LAS 470 Homework and Reflections

We have said in this class that every decision made in film is intentional, from casting, to costumes, to the individual choices actors make, and the ones that their directors and producers impose upon them. Therefore, when a theme is repeated in a film, it should receive extra attention. Let’s explore the casting decisions first, beginning with the infamous protagonist, Tony Montana. First, why cast Al Pacino? He’s an Italian-American, and Tony Montana is Cuban. As far as I’m aware, Al Pacino has no connection to Cubano culture; his main acting shtick is as an Italian mob man, so they likely casted him as Montana to emphasize connection to organized crime, since he is a drug kingpin. This plays right into the contemporary political narratives, such as the war on drugs and the persistent race tensions following the Mariel boat-lift, which brought some of the first non-white Cuban exiles.  However, as O’Brien points out in her analysis, Pacino’s “ridiculous accent” and his “brown...

 The case study of Chile provides interesting analysis of Latin American consumption in media. Historically, media’s influence in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the coup of Pinochet is undeniable, illuminating the voracious desire for colonial consumption by the US and the willingness of the Chilean elite to welcome it. No newspaper was more influential than El Mercurio . This newspaper, according to the Pinochet file, had direct ties to the exploits of Kissinger and the CIA in its efforts to negatively propagandize Allende and bring about his overthrow. In this way, the consumption of Latin America, by readers of El Mercurio  both domestically and abroad, was skewed and biased toward US interests. The New York Times article chronicles the blatant denial of human rights abuses during the Pinochet regime, which are now widely known and documented. I was surprised by the acknowledgement of the connection of the Edwards family to the NYT, and I appreciated the transparency...

The film The Three Caballeros  provides an interesting take on early 1900s conceptions of Latin America, and Latin Americans. Almost all of the "neighbors" were the idealized conception of Latin Americans from the "American" (meaning United States citizen/resident) point of view. They were attractive, fit, mestizo and dressed in traditional clothes that mainly the wealthy could afford. These conceptions were meant to portray a sense of opulence in Latin America that would make it attractive to United States investment, both economically, culturally, and familially. None of the actresses represented indigenous culture, it was all Spanish roots. Americans consume,, traditionally and currently, only the best of Latin America: from the best land, to the best food, to the best women, to the best culture (best being the most similar and understandable without empathy), etc. Therefore, idealized conceptions of Latin America increase the desire, particularly in white, wealt...

Galeano 156-65: Galeano reflects on the power of petroleum as “a magnet for foreign capital” and a tool for economic exploitation by the global north in Latin America. He notes the power of oil companies to intervene in politics, including but not limited to coups, wars, and controlling the monopoly of violence through financial corruption of the military. Economically, the US enjoys a “ten to one” profit ratio compared to Latin America, such that every “$11 that the derivatives ... sell for, countries exporting ... get a sum total of $1 from taxes and extraction costs.” If this isn’t exploitation, I’m not sure what is. Further, this system wasn’t in place until “the United States became a net importer and the cartel began applying a new policy.” This “odd inversion of the ‘laws of the market’” as Galeano calls it, is a morally indefensible but economically justifiable paradox that disproportionately benefits the United States at the expense of primary product producers in countries...

Fitzcarraldo Reflection **This post was written on 1/26, but I forgot to publish it.** I'll start this post by stating that I'm no film expert or critic, so I don't envision this being the most refined analysis. My impression of Fitzcarraldo is a mix of confusion, frustration and respect for the nature in which dynamics of implicit prejudice on the basis of race, culture, and national origin were considered in depth. Here are some examples for reflection: I saw shots of natives throughout the film with little clothes on. Most of the men didn't wear shirts, the first being the man at the beginning of the film right as they returned home from the initial opera scene. There was another shot of a woman breastfeeding that reminded me of the picture we observed in class of the encounter with the woman in the hammock. This picture floated in and out of my mind as a unit of analysis for the film as a whole, since, in the painting, the Europeans arrived on ships and at firs...