An introduction to major aspects of Brazilian culture, history, politics,race,religion, popular culture and social movements through short texts and films. Course materials begin with the two major modernist movements of the 1920s and 30s and move to very contemporary concerns of representation of "Brazilianess." A major point of the class is to see how cultural debates in Brazil are often carried out through a dialogue that crosses historical
periods and representational "genres" (ex: the film, "Macunaíma" (1969) with Mário de Andrade's 1928 novel). Some questions of representation raised throughout the course are: ideologies of national, regional and racial identities; documenting social, economic and political
issues ("retirantes" and migration; urban violence, poverty and race); aesthetics of representation (Cinema, TV Globo and urban violence and rural mythologies, issues of "commodification" of poverty, etc. Ex: Paulo Lins, Cidade de Deus film). The basic texts for the course all have corresponding visual presentations, the idea is to think how film, documentary "translate" these texts. |
