Italian American Literature and Film
SPRING 2017
Prof. Fabio Girelli-Carasi

LECTURE 2

ASSIGNMENT DUE   February 18

FILENAME:  your-last-name.feb18

Email subject: assignment february 18

ALL TASKS IN ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT

 

task 1:  Copy the following statement: "Late assignments and / or assignments that do not meet format requirements will not be graded."

 

task 2:   Type clear but short NOTES of the videos below:  1, 2, 3, 4
 
Task 3:   Research: in google, enter the following string:   <New Orleans 1891 italians lynching.>

Writing:
write a summary of the events in New Orleans 1891 IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Don't even think about lifting text from websites. A solid paragraph is enough but make sure you show you understood the dynamics of those events. Read more than one quick website.
 
task 4:  The "GREAT MIGRATION" of African Americans from the rural South to the industrialized North. 

Watch   "ONE WAY TICKET" and listen to "THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS"   TAKE NOTES   (scroll below)
 
task 5:  screening: Screen and TAKE NOTES      The Black Hand and Skyscrapers of New York.  (see below)

 
task 5  WRITING     This writing assignment IS NOT REQUIRED if you have received a SATISFACTORY GRADE in the previous assignment. 

YOU decide if your grade was satisfactory.  If you have received a good grade and still want to do this assignment, go ahead.

TOPIC:   Black Hand and Skyscrapers  are silent films, shot in the early 1900. 

After you combine together the cartoons and these two shorts, how are Italians being REPRESENTED? 

What is the dominant aspect of their character? Is there more than one?

Something to think about: 
Someone was REPRESENTING Italians in a negative way.
Obviously this is not how Italians would have represented themselves. They would not have emphasized certain characteristics.
Therefore, these images were not meant for an Italian audience.
What kind of public were these cartoons and shorts meant for? What was their purpose?

(For a quick comparison, think of the thousands of Western films produced by Hollywood, and the way Native Americans were REPRESENTED. Did Indians [native Americans use the term "Indian" regularly and don't consider it offensive, by the way] conceived those films? Were Indians the target audience for those movies? What was the ideology of those films? What message did they convey?]

writing: reflect on the message of cartoons and shorts WITH CLEAR EXAMPLES. What was the public being told about Italians?  (If you want you can compare today's media message: what are we being told by many sources about Mexican immigrants, Muslims, Black Lives Matter etc.?)

LECTURE 
Part 1

The Great Migrations 1

 

 

African Americans

and how they share in  the history of migration

 

ONE WAY TICKET

CLICK   MOMA INTERACTIVE EXHIBIT
 

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS

CLICK  audio

We will return to the importance of the African American experience in the re-definition of the "discourse" of equality and integration when we will read THE GODFATHER.

The Civil Rights Movement is at the core of the progressive interpretation -- and partially the success -- of Puzo's book.

  LECTURE
 Part 2

 THE GREAT MIGRATIONS

  Irish, Jewish, Italian 

 

 

 LECTURE
 Part 3

LOMBROSO

Where RACIST "scientific" theories come from

 

LOMBROSO the "father of criminology"

Theoretical criminology: Lombroso's theory of crime


FOR YOUR OWN THOUGHTS before you fall asleep

  • What are the BASIC ideas of Lombroso's theories?
  • How can we connect THE APE CARTOON TO LOMBROSO'S Theories?
  • Are today's studies into DNA and the brain going to bring us back to the same point?

 

 

WHAT IS PHRENOLOGY?

  part 4   

 

Let Leonardo DiCaprio tell you in DJANGO (clip from one of the most morally revolting films ever made)

 

This is what in those days passed as "SCIENCE"

screen THE BLACK HAND

 

screen THE SKYSCRAPERS OF NEW YORK

 

NOTES and BRIEF ANSWERS:  what kind of REPRESENTATION of Italians emerges from these two shorts? What is the main theme?

BLOG  and don't forget the polls
If you want to expand your personal knowledge about the political roots of anti-immigrant sentiment and politics in America, I prepared a short list of websites with basic information on the largest NATIVIST movements.

 

NATIVISM

links open in a new window

  • BEN FRANKLIN didn't like those Germans   
     

  • THE "KNOW-NOTHINGS" didn't like those Irish                
     

  • THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT didn't like those Chinese
     

  • ANTI SEMITISM IN AMERICA didn't like those Jews
     

  • THE ANTI-COMMUNIST "PALMER RAIDS" didn't like anarchists (especially Italians)
     

  • MCCARTHY'S WITCH HUNT didn't like communists (especially Jewish)

LINK

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LINK     and today?  

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