes to the animators.
• The division-of-labor system, which allowed the Disney
studio to work on animated shorts and feature-length films at
the same time.
• The development of merchandising and the licensing of
characters
• A business model that included a curriculum for training new
talent: Hayao Miyazaki got his start working at Toie
Anime in the 1980s
• The advance of VHS lead to direct to video productions,
which allowed for more specialized materials to be
produced cheaply, allowed animators to experiment with
style.
• Many animators ,who had learned their craft working on
TV anime, were able to establish their own working groups
or studios- the major incentive gave creators the ability to
retain their own copyrights.
• The most famous of these groups was Studio Ghibli, established
by Miyazaki and Takahata Isao
• Productions became grander in the 1980s with expanding
budgets and more ambitious cinematic releases.
• Akira (1988) is largely considered to be the culmination of
this decade of growth, experimentation, and development.
Akira (1988)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ooKBenGK3R4
Anime in the 1990s
• The 90s saw the burst of the economic
bubble in Japan- Production had to be
scaled back- tv studios continued to churn
out episodes of varying quality
• among the most popular was Dragon
Ball (86-89), Sailor Moon (1992-93),
Pokemon (1997-), which was adapted
from a video game, and Yu-Gi-Oh!
(1998)
• More thought provoking and ambitious
features did continue— like Ghost in the
Shell (1995), and Princess Mononoke
(1998)— which smashed local box office
records and gained attention in the West.
Anime in the West
• Anime attained mainstream popularity in the early
1990s.
• The first Anime program to premier in the US was Astro
Boy in 1962 and was a huge hit for NBC. Speed Racer
was also a popular
• Often referred to as “hidden imports”- shows were
heavily edited and adapted for western
audiences/children.
• Animation only denotes race through otherness and
caricature, race in anime was reasonably ambiguous
(within a light skin context), manga influence of
differentiating character by hair colour read as
European, dubbing was camouflaged by animated
mouths
• Most viewers didn’t realize they were watching Japanese
show
“Culturally Odorless”
• Japanese cultural exports form 1950-1980s are
often described as being “culturally odorless”contained no reference to Japanese culture and
were generally culturally ambiguous (cars,
electronics, entertainment).
• Anime exports of the 1960s and 70s were often
science fiction and thus set in culturally neutral
futuristic settings.
• Tezuka distinctly tried to make Speed Racer
“denationalized” and “placeless”
• Much anime of this period was also based on
western literature: Heidi, various Hand Christian
Anderson Fairy Tales, World Masterpiece
Theatre
• American version of TV anime continued to be popular in the 90s with
hits like Sailor Moon, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, and were still dubbed
and censored however publics were now explicitly aware they we
were watching Japanese shows
• An awareness of the original products caused a brief backlash from
parental groups:
• Sailor Moon’s supposedly “pornographic” original
• Pokémon was criticized for promoting consumerism
• Nearly all of these issues had been potentially present in earlier
“hidden imports” but an awareness of Anime as a genre created
tension with American parental groups and critics.
st
Anime Television in the 21 Century
• Diversifying of genres like action, horror, science fiction, fantasy
• Building on Japan’s influence on western popular culture in the
90s/2000s (Science fiction, Horror, Video Games)
• Social media has increased access of fan culture
• Streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll have increased
access for global audiences.
• Digital production has reduced production costs allowing for more
output with lower financial risk
For Next Class
• Watch: Howl’s Moving Castle on Netflix
• As you watch, consider two of the following questions:
• How is war represented?
• What part does identity play in the film?
• What does the film say about home and family?
• How are heroes and villains depicted?
• Optional Reading: Napier, Susan. “The Castle, the Curse, and the
Collectivity: Howl’s Moving Castle”
• Optional Podcast: The Cine-Files. “Akira”
Veer-Zaara
CULT 100- Wednesday March 5, 2025
Midterm II: March 23rd
Format:
Much like the first midterm you will be given a combination of multiple-choice questions and short answer
definitions based on readings and lectures from the first month of class. You will also conduct a short semiotic
analysis of a scene that will be provided. The midterm will be administered via Canvas so you can write it from
home or another space. This second midterm will be a “take home” in that rather than having dedicated class
time you’ll need to write this on your own time. You’ll have a window from Wednesday March 19-Sunday
March 23rd in which to write this test, but 90 minutes to complete once you begin.
Midterm II will be comprised of a key term definition section and a scene analysis. This similar to the semiotic
analysis from Midterm I but with a full scene. You’ll have a choice between two scenes taken from one of our
class viewings (Modern Family, Get Out!, Veer-Zaara, and Howl’s Moving Castle).
