The spunk of Judith Helfand

This week's unit was centered around a fantastically courageous woman named Judith Helfand. I had first seen/heard of this woman while attending the Citizen Jane Film Festival. She was both a guest and a panelist. My first impression was "man, this woman is really hard core." I didn't know the half of it. Our class watched the film Blue Vinyl and it was then that I realized just how truly persistent she is. I gained a lot of respect for her this week and enjoyed what she's created so far:)

Our blog this week is not only to talk about Judith Helfand and Blue Vinyl, to also visit other sites that she may be associated with as well. I looked up the eight sites we were given earlier on this blog and decided to comment on each one.

BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM

The thing that really pulled me in when clicking onto the Barber of Birmungham site was the wonderful photographs. The photo seen is an adorable elderly black man fixing his tie. This intrigued me enough to go straight to the trailer.

The worse thing a man can do is nothing." That is a quote from the main character in the trailer. All the walls of his barber shop have pictures of people that have "done something." I realized how this was connected to this weeks unit when the trailer went on with the text "Chicken and Egg Pictures presents." The film seems like an incredibly inspiring story. What's more inspiring to a filmmaker than two woman going out and creating a film?

BLUE VINYL OFFICIAL SITE

Ahhhh, the Blue Vinyl site. I was really curious to see what this site would have. Would it have details of her argument with her parents about vinyl? Options to help defeat the companies that use pvc? What?

It was an interestingly simple site for the mass amount of work that was involved in actually creating the film. I kind of wish there was a trailer because the text was a little overwhelming and I feel if I knew nothing of the movie I would be turned off by the site. If there was a trailer I think more people would be intrigued.

MY HOUSE IS YOUR HOUSE

I actually visited all of these sites out of the order that was originally typed up. This site was the last site I visited and I found that parts of the other sites were mixed into this one as well. I saw the picture of the beads that were on Judith's site, the Sam Suds cartoon from the pvc site, and even the logo that is found throughout the working films site.

I flipped through all of the tabs and found a lot of text. Much like the Blue Vinyl site, I wished there pictures or videos to stimulate interest. There was, however, an easily found list that stated the dangers of PVC.

• Cancer
• Endometriosis
• Neurological damage
• Immune system damage
• Respiratory problems
• Liver and kidney failure
• Birth defects

-http://www.myhouseisyourhouse.org/

BLUE VINYL AND WORKING FILMS

Working Films primary goal is to create films that make an impact. I could tell just by looking at the statement on their "about us" page:

"Working Films linking nonfiction film to cutting edge activism.

Working Films leverages the power of storytelling through documentary film to advance struggles for social, economic, and environmental justice, human and civil rights. With offices in the U.S. and London, we offer consultation, strategic planning for alternative distribution, website and social media development, and complete campaign management services to filmmakers to ensure the content of nonfiction media truly meets the intention for change.

Additionally, we support the communication needs of nonprofit organizations and others working for social change, providing media strategy and access to our dynamic portfolio of film-based resources that can extend the reach to, and engagement of, supporters, opinion leaders, decision makers, and other key audiences critical in advancing the issues that matter most. "

-workingfilms.org

This site was completely stuffed full of films and projects associated. Here are a list of topics that are present.

• Economic Justice
• Environmental Justice (Blue Vinyl was listed here)
• Gender and Sexuality
• Global issues
• Health and Ability
• Human Rights
• Race and Ethnicity

This would be such an interesting organization to work for. Not only because it would mean taking part in trying to create change, but also because I could see all the passionate filmmakers that want to make a difference in the world. I have a feeling I could spend all day going through the film titles and watching the trailers.

PVC: THE POISON PLASTIC

The first thing I did when going on the pvcfree site was watch the little cartoon. I thought it was clever. Having been in the film department and learning about the film noir style made me appreciate the quirky little cartoon. The thing that astonished me was that pvc was in so many things? The list that Sam Suds holds up has things like shampoo bottles on it!

When clicking the 'home' tab I found that Toys R' Us uses pvc plastic. AHHH!!! It is interesting that something so dangerous is casually chewed on by our kids without any of us really being aware. The funny thing is that after looking at this site I went all around my boyfriend's apartment and looked on the bottom of every plastic product to see if I would find the disastrous 3. Thankfully, I didn't find any, but I will be a lot more casual when shopping from now on.

