AMERICA AND MOVIES: CONQUEST OF THE AMERICAS
AMH 3317 U01, (11549) Spring 2014, Mondays, 6:25-9:05 PM
Chemistry and Physics Building, Room 101
Dr. Francis Luca, lucaf@fiu.edu, Office Hours (DM 371A) 4:00-6:00 PM
www.lucahistory.org ; http://hollywoodandhistory.wordpress.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course in American History will look at the relationship between popular culture and history. We will
do so by viewing documentary and popular films about European and Native American contact, conflict,
and conquest in the Western Hemisphere. We will be examining cinematic interpretations of our past in
relation to other primary source evidence from the past and to the secondary source interpretations made
by contemporary historians. Students will view, deconstruct, and examine the film techniques and content
of a dozen films in order to learn how to become adept at critically analyzing them.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. To stimulate the students’ interest in history with primary and secondary source materials
2. To get students to think about the relationship between popular culture and history
3. To learn to distinguish between the artistic and propagandistic in film
4. To expose students to library, museum, and legitimate scholarly web resources
5. To improve students’ literary composition skills through the assignment of essays
6. To encourage students to "read" popular films with historical themes more critically, to assess their
historical accuracy, and to examine the methods by which filmmakers (like historians) craft their cinematic
interpretations of the past.
REQUIRED TEXT READINGS:
1. Lunenfeld, Marvin, ed. 1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter: Sources and Interpretations. Lexington,
Mass.: D.C. Heath and Company, 1991.
2. Seed, Patricia. Ceremonies of possession in Europe's conquest of the New World, 1492-1640. New
York: Cambridge University Press, c1995.
3. Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
4. Mancall, Peter C., Envisioning America: English Plans for the Colonization of North America, 15801640 (Bedford Series in History & Culture). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 1995.
REQUIRED BOOK EXCERPT READINGS (VIA CLASS WEBSITE):
1. Piper, Jim. Get the Picture: The Movie Lover’s Guide to Watching Films, 2nd ed. New York: Allworth
Press, 2008: “Shots” (Chapter 1): p. 3-27.
REQUIRED ARTICLE READINGS (VIA JSTOR)
1. Dickason, Olive Patricia. “Europeans and Amerindians: Some Comparative Aspects of Early Contact,”
Historical Papers / Communications historiques, 14:1, (1979): p. 182-202.
http://www.erudit.org/revue/hp/1979/v14/n1/030842ar.pdf
2. Yannakakis, Yanna, “Allies or Servants? The Journey of Indian Conquistadors in the "Lienzo of
Analco," Ethnohistory, 58:4, (Fall 2011): p. 653-682. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41343481
3. McCaa, Robert, “Spanish and Nahuatl Views on Smallpox and Demographic Catastrophe in Mexico,”
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 25:3 (Winter 1995): p. 397-431. http://www.jstor.org/stable/205693
4. Axtell, James, and James P. Ronda, "‘We Are Well As We Are’: An Indian Critique of SeventeenthCentury Christian Missions,”William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 34:1 (Jan., 1977): p. 66.82.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1922626
5. Axtell, James, “Some Thoughts on the Ethnohistory of Missions,” Ethnohistory, 29:1 (Winter, 1982),
p. 35-41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/481008
6. Anderson, Robert Nelson. "The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of a Maroon State in
Seventeenth-Century Brazil," Journal of Latin American Studies 28 (1996): 545-566.
Reading assignments get progressively shorter towards the end of the semester to allow students time to
prepare their final paper projects.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
To maximize our movie viewing and collective learning experience, the class as a whole will watch all of
the MANDATORY movies listed below, with the exception of volunteers who will view Alternative film(s)
and deliver a THREE MINUTE ORAL REPORT on their outside film assignment. Students should not
recount the entire plot; rather they should focus on how particular scenes, dialogue, character treatment,
or thematic concerns specifically relate to the topics covered in the assigned readings or class
discussions. Students may choose to bring in a memory stick to illustrate their argument with movie stills.
GRADING:
Class participation and oral presentations:
10%
Class attendance is mandatory as I will be providing additional information not necessarily covered in
the required readings. Students are expected not only to attend classes, but also to contribute
significantly to class discussions, expressing their ideas, asking questions, and otherwise advancing the
weekly topics under consideration. Each student is expected to participate actively in their own
education. What you say in class should reveal a sound understanding of the readings and other course
material. The quality of a student’s commentary and questions will carry more weight than the
quantity of times I see a student’s hand raised.
THREE ESSAYS (minimum 3 pages each):
60%
A quality essay will NOT simply retell the plot, but will have an argument (thesis) and make use of
cinematic evidence (specific film techniques, scenes, dialogue, background music) and make reference
to the assigned primary and secondary reading assignments to back up that interpretation.