Midterm II: Content
Part 1: Key Term Definitions (3 questions, worth 5 points each)
Just like the first Midterm I’ll give you three key terms to define. These will be key terms from weeks 6 to 9 (Horror to Anime) in our course
schedule. Answers should be a short paragraph (between 2 and 4 sentences). Remember that your definition of the term should connect it to the
topic of media and popular culture and explain why its relevant to this class. Lastly, when possible, you should provide an example from class or
a reading.
Part 2: Scene Analysis (1 question, worth 25 points)
For your scene analysis I will provide a choice between two short clips from a movie we have watched for class.
Much like the semiotic analysis of still image, use your semiotic skills to identify signs and codes in the music video. Remember to consider
colour, objects, clothing, gesture, blocking and environment. As this is not a still image you should also consider:
•
Multiple shots: how do different images, perspectives, angles communicate meaning?
•
Movement: how do people move? How do they move through the space and in relation to architecture and objects? Consider entrances and exists.
•
Time and Progress: How much time passes in a scene? What changes from beginning to end of the scene? What do we learn? What is
“accomplished” in the scene?
•
Music/sound effects: How is music used? Does it underscore mood, emotion, action? Does it communicate time and place? Do the character here it?
How does it effect your reading of other signs?
•
Dialogue: If there’s dialogue what is being said? How does text combine with the visual symbols to create meaning? Look at specific word choice.
•
Connection to a theme we have discussed in class such as colonialism, othering, borders, etc. (I will provide a list)
Essay
• For your final assignment you will write a formal academic essay that critical examines 1 or 2
media texts through the lens of a sociopolitical issue. While you are free to consider any of the
social issues we’ve discussed in class (race, gender, colonialism, consumerism, sexuality, etc.) you
are also welcome to consider a social issue not explicitly covered in class. I do just ask that you
check with me (Cameron) in advance to makes your idea fits within the parameters of the course.
Your essay should be designed around one of the following formats. Please refer to these as you
select your media texts and begin to craft your thesis:
• Format Options: Deep Dive or Compare and Contrast
Format 1: Deep Reading Essay
Select a course reading and use it to conduct a critical analysis of how a media text of your choice represents a
social issue. Please avoid using a media text (viewing) from the course syllabus. Likewise, you should avoid
using a media text named in the reading you’ve selected. For example, as Hatfield’s article uses Two and a Half
Men as example of the hegemonic masculinity you should select a media text other than Two and a Half Men to
examine this concept.
For this essay you will need to construct a thesis that explains how the reading you’ve selected has enhanced,
deepened, or challenged your initial impression of the media text. Consider what the course reading offers about
historical context or nuanced elements of a social issue that might not be immediately evident to a general
audience. You may also critique the way a media texts fails to adequately deal with a social issue.
Your essay should a minimum of three citations from your chosen reading. You may also bring in a second
reading or sources from outside the class to support your analysis, but this is not required. In terms of your
media text, you may consult more than one scene but avoid trying to cover a full film or tv series. The focus
should be on what social issue is being presented in the media text and how the reading deepens your
understanding of this issue.
Please review the Assignment Overview of the Essay for further details, instructions, and tips
Format 2: Compare and Contrast
Write a critical essay that compares two media texts (film, television show, music video, etc.)and analyzes a
social/political issue. You may select any issue we’ve discussed in class such as gender, race, sexuality,
colonialism, class, economics, or an historical event. You may use media texts from the syllabus or select new
examples to analyze. Keep in mind that your Critical Essay should be focused on the aspects of your media texts
that relate to your thesis. While you can cover multiple scenes, you should still avoid broad plot summary and
be selective about how much content you cover. Select a few scenes/moments across a film or tv series that best
exemplifies your thesis but do not attempt to cover every detail of plot.
You should support your analysis with academic citations from at least one course reading. You may also bring
in outside sources, although this is not mandatory. Remember that citations should support your own analysis by
backing up your reading of your media texts. Avoid general summaries of course readings.
A good approach in selecting media texts is to find two pieces of media that appear similar on the surface and
then try and locate more subtle ways in which they different two media texts that appear very different on the
surface and argue that they actually share a key feature.
Please review the Assignment Overview of the Essay for further details, instructions, and tips
Key Terms
• Borders
• Partition
• Aestheticization
Common Elements in Bollywood Films
• Plots: Narratives are formulaic and melodramatic. Plots are furthered by
external forces rather than character development. Romantic love and
extended family drama are frequent focal points.
• Built around elaborate song-and-dance sequences
• Characters: Generally, characters are depicted as “good” or “bad.”
