January 2021 – LAST201 Blog MS99

January 26, 2021

Week 3: The Pongo’s Dream

At its heart The Pongo’s dream, a story about a mistreated and humiliated worker and an abusive landowner who is told of what could await him in the afterlife.

The story incorporates themes of anti-colonialism and class relations in a striking manner, and when reading about the author who adapted it from Quechua, this should come as no surprise.

Arguedas is an anthropologist, who possibly knows firsthand the treatment of indigenous people through his life in Peru, and is an individual who fought for the preservation of indigenous culture as well.

The story is adapted and taken from a Cuzco peasant lends it credibility in the sense that it might give us an insight as to what living conditions were like for so many indigenous Peruvians during colonial rule. The story has a very anti-colonial and anti-imperialist message, showing the landowner who refers to the worker as an ‘Indian’ and treats them all with abuse, but especially the pongo worker who is the most destitute. The worker who endures all the abuse and never lashes out violently, tells the landowner and the other workers about his dream. A dream in which through divine order, the unfortunate worker who in this life is smeared in dirt and excrement and the landowner covered in honey find their fates reversed int the afterlife. Having the story end at that very point emphasizes the point of the story, the spirit of opposition to tyranny and rule.

The story also carries implications of class relations, by having the worker and landowner having their fates reversed in an instant, a common theme seen in the revolutions that have taken place in many Latin American countries.

For me, this story raises the political questions of class relations and revolutions. What can we understand about the conditions of the working class and indigenous populations in colonial nations? and what were the forms of backlash and revolution against colonial rule in Latin America?

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021

Week 2: Latin American Postage Stamps

Something as small and ordinary as a postage stamp isn’t what would typically come to mind I think of popular culture. But looking at Child’s article made really made me reflect upon what the purpose of a stamp is, apart from the obvious, as well as what they might say about the nation by which it is produced and the effect it might have on the ordinary person.

If we think of popular culture as the ordinary, the accessible, and the emotional, and especially the overlooked, stamps seem to fit the bill quite well. They are a part of daily life that is overlooked, yet I think most of us remember using them when we were children, and we remember the faces or things that were on them with eerie accuracy. This makes me think of why it is that they were decorated in such specific and illustrious ways. Child mentions the use of stamps by the state, and it can be seen as a vehicle for the state ideology.

Stamps seem to be used by the state as a reminder or documentation of what is and what should be held in regard by the populace, and by placing this bit of ideology on something as ordinary as a stamp I believe it serves as attempting to fit that ideology into popular culture.

The examples given by Child are good examples of figures or events that are regarded as popular culture. The Cuban revolution is an example of an event that is to be celebrated and glorified. And figures such as Che Guevara who was featured in an Argentinean stamp, the country of his birth being a reminder of the fact that Che was born Argentinean. Thinking more cynically we can look at the Guatemalan stamp that claims Belize, which can be seen as an attempt by the state to popularize an opinion on the dispute to the general public.

Looking at these examples had made me appreciate the nuances that exist when looking at popular culture. Stamps, on the one hand, could be an appreciation of recognition of popular culture from the ordinary people themselves, at the same time, it can also be seen as a state-sponsored ideology being imposed upon the public, attempting to slide into the popular culture.

What other forms of popular culture do you think are influenced by the state, are there any certain beliefs of facets of popular culture that we may think to be completely bottom-up but in fact not really so?

January 14, 2021January 20, 2021

Week 1: Thoughts on Black orpheus

The first thing that jumped out to me when watching black Orpheus was the title sequence breaking into the Brazilians dancing. This abrupt and loud transition is something that I haven’t really seen that many times in a movie. It seems like the movie is trying to tell us from the very beginning what it is and what it isn’t. And what it isn’t is a conventional telling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

When the camera followed the carnival parade through the rural parts of the country, it really seemed to signify a common cultural moment for everyone in the village, something they all knew about and could relate to. This was further built upon when there were similar celebrations in the city, where everyone was in on the celebration. What seemed to be an escape from everyday life or a momentary pause brought to them through cultural means.

As Eurydice went on into the city the most striking thing for me was how all the locals knew she was from out of town, as though her not expressly dancing in the carnival and not taking part in the cultural event was a clear indicator of her being foreign. And of course, it’s striking to see the gender relations borne out in the first 11 minutes as she is constantly receiving attention from men. Quite a string difference would be that between Eurydice and Mira, the two female characters we are introduced to. Eurydice being naive and soft-spoken, something that’s shown in a positive light, and Mira is quite brash and confident in her looks which we sense to be a negative trait in women especially.