FINAL ESSAY (6 WRITTEN pages of TEXT) HARDCOPY AND ELECTRONIC VERSION:
30%
Film stills harvested from the internet and used as evidence (rather than mere illustration) are
encouraged; images do not count in pagination however. This final essay due the last week of class
should be a quality essay drawn from the student’s oral class presentation of their alternative film
selection and/or other films views in class, assigned readings, and class discussions as they will be
uploaded onto a class website. The essay must make an argument about one or more films in relation
to themes brought up in class or in assigned readings. It should address the conflicting
interpretations of both Seed (Ceremonies of Possession) and Dickason ("Europeans and
Amerindians”), or test the theses of Restall (Seven Myths). You may choose to focus on a single
European colonizer or several, or on a native people’s response to the newcomers. You MUST, however,
also integrate PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS (documents drawn from assigned texts), OR FROM:
A. American Journeys: A Digital Library of Early American Exploration and Settlement
http://www.americanjourneys.org/texts.asp ; or
B. Internet Medieval Sourcebook http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1z.html ; or
C. Early Americas Digital Archive http://www.mith2.umd.edu/eada/search.php ; or
D. The Avalon Project http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/statech.asp
PLAGIARISM is a serious breach of the university honor code, and as such, will not be tolerated in the
least. Any paper that quotes or paraphrases the work of other authors or web sources without
properly citing sources of ideas and information WILL EARN THAT STUDENT AN AUTOMATIC
FAILING GRADE FOR THE COURSE AND MAY MERIT FURTHER DISCIPLINARY ACTION FOR
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT. Do not tempt fate by downloading other people’s work off the WEB.
MONDAY, JANUARY 6:
INTRODUCTION TO CLASS OBJECTIVES:
Review of the class syllabus and discussion of expectations for student participation and class
assignments. General discussion about the nature of the historical enterprise, research methods,
bibliographic and citation standards, electronic resources and other sources of information, etc.
Introduction to the concept of “visual literacy” and “image analysis” and an explication of some brief clips
to understand film techniques (panning, framing, up-angle close ups, dissolves, juxtaposition, and other
means of setting scenes, establishing character, etc.)
READ: Piper, “Shots,” from Get the Picture: The Movie Lover’s Guide to Watching Films, p. 3-27;
Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. ix-xix.
MONDAY, JANUARY 13:
THE ANCIENT “NEW WORLD”
CINEMATIC SCREENING 1:
AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS (2009)
ORAL REPORTS ON: In the Land of the War Canoes (1914); The Silent Enemy (1930); Kings of the
Sun (1963); Chac: The Rain God (1974); Lost Kingdom of the Maya (Doc., 1993); The Fast Runner
(2002); The Ancestors (Doc., Pt. one of 500 Nations (2004); Massacre Maya (Doc., 2005); The Incas
Remembered (Doc., 2005); Apocalypto (2006); Reign of the Jaguar (2009)
READ: Seed, Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640, p. vii15, 179-193; Dickason, "Europeans and Amerindians: Some Comparative Aspects of Early
Contact," p. 182-202; Mancall, ed. Envisioning America, p. iii-30.
MONDAY, JANUARY 20:
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY: NO CLASS MEETING
MONDAY, JANUARY 27:
MYTHS OF THE “DISCOVERER”
CINEMATIC SCREENING 2:
COLUMBUS (1923: Silent)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Christopher Columbus (1949); John Cabot: A Man of the Renaissance
(1964); Cristobal Colón (miniseries, 1985); 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992); Christopher
Columbus: the Discovery (1992); Great Adventurers: Christopher Columbus and the New World
(doc.); Columbus: The Last Voyage (2007)
READ: Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. 1-26; Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery,
Invasion, Encounter, p. 1-96, 309-354.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 3:
SOUTH AMERICAN ENCOUNTERS
CINEMATIC SCREENING 3:
HOW TASTY WAS MY LITTLE FRENCHMAN (1971)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Hans Staden (1999); Caramuru: A Invencao do Brasil (2001)
READ: Seed, Ceremonies of Possession, p. 41-68, 100-148; Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery,
Invasion, Encounter, p. 97-155, 245-254, 275-285.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10:
SPANISH “SOLDIERS” & INVISIBLE INDIAN ALLIES
CINEMATIC SCREENING 4:
ERÉNDIRA IKIKUNARI (2010)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Captain From Castile (1947); Hijos del Viento (Spanish, 2000); The Aztec
Empire (doc., 1997); Conquistadors (doc., 2001); Secrets of the Dead: Aztec Massacre (doc., 2008)
READ: Yannakakis, “Allies or Servants? The Journey of Indian Conquistadors in the "Lienzo of
Analco," Ethnohistory, 58:4, (Fall 2011): p. 653-682; Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish
Conquest, p. 27-43, 44-63; McCaa, “Spanish and Nahuatl Views on Smallpox and Demographic
Catastrophe in Mexico,” p. 397-431; Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter, p. 157174, 259-272, 289-303.