• Melodramatic external presentation of emotion rather than “psychological depth.”
• Aesthetics: characterized by excess: extravagant song sequences, bright
colored costumes, shinny jeweler, expensive sets, hyperbolic gestures.
• Lack of Realism: Characters are over the top, fight scenes rarely look
realistic, story lines are generally “impleadable,” dream sequences are
frequent.
• Masala Films: Blending multiple genre conventions and elements
Conceiving of Borders
• A border can be considered as an actual and physical place – literally, a line of
control and division.
• ‘Borderland’ Arising from an intervention into the plight of the people who live near
or are connected to borders (even through diasporic or transnational routes)
• is an apt way of addressing the socio-cultural space that is created and exists as a
possibility that can encapsulate the pleasures, pains and politics of residing near and
sometimes crossing, and at other times wanting to cross, actual borders.
• “A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue
of an unnatural boundary. It is in a state of constant transition” (Anzaldúa 1987: 3).
History of Borders in India
•
Partition: India and Pakistan
• The foremost crisis of Indian secularism took place at the moment of Partition, the division of the
subcontinent into India and Pakistan.
• Muslim-majority regions in India’s eastern and western areas were designated Pakistan, a nation that
was supposed to offer protection to Muslims who would suffer in a Hindu-majority India.
• The announcement of the Partition led to mass migrations, with Hindus and Sikhs crossing the new borders into India
and Muslims traveling the opposite direction
• War and violence along the Indian-Pakistani boarder has persisted since Partitian
• Despite being a major historic event, Partition has not been a major theme in Bollywood
• At the turn of the millennium, Pakistan started being named as an enemy state in Bollywood films
(prior to this national enemies were often vague and unnamed).
Veer-Zaara (2004)
• Made in a period of increasing political
tension between India and Pakistan
• Because it is a love story, we know that
romantic love is the centre of the film’s moral
universe:
• therefor their union is coded are more important
than their different religions or national identities
• The film becomes an extended battle between
two powerful forces: national enmity versus
love.
Aestheticization
• Veer-Zaara offers an alternative to India-Pakistan enmity through
the aestheticization of the Punajab, the region most affected by the
Partition.
• Veer-Zaara depicts the Punjab as beautiful, colourful, lush, a source
of visual pleasure in the film
• Veer-Zara “invoke[s] border crossing as possibility and aesthetic
pleasure that transcends easy and conservative construction of
Indians and Pakistanis in problematic binary terms” (Dudrah 42).
Group Brainstorms
• On your own: Write down your initial thoughts about how one of the
following scenes speaks to the issue of boarders or boundaries.
• “Des Mera” (My Land) musical sequence
• The scene at the train station where Raza comes to collect Zaraa
• In Small Groups: Compare your scenes and how they speak to the
issue of boarder and boundaries.
• As a class: Share what you found
“Des Mera” (My Land),
Veer:
The golden land and the blue sky, each season is colorful
That’s what my land is like …
In my land we treat guests like gods
Wherever they come from, they belong here.
Zaara:
I have seen your land, I have understood your land
I don’t know why it feels so familiar to me
It’s the same evening here, and the same morning
So my land is just like your land
• “des mera,” which has the double meaning of “my country” (India)
and my land as in region (The Punjab).
• This dual meaning is exploited in the song to suggest that he is singing
potentially about both India and Pakistan
• Suggests that “one’s land might” in fact cross national borders, and,
second (that a personal connection to place might to recognize
borders)
• suggesting that other people have equivalent love for their country,
something which is nationalist but refuses the exceptionalism that
comes with most nationalisms is particularly significant in the context
of the Partition.
• The physical presence of the train station in Atari contrasts the lush beauty of the Punjab in
which Zaraa feels so welcome
• Tall metal fences, barb wire, heavily policed- the idea of the border as being the site of
strangeness rather than the “forging” land.
Train Scene • Raza is coded the film’s villain- dressed in regal black.
• His later presence during Veer’s arrest align Raza with the border: official, cold, divisive.
• The setting of the border for the moment of classical melodramatic conflict, the introduction of
conflict, and a space that restricts their communication
• the border becomes both a metaphor and yet is still literal in its power to separate them.
Identity and Family; Nation and Religion
• Zaara’s grandmother was born in India
• As a Muslim woman Zaraa must gain permission and aide to perform
the final rights for her grandmother at a Sikh Gurdwara.
• Veer’s parents are actually his adoptive aunt and uncle. They are from
Punjab and south India respectively
• All signal forged bonds of love signify a challenge to rigid bonds of
identity and insider/outsider logic
Scene Analysis: The Hair Scene
• Consider colour, objects, clothing, gesture, blocking and environment.
