Monthly Archives: July 2017

What do you know about French rap from the 1990’s? MC Solaar, one of the most notorious French rappers, provides his own interpretation of the Western style film in his song Nouveau Western from 1994. In it he compares the common themes and characters, bandits and Indians, gun manufacturers and the setting of westerns with the world he lives in. While at the same time, he lays out his own definition of post-western film, Neil Campbell brings up similar points in his critique of early westerns and how they evolved with a changing American West.

The film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the clearest example of this transition according to Campbell and I agree. Viewers of the film will think they are in a Western as the classic Western situations come up. However, the failure of the pioneers in a foreign land, the ultimately fruitless exploitation of the land and the death and mental fragility of the lead actor indicates that this film was making a stronger and more controversial point than its predecessors.

MC Solaar argues in his song that Hollywood deceives us and that the US exports its beliefs around the world while dictating what is good and bad. Throughout the song Solaar is indicating that the western image of America still applies today. To him, he is a part of it, living in the concrete version of a desert but struggling with his own issues. As Campbell notes, imagining the western film in new light means considering how 1940’s and 50’s America was not the same as the images portrayed in westerns. Gone were the days of  entrepreneurial, settler culture. Instead, “the culture and political landscape was urban, multi-racial and globalized, juxtaposing traditional forms of life with an ever changing, contingent experience.” This is where both John Huston and Solaar find their inspiration. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a display of competing images of the individual and the community, greed against temperance and asks moral questions such as justifications for murder. The American West was maturing, industrializing in the post war era and the history of the region was began to be understood differently.

Campbell repeatedly uses the transition of Western film from ‘movement’ driven to ‘time’ driven as an argument for proof of post-western film style. The ruins, the ‘Norther’ wind and Hobb’s dramatic death at the hands of Gold Hat, show the inability to bury the past and influence time has on landscapes. As MC Solaar demonstrates, the imagery and themes of a western are timeless and still relevant today. They can be transported across the world and across languages. Cowboys on horseback with revolvers will forever be an icon of Hollywood and America. Nevertheless, the genre continues to evolve and challenge new social issues and more recently explaining history with more accuracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSG2qHBm7WM

First, I would love to see today’s films portray cultures correctly and not utilize the differences one culture sees in another to the advantage of the creator of the content. It is also problematic that today’s films showing people from outside North America continue to fail to represent the ‘other’ correctly. Nevertheless, I will purposefully cater my response to be more surface level, based off my emotional response and a simple historical consideration of an American film about a place which at the time, was a lot farther than it is today.

Brazil in 1930 was a country still struggling with oligarchies, extreme economic inequality separating classes and regions, a weakened economy due to the depression and reliance on export products which were highly vulnerable in the changing world economy. Brazil was close to major structural and industrial reform. But as Flying Down to Rio highlights, there was a thriving upper class that could live a lavish life comparable to American extravagance.

Swanson’s article mentions the similarities between the upper classes of both countries. The article also highlights all of the ways in which the film, by using music, dance, racial differences, romance and technology is “an assertion of Northern supremacy” … and “reasserts social hierarchies.” Without delving into the highly analyzed aspects of film, I believe that creating a film about another culture, showing the good sides of the culture, representing it in a way that does not make them look blatantly foolish can aid in the process of cultural acceptance and tolerance, and in the long term, lead to more equality. Brazil in this film looks fun, dramatic and beautiful. I bet viewers wanted to visit this place and left the theater having a better (though highly unrepresentative of the reality), image of the country. The audience was America in 1933— during the middle of the depression. It was not a university professor in the UK in 2010. Also of consideration is Swanson’s point that this film was made before the Good Neighbor policy, which pushed for a more unified hemisphere. The film therefore was not as influenced by the political and economic agenda as Down Argentine Way. The image I chose for this article came up when I googled ‘Brazil 1933.’ It is a rural primary school and a better representation of what Brazil was like. 1930’s Hollywood, could not make a film about this.

I am glad that today we are able to have this conversation. Film such as these, the sexism, racism and assertion of assumed North American superiority has led to many current problems in our view of Latin America and the many different cultures both there and around the world. For this, we need scholars like Swanson and we need to educate and discuss our common misconceptions. At times, I like to watch movies and think about these issues. When it came to Flying Down to Rio however, I could not help but enjoy the representation of Brazil, a country I have studied, visited and have many friends from. Brazil is no doubt a sexy, passionate place. No Brazilian would deny this. The problem arises when the image that foreigners possess of Brazil is shaped only through images that represent small portions of the population.

A pencil moustache, the long cape, a black mask and hat. In the hundred years that his image has inspired movie goers, Zorro has changed very little. Along with that, the messages and themes have stayed consistent with each new Zorro film and TV show.  

It all started in 1920 with the Douglas Fairbanks film The Mark of Zorro. Spanish for ‘fox,’ Zorro, the swashbuckling hero slies his way around his village making fools out of ill-willed noblemen and the unjust authority. Zorro’s objective is simple: do good for the people who need help. But what role does the Zorro’s other half Don Diego Vega play?

Vega stands in the middle of the moral spectrum. This contrast forces Zorro to fight not only Juan Ramon but also Don Diego. Vega’s personal agenda does not push for moral goodness. He is no romantic and not physically or emotionally driven. It is too simple to just assume that the nature of Vega’s character is a disguise so that the other characters do not believe that he is Zorro. Vega represents the contempt that everyone feels with themself. Zorro fights injustice, greed, and as the opening credits say, “Oppression.” But he also fights the people in society who take no action at all. Zorro’s character is much more appealing and exciting because he wants action and want to protect people. He even desires the girl. Behind all of this is the fact that Zorro wants what is morally right. Vega’s indolence is not just unappealing; it is morally wrong. In the end, what appears to be Vega the victor, is really Zorro without the cape.

While watching the film I struggled to place a date on when the story took place. The characters wore old clothes and lived in old homes. Even in 1920, Zorro was a ‘time period’ film. It took place one hundred years in the past. However, the time is not the focus of the film.  And just like the irrelevance of the period when the film takes place, when it comes to the role of Mexico, New Spain, or Latin America, the physical setting of Zorro is secondary to the importance of its message. It is less about the ‘exoticism’ that America views toward Latin America. More important are social messages about equality and injustice, greed and oppression. The issues that Zorro faces are timeless social problems. 1920’s America saw a great divide in social and economic classes. Zorro was fighting these problems then, and he still is now.