Toys r us

looked at all my plastics afterwards for a 3

JUDITH HELFAND'S SITE

I went to www.judithhelfand.com and saw many pictures that I recognized from the film Blue Vinyl. There was the bead necklaces with bits of the vinyl that covered her home. There was a picture of her parents making the necklaces. I don't think that the site had been updated lately because the latest in the news feed was about a mother's day broadcast that took place in 2007. It was at this site that I saw that Judith's dad had died.

I went through all the sections of the site; films, news, workshops&speaking engagements, collaborations, bio, blog, and contact. I found the "films" section the most interesting because it was there that I was able to see the other issues she focused on when making films.

There were five of her films listed. The Uprising of '34(1995(, Everything's Cool(2007), EK Velt: At the end of the World(2004), Blue Vinyl(2002), and A Healthy Baby Girl (1997). Her topics are the dangers of PVC, global warming, cotton mill strike, and her family/personal experience with cancer. I found the idea of A Healthy Baby Girl the most interesting because it is a video diary shot over five years. It would be interesting to go deep into her life to see what events made her the strong woman she is today.

CHICKEN AND EGG

I actually looked at this site first because I've been hearing so much about it lately. I went to the "business of film" panel and Judith was one of the members there. I wish I had been able to see her work and know her background before the panel because I think I would have beeb able to appreciate the panel more as well as ask better questions.

Moving on... I liked the mission statement on the website so I decided to add it to the blog for those of you who forgot or haven't seen it can refresh.

"Chicken & Egg Pictures is a hybrid film fund and non-profit production company dedicated to supporting women filmmakers who are as passionate about the craft of storytelling as they are about the social justice, environmental and human rights issues they’re embracing, translating and exploring on film.

We match strategically timed financial support with rigorous, respectful and dynamic mentorship, creative collaboration and community-building to nurture women filmmakers whose diverse voices represent a range of lived experience and realities that have the power to change the world as we know it."

-http://www.chickeneggpics.org/

There was a video on the home page that had some examples of films associated with Chicken and egg. After each clip there were statements to how each film effected society. I wanted to watch all of them! These are the examples of films that were on the homepage.

• Lioness- America's first generation of female combat veterans
• 34x25x36- The perfect body/ideal woman
• Freechild- A detective fights for her right to leave her pension to the woman she loved

After watching the homepage clip I went on to look at the other films associated with Chicken and Egg pictures. The first film to catch my eye (big surprise) was Orgasm inc.

I had heard of this film, but had never seen the trailer. I cozied up in the big black office chair and clicked play. The film sounded fascinating. Orgasm Inc. is about the marketing campaigns that all advertise in assisting women to orgasm.

This was a very fascinating web search. I actually kind of liked it more than the usual packets we get. Not only because we save trees, but because it's fun to branch off and search for the topics I found interesting as well as having the ability to fully see the visual images and watch the trailers.

Until next week!

Reflections on Trans-Cinema Night

Finally! All of Emily's and my work paid off on Wednesday night at the "Trans-Cinema Night" event we threw in Charters auditorium. If you need a reminder of what this event entailed (or gave up on reading my EXTREMELY long 'play by play' plan) here's what happened.

We all gathered in cheer to watch the film TransAmeria and then proceeded to have a casual Q&A with special guests Hannah Swopes- Queer Straight Alliance Founder, Sarah- a transwoman, Luke- a transman, Scout- a transman, Christie- a transwoman, and Emily and I facilitated.

The film seemed to effect the audience greatly. We heard many giggles and gasps from the audience. Why did we choose to screen TransAmerica? Emily and I chose this film not only because it had a trans character or because we actually had the movie, we chose this film because it is one of the most widely known films that depict someone who is trans. This wide distribution of a depiction effects the trans-society greatly in the fact that it creates pre-concieved notions that may or may not be true.

The discussion: All of our panelists were WONDERFUL! I felt like all the guests were proud to be there and tell their stories. Even though we had a small audience of 10-15 people I felt that the quality was far greater than any quantity I could hope for. I wanted the Q&A to be comfortable and casual, mainly because this subject is still pretty sensitive. I wanted the environment to feel safe, without fear of asking or responding to any questions.

I have a pretty good memory, alas I cannot remember every detail of the topics discussed. Instead, however, I will create a bullet list of all the fascinating subjects we conversed.