1ST ESSAY DUE TODAY (BASED ON CINEMATIC SCREENINGS 1-4)
CONSOLIDATING THE CORE CONQUESTS
CINEMATIC SCREENING 5:
THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN (1969)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Chilam Balam (1955); The Great Inca Rebellion (doc., 2007)
READ: Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. 77-99; Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery,
Invasion, Encounter, p. 174-182, 245-254.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17:
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24:
WINS & LOSSES ON THE COLONIAL FRINGES
CINEMATIC SCREENING 6:
EL DORADO (1988)
ORAL REPORTS ON: El Jardín de Tía Isabel (1971); Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972); De
Misteriosa Buenos Aires (1981); Orinoko: New World (1984); Cabeza de Vaca (1993); Great
Adventurers: Sir Francis Drake (doc.); Great Adventurers: Sir Walter Raleigh and the Orinoco
Disaster (doc.)
READ: Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. 100-130, 131-145, 147-157.
MONDAY, MARCH 3:
SPIRITUAL CONQUESTS
DOCUMENTARY SCREENING 7:
BLACK ROBE (1991)
ORAL REPORTS ON: La Virgen Morena (1942); Millions Call Him Father (1955); La Virgen de
Guadalupe (1976); Nuevo Mundo (Spanish, 1976); Anchieta José do Brasil (1977); The Mission
(1985); Jerico (1990); Blackrobe (1991); Kino: La Leyenda del Cura Negro (1993); La Otra
Conquista (1998)
READ: Axtell and Ronda, "‘We Are Well As We Are’: An Indian Critique of Seventeenth-Century
Christian Missions,”William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 34:1 (Jan., 1977): p. 66-82.; Axtell,
“Some Thoughts on the Ethnohistory of Missions,” Ethnohistory, 29:1 (Winter, 1982), p. 35-41;
Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter, p. 183-227, 303-308.
MONDAY, MARCH 10:
SPRING BREAK, NO CLASS MEETING THIS WEEK
2ND ESSAY DUE THIS DAY (BASED ON CINEMATIC SCREENINGS 5-7)
RESISTANCE IN THE PERIPHERIES
CINEMATIC SCREENING 8:
QUILOMBO (1984)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Ganga Zumba (1963); Ajuricaba, o, Rebelde da Amazonia (1977); Conquest
of America: Southwest, Southeast (doc., 2005); Conquest of America: Northeast (doc., 2005)
READ: Anderson, "The Quilombo of Palmares: a new overview of a maroon state in seventeenthcentury Brazil," p. 545-566; Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. 64-76.
MONDAY, MARCH 17:
MONDAY, MARCH 24:
LATE COMERS: THE ENGLISH IN “VIRGINIA”
CINEMATIC SCREENING 9:
THE NEW WORLD (2005)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953); In Search of: The Lost Colony
of Roanoke (doc., 1979); Disney’s Pocahontas (1995); Pocahontas: The Legend (1995);
Pocahontas: Ambassador of the New World (doc., 1995); The New World: Nightmare in
Jamestown (doc., 2006); Roanoke: The Lost Colony (2007); Pocahontas Revealed: Science
Examines an American Legend (doc., 2007)
READ: Lunenfeld, ed. 1492: Discovery, Invasion, Encounter, p. 229-244; Mancall, ed. Envisioning
America, p. 33-70; Seed, Ceremonies of Possession, p. 16-40.
MONDAY, MARCH 31:
MYTHS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW ENGLAND
CINEMATIC SCREENING 10:
SQUANTO: A WARRIOR’S TALE (1994)
ORAL REPORTS ON: Plymouth Adventure (1952); Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale (1994); Mystic
Voices: The Story of the Pequot War (2004); Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the
Mayflower (doc., 2006)
READ: Mancall, ed. Envisioning America, p. 71-126.
MONDAY, APRIL 7:
ENGLISH & NATIVE AMERICAN INTERACTION
CINEMATIC SCREENING 11:
THE SCARLET LETTER (1995)
ORAL REPORTS ON: King Philip’s War: the History & Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict
(doc., 1985); After the Mayflower (We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes, doc., 2009)
READ: Mancall, ed. Envisioning America, p. 127-175.