• Multiple shots: how do different images, perspectives, angles communicate meaning?
• Movement: how do people move? How do they move through the space and in relation to architecture
and objects? Consider entrances and exists
• Time and Progress: How much time passes in a scene? What changes from beginning to end of the
scene? What do we learn? What is “accomplished” in the scene?
• Music/sound effects: How is music used? Does it underscore mood, emotion, action? Does it
communicate time and place? Do the character here it? How does it effect your reading of other signs?
• Dialogue: If there’s dialogue what is being said? How does text combine with the visual symbols to create
meaning? Look at specific word choice.
• Connection to a theme we have discussed in class such. For this scene consider Othering, borders,
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F28bO1vLnI
Bollywood: Hindi Cinema
in a Global Context
250.807.9000
CULT100- Week 8
Key Terms
• Bollywood
• Melodrama
• Diaspora
• Musicals
What is Bollywood?
• Bollywood refers to both an industry and a genre
• Refers to popular films, Hindi films, based in Mumbai (formerly
known as Bombay)
• Bollywood is a term more commonly used internationally
• In India more specific terms like “Bombay Cinema” or “Hindi Popular
Cinema,” or simple “Pictures” are more common.
• Western audience often describe Bollywood as over the top, unrealistic
and melodramatic.
Etymology of Bollywood
• Portmanteau: Bombay + Hollywood = Bollywood
• Originally used as a pejorative term:
• “Some of the most important younger talent was soon absorbed in Bollywood, Mollywood,
and Collywood, writing indifferent dialogue for bad films and decorating the awkward
situations with catchy tunes” (Mulk Raj Anand, 1961)
• over time the term Bollywood was incorporated into mainstream use.
• 1980s: used as a more casual term of Hindi popular cinema, without degradation
• 1990s: had become widespread in English media as a shorthand for the Bombay film industry
• There are still many critics of the term who feel it represents Hindi
Cinema as derivative of Hollywood
English in Bollywood
• Many Bollywood films include occasional bits of English dialogue.
• it might be tempting to see this as an appeal to Western audiences but
its actually more a reflection of the fact that many young urban Indians
speak mixes of Indian languages with English- thus its more about
reflecting authentic urban life.
Bollywood and Genre:
Masala Films
“Masala films” are Bollywood films that blend multiple genre
conventions and elements. The name refers to the spice blend used.
Masala films are generally the most popular and wide speared Bollywood
films.
• The degree to which each element is present varies- Veer-Zaara for
example is relatively light on action and heavy on romance and drama.
• Hollywood movies tend to get classify by relatively narrow genre
(comedy, romance, action, horror) with genre blending being quite rare.
Common Elements in
Bollywood Films
• Plots: Narratives are formulaic and melodramatic. Plots are furthered by
external forces rather than character development. Romantic love and
extended family drama are frequent focal points.
• Built around elaborate song-and-dance sequences
• Characters: Generally, characters are depicted as “good” or “bad.”
• Melodramatic external presentation of emotion rather than “psychological depth.”
• Aesthetics: characterized by excess: extravagant song sequences, bright
colored costumes, shinny jeweler, expensive sets, hyperbolic gestures.
• Lack of Realism: Characters are over the top, fight scenes rarely look
realistic, story lines are generally “impleadable,” dream sequences are
frequent.
• Masala Films: Blending multiple genre conventions and elements
Realism VS Melodrama
• Melodrama: a form of drama characterized by sensationalism,
emotional intensity, hyperbole, strong action, violence,
rhetorical excess, moral polarities, good versus evil.
• Bollywood films are generally do not aspire to realism as a standard for
representation (Keep in mind this is only note worthy if one comes from a
context in which realism is the standard).
• Bollywood is the world of dreams, desire, emotion, and fantasy.
• Bright colors, highs and lows of emotion, and exteriorized drama convey the world as it
felt rather than what it might look like.
• In asking why Bollywood prioritizes melodrama over realism we could just as
easily ask why Western cinema prioritizes realism.
A “Brief” History of Bollywood
Silent Films
• 1913: Raja Harishchandra the first Indian film.
• 1920s: the first Bombay films were mythologies about Hindu gods
• During the era of silent films US films dominated the global markets
• 1931: The first talkie, Alma Ara was released. included song and dance
sequences
• Hindi sound cinema of the 1930s drew on popular urban theatre forms:
• Plots switch from religious/mythic to social dramas.
• heavy influence of music and melodrama
• Became the early form of Bollywood.
• Between 1927-1940 Indian films shown in India went from 20 to 40 precent.