• The stereotypes or pre-concieved notions created when films attempt to have a trans character.
• The p's involved with trans characters in cinema: pathetic, psychotic, prostitute.
• How trans were depicted in earlier films (serial killers and prostitutes) and the slight broadening of their roles now.
• There was a trans character in Two and a Half Men?
• The experience of growing up feeling as one gender and being forced to be another.
• Family/society reactions to their behaviors when growing up.
• Family/society reactions to their 'transitions.'
• Support groups.
• Living as a trans.
• The abundance of medical bills due to hormones, counseling, and surgery.
• It is required to have various letters written by counselors in order to receive hormones or surgery.
• Being a trans-parent.
• Being a gay trans.
• Relationships with previous spouses (parents of the children) after transitioning.
• Pronouns.

I hope everyone learned a lot. I personally was enraptured by every moment and felt inspired by every individual on the panel:)

Screened in class today (4/4)

The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Fairy Tales and Future Fiction

In Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, a young girl named Ofelia moves to the country to live with her cruel stepfather in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. In the woods around her new home, she discovers an ancient labyrinth inhabited by strange creatures, and she learns that she is the reincarnated Princess of the Underworld. She must complete three tasks in order to take the throne, and all the while she must survive her sadistic stepfather.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is set in a futuristic London society where the human race has become infertile and humanity is on the brink of extinction. A man named Theo becomes caught up in a race to save a miraculously pregnant young girl named Kee, fighting harsh immigration laws, terrorist groups, and government organizations.

I find it fascinating that Cuarón and del Toro are such close friends, because these two films, though containing entirely different subject matter, are incredibly similar. Both films are about dystopian societies, though Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the past and Children of Men is set in the future. Both of the directors have Catholic backgrounds, according to Lynn Hirschberg’s article “Directors Without Borders,” and this is visible in both of the films. Children of Men is full of religious symbolism, the most prominent being Kee representing the Mary-figure and her child representing the Christ-figure. Del Toro says in Hirschberg’s article, “I try to take all that’s beautiful about religion—free will, virtue, nobility—and apply it to life. Ultimately, my films are about characters trying to access some kind of spiritual realm on earth.” Ofelia creates the idea of the underworld to escape from the horrors and tragedies of her reality, and she relies on the idea of her father (her “real” father, the King of the Underworld) saving her. And (*SPOILER ALERT!!!*) when she dies at the end of the film, she is transported into her ideal world, becoming the princess she believes she is meant to be and reuniting with her mother and father; this world is her own personal Heaven.

The religious aspect of Pan’s Labyrinth is disputed in Katje Richstatter’s “Two Dystopian Movies…and their Visions of Hope.” The article discusses the characterizations of humans into good, evil, and innocents, but goes on to say that religion is on the side of evil in this film. This statement is in reference to the fact that there are several priests present at the Captain’s dinner party. The article then says that Ofelia’s redemption lies in the world of magic and pagan gods. My opinion is that the themes in Pan’s Labyrinth are pro-religion, not anti-religion. Even though there is magic and fantastical creatures involved, it is similar to The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis; there is magic and fantastical creatures in that series, but the overall theme of the series is Christian-based, with the God-figure represented by Aslan the Lion. The God-figure in Pan’s Labyrinth (again, my opinion) is the King of the Underworld, the man who Ofelia believes is her real father (if she is indeed the reincarnated princess). I see the King as the God-figure because he is powerful and seemingly unreachable, yet he loves his daughter unconditionally and welcomes her home with open arms at the end of the film, despite the fact that she strayed so far from him.

