Johnsons' Park on 88NINE Neighborhood Project

Our local public radio station, 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, is hosting a Neighborhood Project series and Johnsons' Park is one of the featured Milwaukee Neighborhoods. Check out the project here and look for the Johnsons' Park site here. It is a nice complement to the media projects completed for this course. Listen to the audio interviews as well....

Blog #8

Still, Anna May Wong, Picadilly (1929)

Briefly address the following:

What is Orientalism? What purpose does it serve? What are the images associated with this idea/ideology? Dr. Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were two recurring characters in Hollywood film. How would you describe these characters? What was unusual about the casting of the characters? Describe the “Dragon Lady” of Hollywood cinema? What actress was typically associated with these sorts of roles?

Blog #7

Still, Real Women Have Curves (Patricia Cardosa, 2002)

Briefly address the following:

Describe the “greaser” and the “Latin Lover” stereotypes. When did these stereotypes emerge and how were they represented on screen? How does the concept of “whiteness” inform their circulation in U.S. cinema? What is the “Good Neighbor Policy” and what impact did it have on the representation of Latinos/as? How does the concept of “whiteness” inform the ways Latino/a actors were promoted within the U.S. film industry (provide at least one example)? What shifts occur in Latino/a media representation after the Civil Rights movement? Discuss at least one Latino/a actor and/or director (one from the immediate post-Civil Rights era and one contemporary) and briefly explain how their careers are influenced by the history of Latinas/os in American film.

Please also read the Figueroa "Resisting 'Beauty'" essay for class discussion.

Blog #6

This week, along with the readings, I'd like you to begin working on your final project proposals which are due next week (Friday Apr. 10). I've posted the final project assignment on D2L and here as an attachment. The project proposal includes your proposed topic, your classmate collaborators and a tentative bibliography. This should be typed and handed in on April 10. Your group should be prepared to make a brief presentation (2-3 minutes).

Also, please begin posting your photo essay to your blog site. You can post the photos individually, or you can use sites such as Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/) to upload and create a slide show. It's your site -- be creative and try different ways of presenting your photos. Take a look at some of the photo essay posts created by Film 150 Spr 08: http://mca15008.blogspot.com/

This week, we'll screen Alexie Sherman's "Business of Fancydancing" and review the Benshoff/Griffin, Ringlero and Takaki.

Views of Johnsons' Park

Blog #6

This week, please view Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala (on reserve at the Multimedia Library by Monday, March 16). Next week, we will have a brief presentation by a representative of the LGBT Resource Center on "Two-Spirit" identity in Native American culture as an introduction to Sherman Alexie's The Business of Fancydancing (2002).

The majority of class will be devoted to your presentations (5-7 minutes) on your photo essays. Please make your presentation accessible via zip drive, Pantherfile, disk or your own laptop (you will need an adaptor depending on your platform - PC or MAC).

Also, please briefly respond to the following (Due Thursday, March 26):

Referring to Benshoff & Griffin and Ringlero, discuss the similarities/differences btween ethnographic film and photography. According to Aleta Ringlero, in what ways are representational codes (performance, costume, setting, framing, lighting, angle) used to produce images that support ideologies regarding Native Americans? In what whays did the attempt to pose Native American women after the European academy model interrupt the curculation of these ideologies?

Blog #5

Milwaukee's Greater Johnsons' Park Neighborhood Initiative from Center for Resilient Cities (Select link to visit site)

This week, along with the syllabus readings, please complete the following:

Provide a brief description (100-250 words max.) of the topic you plan to work on for your final media project. Along with the description, include at least ONE image (a pdf of a document related to your research, a link to a news article, an archival photograph, a YouTube video related to JPNA service area, etc.).

NOTE: POST YOUR PROJECT DESCRIPTION TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL BLOG SITE (not in the comments section)

A great place to find images is UW-Milwaukee's Digital Library's "Milwaukee Neighborhoods: Photos and Maps: 1885 - 1992"

For further inspiration, check out other Film 150 projects:

http://film150multiculturalamerica2007.blogspot.com/

http://mca15008.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in attending JPNA meetings, check out their upcoming meetings (please call or email Mr. Gibson to confirm):

http://www.jpna-milw.org/JPNAmeetings.htm

Upcoming meetings:

JPNA General Membership Meeting: Sunday, March 16 (TBA) - Northside YMCA

3rd District Captain Crime Meeting: Tuesday, March 24 (6:00-8:00PM) - District 3 Police Station

Blog #4

Let's take a look at Vin Diesel's 1994 short film, MULTI-FACIAL. (Also available on You Tube)

In terms of their own approach to racial categorization, how do Diesel and Danzy Senna ("Half+Half" exerpt) speak to the history of mixed-race identity in the U.S. and U.S. media representations as explained in Mary Beltran and Camilla Fojas' introduction to their "Mixed Hollywood" collection? For instance, what is at stake when one assumes a "black" identity (Senna) or appeals for the transcendence of race (Diesel)?