1947: Indian Independence
and Partition
• After independence, Bombay cinema reached a wider
audience and started to address contemporary political,
economic, and social concerns (nationalist social
dramas)
• In the 1950s (the golden age of Bollywood) films
started to reflect the a more general culture of Indian
nationalism- Bollywood’s melodramatic plots about
Good Vs Evil worked well for the nationalist project
• Despite appeals to nationalism and family values,
Bollywood was classified as low brow, “popular”
entertainment.
Bollywood in the 1970s and 80s
• 1970s saw the advent of action in Bollywood films
• Pivoting away from nationalistic plots, films increasingly
focused on revenge and fight sequences. Featuring the trope of
the “angry young man” as the lead.
• While Art Cinema was appealing to middle class and elites,
action films appealed to the working poor- widening the class
gap while also leading to greater national appeal across India.
• By the mid 1970s India had become the largest producer of
films in the world (3rd in revenue)
• By the 1980s action achieved more of an equilibrium within
general Bollywood such that most melodramatic romance
stories incorporated some action sequences
Bollywood and Diaspora
• Periods of Indian Diaspora: 1940s, 1960s, and the
largest in the 1990s.
• Bollywood’s entrée into western markets and its return
to nationalist themes corresponded to unprecedent
numbers of Indians living abroad, or Non-Resident
Indians (NRI)
• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) helped establish
Bollywood movies in oversees markets and was
particularly embraced by NRI for its depiction of
migrated Indian communities.
• Dil Se.. (1998) initially performed poorly in India but
found major success internationally thanks to NRI
audiences. Became the first Hindi movie to appear on a
UK top ten list
• Studies have shown that since the 1990s Bollywood
films became a popular way of NRI parents to pass down
national identity and cultural values to their children.
• Both parents and children cite Bollywood as fostering a sense of national
identity and community, as well as romanticizing traditions and cultural values.
• Throughout the 2000’s protagonists in the diaspora or recently returning home
after living aboard become frequent tropes
• Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have further increased
Bollywood’s international popularity for both NRI and western audiences.
• As of 2012 Indians of the diaspora accounting for 65 % of Bollywood’s
earnings
Bollywood’s Impact on Western Popular
Culture
• Many film critics sight the global popularity of Bollywood films in the
early 2000s with the revitalization of American musical films in the
2000’s.
• Baz Lerman has affirmed that his musical Moulin Rouge! (2002) was
heavily inspired by Bollywood musical.
Moulin Rogue (2001)
• Moulin Rouge itself is credited with being
a catalyst for the popularity of musicals in the 2000s
• Musicals in the west waned in popularity after the 1960s, and were
relegated mostly to children’s entertainment between the 1980s and late
1990s, but experience a resurgence in 2000s.
• Musicals have often been seen as being at odds with the realism imperative
that’s driven western cinema since the 1960s. Bollywood’s influence on
Western movie musicals in the 21st century should be overlooked.
For Next Class:
• Watch: Chopra, Yash (Dir). Veer-Zaara. Yash Raj Films, 2004.
Homework
As you watch Veer-Zaara consider how the film either reflects or challenges the
conventions of Bollywood film:
• Plots: Narratives are formulaic and melodramatic. Plots are furthered by external
forces rather than character development. Romantic love and extended family
drama are frequent focal points.
• Built around elaborate song-and-dance sequences
• Characters: Generally, characters are depicted as “good” or “bad.”
• Melodramatic external presentation of emotion rather than “psychological depth.”
• Aesthetics: characterized by excess: extravagant song sequences, bright colored
costumes, shinny jeweler, expensive sets, hyperbolic gestures.
• Lack of Realism: Characters are over the top, fight scenes rarely look realistic,
story lines are generally “impleadable,” dream sequences are frequent.
• Masala Films: Blending multiple genre conventions and elements
• Also: Consider how Veer-Zaara depicts borders and boundaries and note any
scenes that provide especially strong examples
The 1960’s and Cultural Memory
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Stonewall
• The Black Panthers
• Woodstock
• Women’s Liberation
• The Occupation of Alcatraz
• The Anti-war movement (Vietnam)
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Gay Rights Movement (Gay Liberation
Movement)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• The American Indian Movement (AIM)
• Dennis Banks
• Marsha P. Johnson
Take a moment here and note which of the above groups, names or events you recognize and where you recall
first learning about these. I’ll add a survey to the end of this lecture.