The endings of both films are similar in the way of ambiguity; after watching both films, I was and still am unable to decide if the endings were happy or sad. I think that was the intention by the directors, so that the audience could interpret whichever way they wanted. It could also be that they were trying to preserve the realism; Cuarón especially tried to make Children of Men as realistic as possible, choosing a more documentary feel, using very little lighting and manipulating it so that it appeared to come from natural sources on screen, and shooting long takes in mostly wide shot to keep the audience captivated. There is no real explanation about the endings of the films, which would normally be unsatisfying; an audience typically wants a closed, definite ending. However, Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth are both such intriguing, intense films that the endings of both seem very appropriate. Richstatter’s article also mentioned that both films “are dark but not despondent.” I agree with this statement; even though the films are very intense, dramatic, tragic, suspenseful, etc. there is always an element of hope present. In Children of Men, the hope lies with Kee and her baby, and with Theo getting the two of them to safety. In Pan’s Labyrinth it is the idea that Ofelia will complete her tasks and become princess, escaping her hellish life. The point is, no matter how bleak things may look, there is never an instance of “all is lost,” even at the end of the films when (*SPOILER ALERT!!!!*) Ofelia is killed and Theo is (possibly?) killed. We know that Ofelia has made it to her palace, and that Kee has made it to her sanctuary.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed both films. I have seen Children of Men multiple times, and it is one of my favorite films. This was my first viewing of Pan’s Labyrinth, and once I watched it and then read the articles, I was not in the least bit surprised that the two directors are such close friends. The films have so much in common, despite telling completely different stories.

Memorable Moments:
These are just a couple of things I wanted to make mention of but couldn’t fit in anywhere else.

• Anthony Lane in his article “Under the Volcano” refers to Captain Vidal as “an immaculate sadist.” I love this description; it suits the character perfectly. I thought this myself as I was watching the film, though in many more words than the ones Lane used to sum up the character. Captain Vidal spent however long brutally torturing the captured rebel and washed the blood from his hands off in the rain, and not a hair was out of place. Brilliant description.

• In the New York Times article, Alejandro González Iñárritu is quoted as saying, “Good directors don’t answer questions with their work. They generate debate and create discussion.” I completely agree with this statement. I love watching a film, then leaving the theater or room or wherever and immediately launching into a discussion of the film. I love when the people I’m with get a different read on the film than I did, and therefore have different opinions of it. Sometimes I think a film can and should be made in response to a question that the filmmaker is curious about, but since there are usually so many answers to every question, I think the result is much better if the film asks questions instead of answers them.

• I also want to point out the color schemes of both films. The colors in each are very muted, using greys, greens, blues, etc. The only bright colors are explosions and blood. This is true in both films. I love these color schemes because they make the blood more vibrant, more shocking. It’s always sort of a shock to my system when I see the bright red of the blood against such a muted backdrop, and it makes that moment in the film all that more intense and meaningful.
New Terminology:

Dystopian: [dystopia] an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad (opposite of utopia)

Flagellants: people who subject themselves or others to flogging, either as a religious discipline or for sexual gratification

Aegis: the protection, backing, or support of a particular person or organization

Eldritch: weird and sinister or ghostly

Despondent: in low spirits from loss of hope or courage

Scumbled: [scumble] modify by applying a very thin coat of opaque paint to give a softer or duller effect (I can see how this word fits in context to these films, though obviously not with paint)

Obsequies: funeral rites

Myopic: nearsightedness; lack of imagination, foresight, or intellectual insight

Macabre: disturbing and horrifying because of involvement with or depiction of death or injury

Insularity: ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or people outside one’s own experiences

Apparatchik: (derogatory/humorous) an official in a large organization, typically a political one

Eschatological: the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul of humankind

The ignition of cultural change in the film Moolaade

Trailer


The ritual of female genital mutilation is a rite of passage for young women, marking their movement from childhood to womanhood. Unfortunately, its effects are extremely problematic, from decreased sexual pleasure to extreme pain during sexual intercourse, infertility and making it hard for vaginal births to take place; up to and including actual death from factors including blood loss or infections caused from improperly sanitized knives. The practice grows out of the usual patriarchal ideas about guarding women's sexual purity. If one makes sex painful, then women are less likely to go out and seek it outside of community prescribed norms, which are usually marriage. Several years before Moolaade begins, Colle Ardo Gallo Sy, the second wife of a respected village memebr, Cire, lost two children and had to have a Cesarean section in order to birth her daughter Amasatou. She decides then that she will not allow Amasatou to be mutilated in order to spare her the problems that she has gone through. Her husband is fond of her, and so backs her decision. Although the ritual is a prerequisite for adulthood and marriage, Amasatou still catches the eye of the heir to the village throne Ibrahima, and is engaged to be married to him. One might surmise that the villagers decided to let the situation be, considering the circumstances and the fact that Amasatou is the only person who has been opted out of the practice.

