Aguila o sol

Hoy fue la primera vez que miré una película en español, entonces veremos cuanto entendí. La historia fue relativalmente simple. Esta película tiene aspectos tipícos de una comedia musical. Cosas tragícas, como un bebe abandonado, es horible. No hay un proceso compleja cuando el hombre que no han visto su padre por muchos años le encontra. No hay confusion, preguntas, o dudo, solamente alegría. Pero los connotaciones de estos eventos no sean importante, solo el evento.
Las tres personas crecían en un asilo de monjas – pero se escapían cuando sean niños. Sin embargo, pueden trabajar mucho y tener éxito en sus vidas como artistas. Tal vez es una relexíon de la vida en Mexíco en la epoca de los años 30s; sí una persona tiene recursos y puede trabajar con estos, puede tener exíto. Tal vez, es la verdad en todo los países. Es difícil de decir cual aspectos de la película reflejan “Mexíco”…especialmente en 1938. ¿Se ven personas en Mexíco en los personajes del filmo? No soy suficiente familiar con Mexíco para preguntar es

Una otra pregunta que tiene sobre la historia es, ¿porque el padre de hijo quiere encontrarlo después de abandonarlo?

El artículo sobre los cinemas en Mexíco destaca la historia del cinema en Mexíco. Pienso que es interestante que haya diferencias entre las clases de la sociedad y los cines. No realizó que es tan importante de pensar sobre la audiencia.

Normalmente, no me gusta películas tan viejas, pero pienso que Aguila o sol es divertida. Porque es una historia muy simple, pienso que es posible de pensar a los procesos de la sociedad que están representados, porque están tan general que pueden aplicar a la vida de toda la audiencia.

Aguila o Sol

La pelicula Aguila o Sol fue estrenada en el ano de 1937, el cual pertence a la llamada edad de oro del cine Mexicano. Algunos elementos mencionadoes por Noble sobre el cine mexicano de esta epoca se evidencian en la pelicula. Por ejemplo, la importancia simbolica de las mujeres, la apelacion a la identidad mexicana y las diferencias sociales entre los mexicanos.

Adriana representa la mujer perfecta. Ellas es buena, bonita y fiel a sus sentimientos. Como discutimos en clase ella mantiene el orden. Ademas ella es el centro de atencion en la pelicula por su carisma y su talento. Es interesante que muchas de las canciones revelan diferentes aspectos de mexico, hay una cancion folklorica, una mas tropical (el cabaret), hay tango, hay bolero y hay un poco de flamenco. Me parece que la condicion humilde de los protagonistas forma parte del intento del director por acercarse a la audiencia mexicana de clase media.

En general me parece que el objetivo principal de esta pelicula es entretener y que lo mas importante son los segmentos donde se presenta la musica, el baile y el teatro. Me parece interesante que la pelicula trate de representar algo que podria verse individualmente como los skits de los dos amigos. Lei un poco en internet acerca del fil y encontre que aguila o sol traduce al ingles “tails or heads” y que los apellidos de Polito y Carmelo eran Sol y Aguila respectivamente. Me parecio interesante porque solo en el sueno vi la exclusion que la particula o implica, entre los dos amigos. Siempre estuvieron juntos y asi permanecioron hasta el fin de la pelicula.

What is Culture?

Trying to define culture can be a very hard task because I guess nobody really knows what it is. Everybody has a different definition for culture and so to come up with a precise definition of culture would be someting very difficult. From the first reading by Williams I liked how he said that culture is “ordinary” and that it is everywhere and not only in museums or teashops or elite schools or as being part only of high education. Culture is ordinary. Everybody has a different definition to what culture is.

I liked more the second reading as it was more about anthropology. Last semester I took a class about anthropology in Latin America and we were taught how anthropologists would go there and do their research, some of them already with preconceived notions which were mostly negative, some labelling these cultures as “primitve” ones. Also I got to see how this anthropologists had a role in shaping outsiders views about these cultures and how they can help these cultures in their different struggles. Anyway, what I liked most about this reading was Keesing’s radical alterity notion. I would agree with Jean Sebastien when he said that most people ditinguishes themselves from others in order to find the uniqueness of their own culture. When I go on trips and later come back I can’t help but to compare and think of the differences that I or my culture has with others. I guess it’s just natural for us to do this.

Who is Carolina?

Hi, My name is Carolina. I am a third year Biochemistry major. I am an international student from Colombia. I am really not sure about what I want to do with my life becuase I really like science and literature and I have not been able to find a way to do both. I am really exited about this course and I hope to learn something.

Span404 Intro/test

Hi everyone,
My name is Max, I’m a third year student doing a double major in geography and spanish. I’ve never taken a film course before, so I’m looking forward to this class to expand my horizon.

I grew up in Montreal, lived in Toronto and finished high school in Philadelphia, and now live in Vancouver.

Last comments

When i decided to take this class i did not know i would enjoy it so much, the readings were all enjoyable (except for marti) but all the reading were unique, the one i enjoyed the most was sandra cisnieros. Being a immigrant from a Latin American country i was able to relate and understand a lot of the stories and also compare how different it is for different people the experience of immigrating to a new country. this class has made me think more of my own experience and and how i have reacted. I really liked this class 🙂

Who would have thought it would end with a body to remember with

As a Language major, the number of English literature classes I can take is limited and I already took them all last year! I am glad that this course did not fall under the same category. I enjoyed being in this class!

Who Would Have Thought It? almost scared me away but I ended up writing about it for Wikipedia and reading a lot of the critiques gave me a sense of appreciation of Ruiz de Burton’s work. Sometimes, when I edit the article on Wikipedia, I feel somewhat of an anonymity that I think Ruiz de Burton initially wanted. Maria Ruiz de Burton would use Mrs. Henry S. Burton in the publication of her books and we use different names to sign into Wikipedia.