Informal Tutorial Sessions
Schedule Change
Upcoming Sessions:
• Thursday March 6th from 2-3pm in ART 112
• Thursday March 27th from 2-3pm in ART 112
• Thursday April 10th from 2-3pm in ART 112
Rowan will send out another announcement if this changes. As always,
please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or topics you
would like to go over:
rpicka01@mail.ubc.ca
Jeremy Dutcher: Indigenous
Music in Popular Culture
CULT 100- Wednesday February 26, 2025
Key Terms
• Colonial Imaginary
• Modern Indigenous
Modern Indigenous
• Settler colonialism creates both a temporal and special boundary for Indigenous
Peoples, seeking to deny them a ‘contemporary (Vowel 2016).
• Beverly Diamond recalls the freshness of the phrase ‘modern Indigenous’ in the
early 2000s because it defined settler logics that require ‘authentic’ Indigeneity to
be unchanging
• Indigenous culture and identities are only seen as ‘authentic’ if they are frozen in
time, in the distant past, and confirm to white settler imagination of the past
(mythic, exotic, primitive)
• Freezing Indigenous culture at the moment of contact is ‘an enduring trope of
difference in the settler-colonial imaginary’ (Kowal 2015, 94)
Jeremy Dutcher
• a Wolastoqi (Maliseet) singer, pianist, and
composer from the Tobique First Nation in
New Brunswick.
• Studied voice and social anthropology at
Dalhousie University in Halifax
• His 2018 album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
earned him the Polaris Music Prize in 2018, a
prize which is awarded to the best full-length
Canadian album.
Music as Colonization
• The racialized, classist, and sexist foundations of Euro-American
classical music and its place in Canadian society remain unmarked and
unnamed,
• Core requirements in music theory and history typically unmarked as ‘music’
despite being specifically Euro-American classical music theory and history
• Canada’s formal music studies are even more closely tied to British music (Green
and Vogan 1991), evidence of the country’s colonial legacy.
• Euro-American classical music disciplines have overwhelmingly
constructed this genre as aesthetically superior over ‘primitive’ music's,
such as popular and non-European music
• A major tool of colonialization has been the destruction and erasure of
Indigenous cultural practices including music and dance
The Indianist Movement
• A movement in classical music in the United States between 1880s
and 1920s in which white American composers attempted to
incorporate elements of indigenous music into classical compositions.
• White artists collaborating with Indigenous musicians; these musicians
had agency in the creation and mediation of Indigenous music's to a
white dominant audience.
• Largely filled with stereotypes and fantasies, resulting in published
music whose meanings were largely Euro-American.
“Mehcinut” music video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pDRpDjrBZE
• Watch the music video one more time and consider how the setting
costumes, props, or movement might connect to any of the core
concepts from the reading or Monday’s recorded lecture (modern
indigenous, the colonial imingary, etc).
“Mehcinut”
• Opening moments of the video:
• The space/environment
• Dutcher’s clothing
Podcast Check-In
• Remember that your podcast must centre on analyzing a media text or texts (movie, tv
show, music video, etc.) rather than just reflecting broadly on a topic (“we’re going to talk
about fashion or sports generally”).
• I recommend reviewing the assignment overview this week to make sure your early
brainstorming sessions are moving you towards the assignment and its parameters.
• If you have an idea for a topic but you’re not sure how to connect it to a media text, please
ask me.
• If your group member is not here today, I’ve asked them to reach out to you over Canvas.
If you haven’t heard from your group member by the end of this week please email me and
I’ll do my best to connect you.
Podcast First Chat
• What interests and ideas do you have for the podcast assignment? What did you write on
your Statement of Interest
• Remember that your podcast must centre on analyzing a media text or texts (movie, tv
show, music video, etc.) rather than just reflecting broadly on a topic (“we’re going to talk
about fashion or sports generally”).
• Do you have any media texts (movies, tv shows) in mind?
• How would will communicate with each other outside of class (email, canvas, text etc.)
• Are there any particularly busy points in in the next five weeks that you want to flag now?
I’ve also posted a sample episode to Canvas (Assignment Info module) that I suggest you
listen to this week.
Podcast Groups:
please join the corresponding breakout room
Group 1
Gracie Williams
Danny Griffin
Group 4
Ramnit Nagra
Karmdeep Atwal
Group 2
Emily Veitch
Zoe Sheldon
Nash Lovegren
Group 5
Micah Maupas
Pratab Sidhu
Alec Corredor Cabana
Group 3
Rafaela Aigner de Oliveira
Evelyn Mamer
If you are doing the essay option, you may leave early.