Amasatou, however, is a threat to the social order, because she is a symbol of a possible different way. And so it is that a few days before Amasatou's fiancee is due home from working in France, six little girls escape their appointment with the knives of the Salindana, four of whom ask Colle for sanctuary. Colle decides to give it, and invokes Moolaade (magical protection). By placing the symbolic rope across the compound, the Salindana, (the ceremonial group of women in charge of the rite) are unable to get the girls, and so they are safe...as long as they do not cross the rope. Moolaade lasts for the duration of the circumcision rite, and so if the girls manage to stay inside, they will be safe from the rite for the next seven years, when it comes around again. The other two girls drown themselves in a village well in order to avoid the rite. Colle is now in complete rebellion against community mores and values, and thus there are consequences. The Salindana petition the community elders, who authorize increasingly harsh measures to break her rebellion. Amasatou's engagement to Ibrahima is broken, the radios of all the village women are taken away and piled up for burning in the village square because the elders think that Colle's rebellion was inspired by the radio programmes. Colle refuses to break, aided by her powerful older sister-wife. Therefore, Amath, Colle's brother-in-law, exercises his power as elder brother over Colle's husband Cire and goads him into whipping her, and Colle defies this too, and get most of the village women on her side. The whipping is then interrupted by itinerant trader Mercenaire, and he is murdered by a mob of village men for his pains.

As Colle recovers from her wounds, she is made aware of one more tragedy. One of the mothers managed of the children seeking sanctuary lured her daughter out and took her to fulfill the rite. The child died. Colle, backed by the grieving mother and the rest of the annoyed village women, defy the village elders and the Salinada and declares the practice of female genital mutilation ended in their society. Her remorseful husband and Ibrahima join the rebellion by telling the village council to shove it and deciding to marry Amasatou, respectively, and the film ends triumphantly with the celebration of the women. The circumcision knives are burnt in the same fires that are consuming the village women's radios.


The supplemental texts for the most part focus on the extraordinary activist filmmaker behind the story, Sengalese director Ousame Sembene. Unfortunately, most of the articles were published on the occasion of his death in 2008. Nevertheless, a portrait of the man emerges from the remembrances, which might help to contextualize the film. Mr. Semebene was born poor, and proceeded to embark on a lifelong journey of self-education. Contact with the working world through a series of manual jobs informed his politics and he proceeded to become an advocate of social justice for the marginalized. He turned to writing as a form of activism, and his output included novels and short stories. He decided to try film in the 1960s as a way of reaching more of the masses, since illiteracy necessarily limited the number of people his words could reach, and thus he went to Russia for a year to learn how to make them. Then he decided to make said films using Africa's indigenous languages of instead of the colonial European languages that were imposed upon them. Mr. Semebene critiqued the problems that both colonialism and traditional beliefs caused and thus he annoyed both Europeans and African governments in equal measure. Mr. Semebene was a firm disciple of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, and he continued to advocate for the marginalized until he died. His significance to the people who miss him however, is not only rooted in his work. Who he was while doing this work, that is, the fact that he was a politically aware Senegalese man, advocating from a position of intimate knowledge of both colonialism and tradition made his artistic choices authentic and thus a needed bulwark against a long, ignoble and continuing tradition of problematic Western storytelling and activism about Africa.

How Not to Write About Africa - Binyavanga Wainaina - narrated by Djimon Hounsou


Two articles mention the film itself. The new Yorker's article is a brief review, that somehow seems to come to the conclusion that romantic love was the kicker to the rebellion. It does however defend the film as "politically sophisticated" and takes note of the fact that the film portrays the reasoning behind local customs, instead of branding them as archaic and barbaric as so many Westerners and Westernized minds tend to do. The much more in-depth analysis by the absolutely wonderful magazine Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, compares Moolaade to his earlier film Faat Kine, and explains in detail how each film's disrupts of the standard Western portrayal of African Muslim women as victims in need of rescue from a barbaric culture that continues to stultify international discourse. Indeed, the films bring very clearly to the fore that African Muslim women can bring to life indigenous feminisms, womanisms and women's rights activism using material that is culturally-based in order to improve life on their own terms.

As I read through the material there were a couple of questions that I had:

1. What kind of distribution did this film in Senegal and was the film shown in other countries in Africa? Was it ever shown in the village in which it was made, Djerisso in Burkina Faso? And what did they think of it?