As I was writing on the book’s portrayal of religion and how it was used to distinguish Lola from the Irish Catholics, I realized that Alvarez too finds the need to distinguish the girls from the Irish population. Although this course is about Chicana identity, reading the novels gave me a sense of an overall immigrant experience.

There seems to be a lot of motivation for immigration as well such as the constant renegotiation of the demarcation of borders in Who Would Have Thought It? the harvest in … y no se lo trago la tierra, political motivations in El Puente de Brooklyn, marriage in Woman Hollering Creek and Pinochet’s dictatorship in and a Body to Remember With

I think it was such a treat to have Carmen Rodriguez come and talk about and a Body to remember with and share her insights on why a writer chooses to write a work of fiction instead of an autobiography.

Bordes, Bastards, Conversaciones and Criticism

It has a been a jolly good run, and I think that this class was the most intriguing and hands-on I’ve experienced at this institute of humanitarian holiness. The debates were heated, the participants were enthusiastic, and the relatively unswingable Swingspace began to oscillate like an overweight Cuban in a hammock! From the eloquence of Burton to the bloodiness of Cisneros, we experienced an array of literature that evoked every emotion from boredom to borderline insanity.

The wikipedia project was one of special importance to me, for I have used the tool before so in such a self-centered fashion that it felt only necessary that I give back to the community, even though the GA reviewers can be pretentious, but they damn well should, those selfless cats.

The class became increasingly sexy during our discussions in Spanish, where the language rebounded off the walls in a way I hadn’t experienced before in my dreary grammatical Spanish classes in the past.

Latin America now is given a new life in my eyes, as before it was almost just an area on the map, but now I’m able to comprehend the difficulties and the beauty of life there. Most of all, I’m impressed with the intellect with our class, everyone raised interesting points and shared points of view that contrasted with everyone else’s, and I’m grateful to have experienced a class where participation is encouraged rather than discouraged, which often times it is.

Identity was covered in great detail, from so many perspectives that I myself am confused as to what I am, except a white male born in Canada. In a way, I’m envious of Latino strong sense of being something, or even having a struggle in deciding what they are.

Conclusions and Thoughts

Ah! term is almost done!

Although I was a little skeptical at first, I really enjoyed this class (only skeptical because i’m a spanish major and i expected to read/hear more spanish). But! it turns out that chicano literature is very interesting and not necessarily written in spanish. Ultimately I thought it was very appropriate that we speak in spanish when the book was written in spanish and english when in english.
The novels were well-chosen and none were tedious to say, although the Martí readings were a little difficult to get through because of his use of colloquial language. 
In-class discussion was always exciting and was impressed that the majority of the class participated. i think that this was facilitated by three things. One, that we were given sufficient time to read the books. two, that the online blogs forced us to do the readings on-time and develop our own opinions prior to class. and three, that jon presented ideas and questions that always got us talking or thinking.
It was so refreshing to read contemporary novels; so many of the spanish major prerequisites focus on ancient spanish literature. 
This class had a different format than any other class i have taken. The weekly online blogs, commenting and wikipedia contributions made the class modern. It was at times frustrating and confusing and other times new and refreshing. I felt that the blogs facilitated communication with other students outside of class and the development of independent thought. They also, as i said before, forced us to do the readings on-time. I have written journals for other courses that were due at the end of term, this was a huge disaster because people would try to write it all at the end and didn’t necessarily promote unique thought from students.
The wikipedia article gave me mixed feelings though. I have found it tedious, frustrating unrewarding.  I think its a really interesting concept and i do use wikipedia frequently. Its a very useful thing as a student to get a broad, unbiased study of a subject or concept. it also leads you to sources (if sourced properly) for research essays etc. I do like the idea that I am giving back to the wiki community but i also feel a certain resentment maybe or anxiety every time i open up my tomas rivera wikipedia page. 
Everything included, I think that the class was structured very well. I might actually enjoy working on another wiki article now that i know (more or less) how it all works. I think Jon has a great ability to get conversation flowing which is such an important skill for a prof to have ( no i am not trying to stroke your ego Jon ). It was the class I felt the most comfortable in, contributed the most in and did the most readings for; all of which are my responsibility but at the same time are things that the prof can definitely encourage in other ways than just instructing. 
I think i only have enough time to say hi at the gallery, term paper to write 🙁 

Final Thoughts

This was one of my favorite classes this semester.  I enjoyed almost every read in this class.  All except for the Martí readings, even though they helped my Spanish comprehension. A lot of the readings differed in their over all context but had a common underlying theme.  That is, for lack of a better word, integration into American/Canadian society.  It was interesting to see the progression of this from the Civil War era and then finally end up in modern Vancouver.  The outline of the readings could have been a little more fragmented.  Maybe starting from Rodriguez’s book first then ending the course with Y no se lo tragó la tierra.  Instead of having a chronologically ordered reading list, just to fit with the writing styles of the authors.  Just a thought.  But, the movie was a nice change of pace.  For me, the movie helped me visualize and get a better grasp on y no se lo tragó la tierra.  Even though the movie had almost no correlation to the book.  

This literature class was a nice change from all of my other literature classes.  I liked the contemporariness of most of the books, instead of reading about Victorian era British literature or American gothic literature.  I still like those classes but for this class the contemporariness gave me a familiar feel to the books. I’ve spent half of my life living in San Diego and the other half in the suburbs of Seattle and these books gave me a little insight to the hardships that Chicanos are braving.   Great class, I’m looking forward to the complement to this one next semester.