MONDAY, APRIL 14:
3RD ESSAY DUE THIS DAY
MONDAY, APRIL 21:
FINAL PAPERS DUE THIS DAY
(BASED ON CINEMATIC SCREENINGS 8-11)
COLUMBUS’ LEGACY, YESTERDAY & TODAY
CINEMATIC SCREENING 12:
EVEN THE RAIN (2010)
ORAL REPORT ON: Juicio de Martin Cortes (1974); Falsas Historias (1992); Thunderheart (1992);
Santo Luzbel (1997); Altiplano (2009)
READ: Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, p. 147-160.
(BASED ON ANY FILM FROM CLASS)
AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS (2009)
In the Land of the War Canoes (1914)
The Silent Enemy (1930)
Kings of the Sun (1963) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjkWGVq23lY
Chac: The Rain God (1974)
Lost Kingdom of the Maya (doc., 1993) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99foDilswZA
The Fast Runner (2002)
The Ancestors (Pt. one of 500 Nations, 2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02xJURubepI
Masacre Maya (Doc,. 2005) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1hqVXq1UEs (pts. 1-5)
The Incas Remembered (Doc., 2005)
Apocalypto (2006)
Reign of the Jaguar (2009)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (1923
Christopher Columbus (1949)
John Cabot: A Man of the Renaissance (1964)
http://www.medievalists.net/2009/10/30/john-cabot-a-man-of-the-renaissance/
Cristobal Colón (4½ hour miniseries, 1985)
Great Adventurers: Christopher Columbus and the New World (doc.)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
Columbus: The Last Voyage (Doc., 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GF2wuFi0o (1-10)
COMO ERA GOSTOSO O MEU FRANCES [How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman] (1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVoP4IxV10w
Caramuru: A Invencao do Brasil (2001)
Hans Staden (1999)
ERÉNDIRA IKIKUNARI (2010)
Captain From Castile (1947)
Hijos del Viento (Spanish, 2000) unavailable
The Aztec Empire (doc., 1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVYQWc01HxQ
Conquistadors (doc., 2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dVhgLVbbH4 (pts. 1-5)
Secrets of the Dead: Aztec Massacre (doc., 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYmVAZKmzHk (pts. 1-5)
THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN (1969)
Chilam Balam (1955)
The Great Inca Rebellion (doc., 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq_21QfGRpg
EL DORADO (1988)
El Jardin de Tia Isabel (Spanish, 1971)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (subtitled, 1972)
De la Misteriosa Buenos Aires (Spanish, 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfe-ezXQgOM
Orinoko: New World (1984)
Jerico (Spanish, 1990)
Great Adventurers: Sir Francis Drake (doc.)
Great Adventurers: Sir Walter Raleigh and the Orinoco Disaster (doc.)
Cabeza de Vaca (1993)
BLACKROBE (1991)
La Virgen Morena (Spanish, 1942)
La Virgen de Guadalupe (Spanish, 1976) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjfCb0tyZvo
Nuevo Mundo (Spanish, 1976) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra4DSK6RJg8 (pts. 1-9)
Anchieta José do Brasil (Portuguese, 1977) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2mOrUs31yU
The Mission (1985)
Blackrobe (1991)
La Controverse de Valladolid (French, Spanish subtitles, 1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWzOPRLJmwc
Kino: La Leyenda del Cura Negro (1993)
La Otra Conquista (1998)
QUILOMBO (1984)
Ganga Zumba (Portuguese, 1963)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhc1n-lJ6KE
Ajuricaba, o, Rebelde da Amazonia (Portuguese, 1977)
Conquest of America: Southwest, Southeast (doc., 2005)
Conquest of America: Northeast (doc., 2005)
THE NEW WORLD (2005)
Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953)
In Search of: The Lost Colony of Roanoke (doc., 1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84-uU2NQ1ao
Disney’s Pocahontas (1995)
Pocahontas: The Legend (1995)
Pocahontas: Ambassador of the New World (doc., 1995)
The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown (doc., 2006)
Roanoke: The Lost Colony (2007)
Pocahontas Revealed: Science Examines an American Legend (doc., 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6TRsiiy55w
SQUANTO: A WARRIOR’S TALE (1994)
Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War (doc., 2004)
Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower (doc., 2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv2W4Cqxuq8
THE SCARLET LETTER (1994)
King Philip’s War: History & Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict (doc., 1985)
After the Mayflower (We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes, doc., 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SJPVpi6FMI (pts. 1-10)
EVEN THE RAIN (2010)
Juicio de Martin Cortes (Spanish, 1974)
Falsas Historias (Portuguese, 1992) http://vimeo.com/35475937
Santo Luzbel (Spanish, 1997)
Altiplano (subtitled, 2009)