2. I noticed that the film brought in a total of $434,553 worldwide, half of which was in the USA. The widest release was 4 theatres, and I am going to guess that those theatres were in New York. Too often, films like this play in elite art movie theatres to those in the know and then disappear, while many of those who would respond to the message are left out in the cold. Many Jamaicans watch Nollywood films, for example, and I am sure that there would be interest in more film from various African nations. What would it take to market the films to more diverse audience who do not know that stuff like this is available?

3. Where are the actors now?

4. What more can we do to support the production of stories about African told by Africans so as to complicate the largely ignorant and stereotypical view that prevails in Western discourse in Africa.

5. How can we support the growth of film industries that is needed for the above goal to be achieved?


Interesting points for discussion include:

1. Comparing and contrasting Hollywood story telling as represented by Hotel Rwanda with Moolaade.

2. The clash between a mainstream view on the part of Westerners that Islam is not able to birth women's rights; and the fact Colle was able to dispute the village elders' claims that female genital mutilation was Muslim tradition by pointing to a iman's sermon she had heard on the radio denouncing the practice as unIslamic.

3. The use of cinema as a tool of activism, especially as a way to reach people who are illiterate.

4. The well-rounded portrayal of women characters in the film.

5. The different ways in which dissidence to the prevailing social order can be expressed depending on one's culture.

6. The clash between Western women's rights activists and African women's rights activists.

7. The complicated politics surrounding the campaign against female genital mutilation. For instance the fact that traditional ideas are sometimes used as a backlash against colonialization and continuing oppression of various forms, thereby making it harder to eradicate the practice.


Since the texts did a great job in analyzing the gender issues in the movie, I wanted to make a quick note about the them of cultural change via internal and external means that under-girded the narrative. Culture is not static. It changes, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly but it changes. Sometimes the change is wholesale and that is usually a result of overwhelming outside forces like globalization and climate change. Sometimes the change is less severe and the culture drops some parts and incorporates new parts into itself. One of the things I noted in Moolaade was the village was undergoing cultural change from many directions. Firstly, the villagers were becoming used to the continued introduction of industrial goods like plastic pans and radios and shoes and white bread brought in from France via the itinerant vendor Mercenaire. It was interesting to see the credit system being applied to the cope with the sudden want of all this new stuff, and to see the chief's son Ibrahima working in France in order to bring home money and even more modern things to the village. Village culture was being changed as all of a sudden people like Amastsou suddenly needed a whole lot of new things for her wedding from Mercenaire, whereas without him, she would have been fine with whatever it was that people used to celebrate weddings in times past.

In addition to this, new ideas and confirmation for ideas that people like Colle were thinking were starting to percolate among the people. And even if they were not paying much attention to the ideas, the habit of listening to the radio had taken hold. I am very sure that with the introduction of television via Ibrahima, village habits and ideas were on the brink of changing even more. So I understand the elders surprise and dismay when they found themselves facing the fight against the circumcision rites.

Yet, this is not the first time that serious cultural change had taken over the village. After all, Islam is not native to the continent of Africa. And the concept of Moolaade is definitely not Islamic. And the elders met several times right in front of the mosque and the symbol of Moolaade, and one of them even told the story of the ritual and why it was that with the coming of the Islam, the villagers chose not to throw away all of their older faiths. The parallels are obvious. Imagine the feelings of the village government at the time when Islam came, and how they probably looked askance at this new threat to established power structures.

Cultures will change, but I like that fact that in this story of an African village, the inhabitants are the ones driving the change, as opposed to the recent history of globalization and colonization and other things leading the whole scale decimation of cultures. Hopefully as they go into the future, they will be able to synthesize the changes to produce something that continues to serve them well. It is unfortunate that Mercenaire's and that child's lives, as well as Colle's whipping and sexual punishment were the prices to be paid.



Dialectician - A philosopher who thins about the world in opposites.

Semiotics - The study of signs and symbols

Reductive - to diminish or make smaller

Homework!

We will focus on Judith Helfand and her recent work... Specifically, we will watch BLUE VINYL and BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM. Please be sure to research Judith, her work, and the issues involved. At minimum, you are required to visit the sites below and mine them for information and ideas.
Thank you, Polina

Barber of Birmingham: http://barberofbirmingham.com/

Blue Vinyl official site: http://www.bluevinyl.org/

My House is Your House: http://www.myhouseisyourhouse.org/

Working Films: http://workingfilms.org

Blue Vinyl @ Working Films: http://workingfilms.org/display.php?modin=50&uid=10

PVC: The Poison Plastic: http://www.pvcfree.org/

Judith Helfand's site: http://www.judithhelfand.com/

Chicken and Egg: http://www.chickeneggpics.org/

Men Cannot Have Children

Film: Children of Men

Word: Altruism: Merriam-Webster Definition: unselfish regard of or devotion to the welfare of others.