I’ll have a similar essay “getting started” session in next week’s class
Indigenous Culture and
Activism in Popular Culture
CULT 100: Week 7, 2025
Key Terms
• Colonial Imaginary
• The Myth of Progress
• Trope: The Noble Savage
• The Counterculture Movement
History of Language Check in
• Indian- a now dated term referring to hundreds of distinct nations of
aboriginal people. Should be avoided in contemporary use as it tends
to represent colonial ways of labeling people. Does still show up in
historical and legal contexts.
• First-Nations, Aboriginal, Indigenous Peoples - more respectful collective terms for the
original inhabitants of North American and their ancestors.
• First-Nations emerged in the 1970s to replace the colonial term Indian
• Aboriginal became more common in the late 20th century.
• In the last decade many groups have emphasized Indigenous Peoples as a preferred term.
• It is also okay to ask questions about language and identity in this class.
Media Portrayals of
Indigenous Peoples
• Little in has changed in media representations of
Indigenous peoples since 1869
• “with respect to aboriginal peoples, the colonial imaginary has thrived,
even dominated, and continues to do so in mainstream English-language
newspapers” (Seeing Red, Anderson and Robertson)
• The Colonial Imaginary: the way in which Canada has created an
image of itself, based not so much on historical fact as on ideological
interpretation.
• A narrative intended to create a cohesive national identity
• Relies on an image of indigenous people as inherently inferior (lazy,
criminal, inferior, uncivilized)
The Myth of Progress
• The idea that progress is tied to the passage of time,
that things are always inevitably getting better.
• When Canadians consider the injustices faced by Indigenous peoples, those
injustices are nearly always located in the past (the “dark chapter of hour history”
narrative)
• Canadians who do recognize historical injustice often understand it in this way:
• Bad things happened (Distant Past).
• Bad things stopped happening and equality was achieved (Unspecified time between the distant
and recent past)
• The marginalized social and political status held by Indigenous peoples is now wholly based on
the choice to be corrupt, lazy, inefficient, and unsuited to the modern world.
Residential Schools
Timeline
• Based on the belief that separate children from families was the key to Eruo-Canadian assimilation.
• Focused on violently prohibiting any indigenous cultural practices, submission to Canadian colonial authority and training in
gender specific low paying work
• 1831 The Mohawk Institute (run by the Anglican Church) became the first Canadian residential school. Starts
admitting girls in 1834
• 1896 there are over forty Residential Schools across Canada
• 1920- Residential Schools become mandatory for every First Nations child between the ages of 7-16
• 1930- More than 80 institutions are in operation across Canada with an enrolment of over 17,000.
• 1966- Following the death of Charlie Wenjack a jury finds that Residential Schools cause tremendous emotional
and psychological problems. Recommend that “A study be made of the present Indian education”
• By 1977, 28 Residential Schools remain. Students from closed schools become displaced in the foster care system
• 1990- Phil Fontaine, Head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, speaks publicly of the abuse he suffered at a
Residential School. Calls for a public inquiry into the schools, which the federal government initiates in 1991
• 1996- The last federally-run facility, Gordon’s Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closes.
Indigenous Representation in
Popular Culture
• Early Representations of Indigenous Cultures and Peoples
tended to align with colonial narratives that viewed white settlers as heroic and
morally upstanding.
• “Indians” as villains in Western film and Television were common with little other
representation
Trope: The Novel Savage
• The trope of the “Nobel Savage” traces its origins back to
19th century romanticism. Depicts Indigenous peoples as
romantic/exotic in relation to the natural world, but still fundamentally
dehumanizing
• The trope has a resurgence in the 1960s because of counter culture’s desire to reject
mainstream cultural norms and an increase desire to connect with nature
• Again, this tropes tend to use simple cultural stereotypes that appeal to white
imaginations and desires rather than actual indigenous representation
Authentic Indigenous Stories in
Popular Culture
• Indigenous narratives that focus on the actual experience of
indigenous peoples remains rare in popular culture. Indigenous
characters show up in 0.5% of film and television production.
• Productions of note that represent indigenous folks include:
The 1960’s
The 1960’s and Cultural Memory
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Stonewall
• The Black Panthers
• Woodstock
• Women’s Liberation
• The Occupation of Alcatraz
• The Anti-war movement (Vietnam)
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Gay Rights Movement (Gay Liberation
Movement)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• The American Indian Movement (AIM)
• Dennis Banks
• Marsha P. Johnson
Take a moment here and note which of the above groups, names or events you recognize and where you recall
first learning about these. I’ll add a survey to the end of this lecture.
The 1960’s, Counterculture,
and Music
• The Beatnik movement gave way to hippie culture in music
(folk and rock) and poetry
• Mass culture in general started cultivated “youth culture” and turned to
edgier content to contrast the conservativism of the 1950s
• Anti-War movement became a galvanizing force for activism which
combined with other movements including: Civil Rights, Black Power,
Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, and the American Indian
Movement.
