Pirates

Recently there has been an abundance of media attention a on the so named Somalian “Pirates,” and accompanying this attention has been the misrepresentation of a very serious issue. The majority of the general public’s views surrounding this issue center upon the image of pirates of the Caribbean-esque men of the high seas plundering as many ships and coasts as they can. However, this notion is so far from reality that one must begin to question if he or she should even call these men pirates and if so, how unwarranted are their acts of piracy. The formal definition of a pirate is one who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without commission from a sovereign nation and against the will of his or her own nation (independent act).

Somalian men with guns and tiny, broken-down speed boats have been taking men and somehow entire ships as well as weapons captive for ransom. Though their ransom demands rests within the realm of millions it is well known that they have not harmed their captives in fact have treated them relatively nicely. Though, what has not been well publicized is the treatment of the Somalians by the same European forces which they “pirate.” This treatment which I am referring to is the nearly twenty years of dumping of toxic waste along the coast of Somalia which has drastically affected the agriculture, health rate, and over all livability of Somalia. What is also unknown to most is that it seems as though the majority of Somalians are not against the so called pirates. Pirates can’t be supported by their home nation. Are these men pirates at all, are they glorified rebels, or must we come up with a new classification all together. Furthermore, what about the ships which have taken Somalian land and waters as their toxic waste dumping ground…..can we also call them pirates?

http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates/

Use of Color within Patang

http://www.vimeo.com/3240664

 

When looking at the trailer for the film Patang, I think one of the most notable features of the film is its use of color. Bhargava floods the screen with a plethora of unusual color combinations, neon pinks, deep browns, etc. I think that this sort of usage of color really gives the film a sense of identity. When developing a film, I think its always a nice touch to really define your location. Instead of relying on pretty common tropes, Bhargava, instead, creates something new; and while this use of really fleshy colors could remind some of Mira Nair’s work, I think the use of neon colors brings something new, something I suppose to show (possibly) the amalgamation of India’s swelling population and burgeoning tech centers. All in all, I think that his use of white balancing, lighting, and use of overall color, makes the trailer seem pretty intriguing.

The African Channel

I really enjoyed this project. I thought that I layout of the site was appropiate to the project and the way that each topic was divided was done well too. I especially enjoyed the clips which are what made the project work. You would go to a page read the description then watch the clip that went along with it. Seeing the clips of the soaps were good too because they took different angles on certain issues, and as someone who’s lived in the US all of her life I’ve never seen a soap with all black characters so for me this was something that I was not used to myself. One of the most enjoyable parts for me were the commercial that raised awareness about HIV/AIDS the different approaches to raising awareness were important to see, and they were easy to compare to American equivalences. The guest appearance of Chris Brown was telling too, an American idol on the soap was great in seeing how these two intertwines. The observations that were made were on target and were helpful when viewing the video. Maybe for the future of this project I would look for another example of “Afican TV”, maybe a game show or something along these lines then look again at the American Influence and/or mentions of American culture.

Critique on Fashion

I really enjoyed the fashion group’s presentation. First off, everything looked really cohesive and the whole idea flowed very well.  I think the different categories the group used covered a vast amount of the fashion realm without being too overwhelming.  I think the only big aspect I would change would be the order in which the five categories were presented.  I probably would have started with the culture piece and show how many of the other categories and issues stem from the African culture.  The Magazine category which highlighted the black issue of Italian Vogue opened ny eyes more, in terms of anylyzing the idea of sexuality, blackface etc. When I first got the magazine, I definitely thought about the “other” and how having an all black issue is just furthering the “othering” the problem.  There should be no need for an all black issue.  Also, in the collection category I liked how prominent fashion designers were juxtaposed with African designers.  It shows how much african culture influences these high-end fashion designers, but also how stereotypical they can be, meaning, the kinds of prints, patterns and colors they use.  Additionally, several of theAfrican designers do not even use these “African” designs that those designers believe to be african.  Finally, I enjoyed how the project ended with the mainstream aspect of fashion and howAfrican culture is presently influencing western fashion. I’ve seen all of this clothing recently on several of thosewebsites and i’m not quitesure how i feel about it or rather if I would buy it. All in all, I really enjoyed the project. Great job!

Prashant Bhargava

During Prashant Bhargava’s discussion of the production of his upcoming film, he spoke about the process of collecting footage. To me this was one of the more interesting parts because when he displayed to the audience some of his raw footage, I understood how much time and labor goes into making a lengthy film like the one that he is producing. He discussed how he had hours and hours footage that that he had to go through to find the perfect clips. What was even more important than filtering through the footage was trying to capture people as naturally as possible. He explained that at times he would lie to the people who he was shooting and say that he wasn’t filming. When people know that they are being filmed immediately their behavior changes, whether it is done consciously or unconsciously. The difference between watching footage that is real and footage that is not is that when watching scenes of people when they do not know that they are being filmed you get to see more of their natural behavior, and because this is the case, what one may see during natural footage can possibly be more shocking and bothersome than what one may see during rehearsed footage.

Critique on Comix

I really enjoyed looking over the Comix project. The group members took on the project and the topic of myth and Africa in comics in diverse and interesting ways.  The layout is great and all the pages on the website are easy to navigate. 

Sesame Street’s African Alphabet Song

I had never seen this Sesame Street clip before:

 

Also here are the lyrics to Kermit’s song at the end:

Amazing Beautiful Creatures Dancing Excites the Forest Glade, In my Heart how I do Jump like the Kudo Listening to the Music, so Nice the Organ Plays, Quietly Rests the Sleepy Tiger Under the Vine tree at the Water’s side, and X marks the place ‘neath the Yellow moon where the Zulu chief and I did hide.

“The Stick Market”

A video from the ONION…

In the Know: Is Our Wealth Hurting Africa’s Feelings?

Screening AFRICA

I think it’s interesting that it is possible to have an entire course on Reading Popular Culture: Screening Africa. By this, I mean…just think about the width and breadth of all our discussions and all the things we have learned about… representations,  knowing, race, class and gender in popular culture, meaning and siginification, politics and economics, etc.  And even then, I’m sure we can all agree that there could be a Reading Popular Culture: Screening Africa Part II or something and there would definitely be enough material for that class to be amazing as well. Just looking through the Amherst College Course Catalogue, the only course that I think somewhat compares is the ‘Asian Studies Colloquium: Asia Pop!’. Thinking about the scope of our course, I don’t think a course relating to South American representations in American pop culture could be offered (or a course with focus on Europe or Australia).  That would be because we don’t really see representations of South America in American pop culture..I can think of Evita and Quantum of Solace aaaand that’s about it.  Why is that? We talked about how people talk about Africa as a collective whole and not as separate countries within a continent.  Do we see South America this way? As one collective culture and place? Is it because Americans have set ideas of what Africa and Asia are like, so popular culture can play off of these perceptions? Of course, this could also be me being ignorant..

Child Witches in Nigeria

I just saw this article on the front page of CNN.com that talks about the rise of “child witches” in Nigeria and I wanted to post it here since I had never read anything about this, and I was also horrified by the abuse these “child witches” go through.