ITALIAN AMERICAN CULTURE, FILM AND LITERATURE

Prof. Fabio Girelli-Carasi
LEGENDA      YELLOW HIGHLIGHT: REQUIRED

                      BLUE HIGHLIGHT: STRONGLY RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED

DUE THU  MARCH 5

BLOG  REQUIRED

WARNING  NEXT QUIZ MARCH 10  All materials assigned are going to be tested.
Question: why is it important to keep in mind that the experiences of hardship of immigrants, pale in comparison to the history of African Americans? Why was (and is)  the road to integration so full of obstacles for African Americans?

The NYTimes is running a long series of articles in a special section named "The 1619 Project"  (click HERE).
 SCREENING   Open Lecture Feb 27 (from the homepage).

Screen the 3 Lumière Brothers shorts.
Reminder: the TRAIN short is the most terrifying film ever shown to an audience. You can confirm it, by doing a quick google search about its history.

Screen The Birth of a Nation. Do a quick google search about this film, and how influential it was in shaping public opinion and giving impetus to the Jim Crow era (and if you don't know what Jim Crow was, that is a gap you want to fill as soon as possible.)

Question: the issue of VOTING, which was central to the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s, appears both in THE ITALIAN and THE BIRTH OF A NATION. What are your considerations about the respective representation?

Question: in class I talked about the issue of language and personal identity (reference to SON OF ITALY).
The issue of voting is central to the notion of COLLECTIVE IDENTITY.
By not being allowed to vote, minorities are told "You are not one of us." YOU DO NOT BELONG TO OUR HISTORY. YOU WILL NOT BE WRITTEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

The first is a method to erase cultural/tribal belonging. The second is a method of exclusion and segregation into a state of NON-CITIZENSHIP.
(I suggest a quick search on DREAD SCOTT, Supreme Court case, 1857. Also, in what year did Native Americans became American citizens?)

Question:  in class I mentioned the representation of Italians as cowards, with no "militaristic values," unwilling to fight "like real men," "lacking courage."
We can find the same kind of representation for African Americans in THE BIRTH. The implicit assumption is that 'those people' are "not like us," unworthy of the ethos of the country, deserving contempt.

LUMIERE FACTORY

LUMIERE TRAIN

LUMIERE COMEDY

THE BIRTH OF A NATION

 

 

Alabama blocked a man from voting because he owed $4