• Anti-War movement became a galvanizing force for
activism which combined with other movements including:
Civil Rights, Black Power, Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, and
the American Indian Movement.
• Music was central to activist culture and a symbol of social justice
consciousness that foregrounded issues of class, race, and gender
based inequality
AIM:
The American Indian Movement
1968, The American Indian Movement was formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• Inspired by the Black Panthers and was set up to address similar problems: police
harassment, racism and poverty.
• Had its strongest bases in urban settings, but quickly became known on large
reserves across the US and Canada.
• Best known AIM leaders were Russell Means, Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier.
1969 Occupation of Alcatraz
• Occupation began with just over 80 indigenous people on November 20, 1969. Due to
the high level of political consciousness that had developed by 1969, there was
tremendous solidarity with the occupation
• The native activists also drew in celebrities like Dick Gregory, Marlon Brando (who
refused his Oscar because of the federal government’s treatment of native people),
Johnny Cash and Buffy Sainte-Marie. The Alcatraz occupation lasted 19 months.
Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Born in 1941 and became a fixture of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the
1960s
• Early hits included “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” “Universal Soldier,” “My Country Tis
of Thy People are Dying”
• Connected with Folk, Anti-War movements but also vocal about indigenous rights and AIM
• Traveled to Saskatchewan in the early 1960s where she was adopted by a prominent Cree
family who welcomed her and immersed her
• In 2023 the CBC ran an expose that claimed to disprove Sainte-Marie’s claims to an
indigenous identity. The fallout has been deeply complicated, many indigenous communities
condemn the artist while others continue to support and defend her.
• Her adopted family still recognizing her a member of the Cree nation through naturalization
Jeremy Dutcher
• a Wolastoqi (Maliseet) singer, pianist, and
composer from the Tobique First Nation in
New Brunswick.
• Studied voice and social anthropology at
Dalhousie University in Halifax
• His 2018 album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
earned him the Polaris Music Prize in 2018, a
prize which is awarded to the best full-length
Canadian album.
Music as Colonization
• The racialized, classist, and sexist foundations of
Euro-American classical music and its place in
Canadian society remain unmarked and unnamed,
• Core requirements in music theory and history typically unmarked as ‘music’
despite being specifically Euro-American classical music theory and history
• Canada’s formal music studies are even more closely tied to British music (Green
and Vogan 1991), evidence of the country’s colonial legacy.
• Euro-American classical music disciplines have overwhelmingly
constructed this genre as aesthetically superior over ‘primitive’ music's,
such as popular and non-European music
• A major tool of colonialization has been the destruction and erasure of
Indigenous cultural practices including music and dance
Two-Spirit
• The term refers to the indigenous spiritual
concept of having 2 spirits, 1 male, and 1
female, in one body
• Chosen in 1994 at the Annual Native American
Gay and Lesbian Gathering in Winnipeg
• “an Indiginounsly-defined Pan-American term
that refers to the diversity of Aboriginal LGBTQ
identities as well as culturally specific nonbinary gender identities”
• It is used to refer to historical cultural traditions
that were erased by colonization.
• Two thirds of the over 200 indigenous languages spoken in north America were said to contain
terms for individuals who were neither men or women.
• Historically Two-Spirit people held specific community positions including: teachers, knowledge
keepers, healers, herbalists, child minders, spiritual leaders, interpreters, mediators, and artists
• Two-Spirit as language was created not just to express gender and sexuality but also to address the
colonial erasure of Aboriginal gender identities. Two-Spirit has a specific cultural context,
removing it from that context (e.g. white settlers using the term) is an act of colonialism
Language and Dutcher’s Music
• All of the songs on Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa are in
the Wolastoqey language, leaving listeners like myself uncertain about
the meaning of lyrics.
• Dutcher has explained the context behind some of the songs in
interviews, but he has not provided translations of the songs.
• ‘For me, to do this album in the language, totally in the language, and
not translate…that was very important to me.…To unabashedly share
our Indigeneity and not have to translate’. Such an approach resists the
colonial urge ‘to penetrate, to traverse, to know, to translate, to own and
exploit’ (Dutcher 2016).
Podcast Groups
For folks who selected the Podcast option, I have posted the
podcast groups to Canvas. For next class please make a note of
what group number you are and the names of your other group
members. I will give you some time in our zoom class later this
week to meet each other and chat.
If you cannot make this week’s zoom session and are part of a
podcast group, please contact your other group members via
the Canvas Inbox and make other arrangements to meet
virtually this week and discuss first step of the assignment.