Summary: Children of Men is a film based on the 1992 novel by P.D. James. The film is set in 2027 future England after the collapse of the world and the annihilation of the human race is becoming more and more present. The film starts off with us following Theo (Clive Owen) on a coffee shop disinterested in the sudden news of the death of the youngest person alive, being 18 years old. We start with violence, gritty violence, from an anonymous and random bombing at the coffee shop, to the train where people are throwing objects at the windows, we see the cages “fugies” or refugees are being kept in awaiting their melancholy fate. Theo is a character who seems to be disaffected by the current police state of Britain, who we later find out was once a political activists and still participates in the alternative by visiting a pot smoking Michael Cane, where we learn more about the current state. Theo is later picked up by the “fishies” led by his ex-wife to help find them papers for a girl he is to then travel with, he has no idea what this mission is for but to help his ex-wife and possible find some hope or meaning in his mundane sad life. Theo finds out this girl he is to travel with, Kee, is pregnant, something that has not been possible from the female race for the past 20 years. Theo then decides to help Kee get the “Human Project” a mythical group of people that are to help preserve the human race. This film is gritty, violent, and beautiful. It leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat up to the end. It is shot in a majority of continuous shots – one of the most powerful is during the “uprising” and escape of Theo and Kee to the coast. This film is filled with political and biblical comparisons and illusions, one of the most memorable is that of Kee being the Mother Mary carrying a “Baby Jesus” in a manager- a scene when Theo finds out Kee is pregnant.

The Director Alfanso Cuaron used only natural lighting or made the lighting look as if it were coming from a singular or natural source. This adds a effect to the film that would not have been achieved with the use of traditional lighting techniques. Cuaron also used a film that would allow for the image to not be so heavily affected by the lighting choices he had. In the article “Humanity’s Last Hope” Emamanuel Lubezki talks about his techniques that were used in Children of Men. One of Lubezki’s comments about the long shots was very interesting to me he states, “We did the movie in long shots to try to get the audience to feel they are there.” I felt that he achieved this well. Being one of the things I noticed when watched the film, I felt as if the camera movements and position added itself to making the view feel as if they were a part of it. One of the most influential and greatest scenes was in the last 30 minuets or so when it is a continuous shot through the camp when Kee and Clive Owen’s character, Theo, are attempting their escape. you can tell in one part that there was a small cut, which the blood was wiped off the lens but it still continued in a way that made it seem as if it were a continuous shot. To me this was really powerful and a made a large impact on my reception and love for the movie.

Onto the more political side of the film, Children of Men looks at what the world has become in 2027, with waste, fear, and how women are responsible for the continuation of the human race. This movie focused heavily on the women’s role in society as far as being responsible for human existence. There is nothing to say that women are the cause for infertility and there are billboards all around the state “Avoiding fertility tests is a crime”, but the importance put on Kee, the carrier of the new world baby is so great that it seems as if women are the “key” to finding how infertility happened and how to change it.

Another topic that is faced and very violently is the treatment of immigrants in the now police state of Britain. In this film the world has fallen and “Britain still soldiers on”, with that the patrol is up and refuges that have migrated from their countries to find sanctuary are corralled and almost handled in a Nazi holocaust way, being kept in large crates awaiting transportation to the nearest “camp” that seem to be destroyed cities that are now the cities in which these immigrants are to stay. In the Article “What If…?” Blake states “ Vigilantes patrol our borders in the southwest and the Justice Department launches coordinated raids on meat-packing plants to round up hundreds of undocumented aliens living productively in our country for years.” And continues with a look at the current situation of how borders are controlled how nations have huge gaps between rich and poor and how Children of Men doesn’t seem that far fetched. That was something that I was curious about in watching, is why does Britian the current world super power at this point not open its gates to help the immigrants that clearly have no where else to go. If the world is going to end in a matter of a few decades then what is the point of keep other countries and people out?