According to Mary Beltran in her essay, "The New Hollywood Racelessness", how do recent action films set in the millennial, multiethnic urban environment challenge but also re-inscribe cinematic racial paradigms that install "white" as a privileged social category? (Briefly discuss two examples from Beltran's essay)

For two extra credit points for Blog #4:
In a separate email to greenes@uwm.edu, identify the title, director and release year for the film from which Diesel takes his audition monologue at the opening of the film.

Blog #4 (#3)

Still, Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1977)

Please address the following questions from the Takaki and Benshoff and Griffin readings:

What economic, political and social circumstances led to the "Great Migration" of African-Americans to U.S. northern urban centers in the early 20th century?

What impact did the Production Code of 1934 have on the use of African-American stereotypes and actors in Hollywood films?

What were the economic and social challenges faced by African-American independent filmmakers emerging in the 1970s and 1980s? How is Spike Lee's career an example of the negotiation of critical and socially relevant filmmaking and the Hollywood industry?

Blog #3 (Listed as Blog #2)

Carleton Watkins, The Yosemite Valley from the Best General View, 1866

Briefly answer the following questions based on the readings for this week:

According to Benshoff and Griffin, what is othering? How does it work? How has Hollywood typically used racial and ethnic characters? Briefly discuss the changes in representations of Irish American characters in US cinema. What were the factors behind these changes?

How was blackface used by Jewish entertainers? How did these performances complicate notions of racial and ethnic identity?

According to Richard Dyer, why is it important to study race and images of race? How are white typically seen or spoken about? What are the problems associated with examining whiteness? What are the paradoxes of whiteness?

Blog #2 (Listed as Blog #1 post due Thursday, Feb. 12)

Ken Gonzales-Day, St. James Park, 2006

From the "Erased Lynching" Series

From this week's reading (Leigh Raiford, "The Consumption of Lynching Images" and Sturken and Cartwright, "Viewers Make Meaning"), concisely address the following questions:

What role did lynching photographs play in the white community? How can lynching be seen as uniquely shaped by modernity (by social/technical/cultural forces unique to the time period, late 19th to early 20th centuries)? What was photography's role in defining the black body in an emergent consumer culture? How has the black community used lynching photographs (appropriated or created oppositional readings)?

PLEASE NOTE: The last two pages of the Raiford essay (pgs. 272 and 273) are posted on the course D2L site (click here to access).

Shepard Fairey update

Here's a link to an article regarding the graphic/graffiti artist Shepard Fairey (the artist who designed the Obama "HOPE" poster that we looked at the first week). Fairey was recently arrested in Boston on suspicion for damage to public property, but also some interesting notes on his poster, which continues to circulate, taking on a life of its own beyond its original intent....

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/18662913/detail.html

Blog #1

For your first blog response, briefly describe at least two facts you've learned about Johnsons Park Neighborhood Association through the article packet handed out last week in class, viewing the JPNA site or your own research. Your post should be at least 150 words.

Write your response in the comment section below. Don't forget to include your name in your post.

Also, take a look at the NY Times article I've posted...

"Talk About Race? Relax, It's OK" (NYT Jan 15 2009)

How has Barack Obama's election changed the conversation about race relations in the U.S.? Read this NY Times article and check out the reader comments.

Note: This is not an assignment. The blog response will be posted on Monday, Feb. 2




http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/fashion/15race.html?_r=1

Welcome to Film 150: Multicultural America!

Welcome to Film 150: Multicultural America! This semester, our course Service Learning component will be conducted at Johnsons' Park Neighborhood Association (JPNA), a neighborhood preservation and improvement organization located in the Lindsay Heights Development District. Here's a Google map image of their service area:

Service Area: 16th to 20th Streets, Walnut Street to Fond du Lac Avenue

Since its establishment, the JPNA has worked with the City of Milwaukee and other community partners to build new homes and renovate existing properties in its service area, promote business development, and improve the overall quality of life for residents through economic, health, environmental and cultural initiatives. As stated on their website:

"Since 2003 over 60 new homes have been built in an area that consisted of older homes interspersed with formerly vacant, littered lots and boarded-up buildings. The residents organized and established a collective vision for the area. We believe in creating and promoting a safe and friendly neighborhood. We will be proative in improving the quality of life for all residents."

Along with its home development and improvement projects, the JPNA has established initiatives and collaborative projects, including:

• The Johnsons' Park Health Alliance (see Winter 2008 newsletter)
• Center for Resilient Cities
• Friends of the Park System
• Department of Neighborhood Services
  
• Walnut Way Conservation Corp.

Through the Greater Johnsons' Park initiative, plans have been developed to create urban green spaces (Alice's Garden), community youth programs (Brown Street Academy), and for Johnsons' Park to become part of the Underground Railroad of Wisconsin Network to Freedom.


Throughout the semester, we will create a media archive of Johnsons' Park Neighborhood Association. Check out previous Film 150 sites to get an idea of the types of projects you can undertake during the semester (see "Links" on sidebar). Also, take a look at JPNA's website.