Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 11:54:21 +0800
From: Sue Abel <sabel-AT-po.pacific.net.sg>
Subject: Re: Sociology-Film


If anyone is teaching 'Mississippi Burning' as a positive exampleof the representation
of race, then they should also read Ella Shohat and Robert Stam's "Unthinking
Eurocentrism".  To quote from them:

'The veterans of the 1960s civil rights struggle are surely in aposition to critique
"Mississippi Burning" for turning the movement's historiccal enemy - the racist FBI
which harrassed and sabotages the movement - into the film's heroes, while turning the
historical heroes - the thousands of African-Americans who marched and braved beatings
and imprisonment and sometimes death - into the supporting cast, passive
victim-observers waiting for White rescue' (:178/179).

In fact, anyone teaching anything about the representation of race should read this
book.

Sue Abel

Luke Lindhjem wrote:

> Odul, here are some films I could think of off the top of my head for some
> of the subfields you mentioned...
>         -Marxist Sociology:  The Battleship Potemkin, directed by Sergei
> Eisenstein...the entire film is based on Marxist philosophy.  There is no
> emphasis on the individual and lots of emphasis on the whole, the people.
> What else...religion is put in a negative light...it follows Marx pretty
> closely and gives you a good idea of what's going on in Russia at the time
> (1925).
>         Another film which might fit is Citizen Kane...this was shown during a
> class I took called The Modern World where we studied Marxism and
> capitalism for the most part.   It shows the rise and fall of the central
> character...a result of capitalistic greed, I suppose.  Gaining the world
> but losing your soul type theme.  Both of these two films are generally
> acknowledged as two of the ten best films of all time...so they're worth
> watching.
>
>         -Sociology of Deviance and Crime:  Let's see...I am a Fugitive from a
> Chain Gang (1932) is something I saw recently in my Film History class.
> It's well done and the main character is a sympathetic one.  He's back from
> WWI and feels like he needs more out of life so he leaves home and ends up
> in prison for something he's innocent of...some parallels between the army
> and prison.  Then there's Shawshank Redemption, which is one of my favorite
> movies of all time.  Again, the main character is innocent of his crime and
> uses his mind and his patience to escape.
>
>         -Feminist Sociology:  The Piano (1993) was shown in one of my Humanities
> classes a couple of years ago.  The topic of the class was pretty much
> feminism, even though that wasn't the class description.  The director is
> female (Jane Campion), and it's a really well done film set in the 1800s?
> about a New Zealand pioneer who mail-orders a bride type thing.  She
> consoles herself with her piano...an interesting film...definitely fits the
> category
>
>         -Sociology of Nationalism:  some propoganda films here would be good.  The
> Eternal Jew done by Franz? Hipler is pure German propoganda...scary stuff.
> Then there's the counter to that, American propoganda: the Why We Fight
> series directed by Frank Capra...an attempt to inform and motivate American
> soldiers
>
>         -Sociology of Urbanization:  the film I first thought of was
> Koyaanisquasti (sp?).  It's a really well done montage film which uses time
> lapse cinematography.  There's no dialogue and no actors.  The title means
> "life out of balance"...a Hopi Indian term.  Um, it was produced by Francis
> Ford Coppola, but it's very difficult to find, at least here in old Va.
> Not your run-of-the-mill film, but I really respect it.
>         If you're looking for something more "normal," try Crocodile Dundee.
>         Oh, and then there's The Gods Must Be Crazy...I guess that fits more under
> the geographical area category.  It's a comedy about a rare African culture
> (the one that uses that clicking language...can't remember what it's
> called).  hilarious.
>         Well that's all I could think of off the top of my head...hope it helps.
> I'd actually like to have the job of going out and watching films that fit
> your categories (I know that sounds weird, but I love film, what can I
> say).  Good luck
>         Oh, one more.  For Race and Ethnicity check out Missippi Burning with Gene
> Hackman...good film.
> Luke
> <llindhje-AT-vt.edu>
>
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