Thursday, October 30, 2014

Sometimes one of the effects of putting an assignment back is that you have to put the others back too, or else the sequence of marking and returning work gets snarled. 
This has happened in AM1111. Because we put the first assignment back to help late arrivals to the class, we think it is best to put the others back too.
The next assignment is the iterative essay. That's an essay that you write twice. The first time we grade it, the second time we grade the improvements you make to it in response to our comments. It's a way of trying to get students to understand the importance not just of essays but of feedback and drafts. As you are required to re-write it, we need to make space for you to consult with us. That all pushes things back.
So, here is the change to assignment schedule:
The Iterative Essay is now due Week 9. 
We will return it to you three weeks later, Wk 11. 
That leaves you time to have a tutorial (in person or by email) in Wk12, which also gives you a chance to review your progress with us.
That inevitably means the rewrite now has to be due on the first day of semester 2.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Reviewing "12 Years a Slave"

12 Years a Slave is a 2013 film directed by Steve McQueen (Shame, Hunger) and written by John Ridley (Undercover Brother, Three Kings). It is based off the true memoirs of ex-slave Solomon Northup.

The film, during its 2.25 hour run, tells Solomon's (Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2012, American Gangster) story as a free black man who is kidnapped and forced into slavery. We see the progression of his 12 year enslavement condensed into two hours, as he is passed from owner to owner: first he is sold to Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch, Star Trek, The Hobbit), a plantation owner who treats Solomon with a reasonable amount of respect. Despite Ford's kind treatment of his slaves, Solomon and the rest of the slaves suffer greatly at the hands of the overseer, Tibeats (Paul Dano, Looper, Prisoners), who will find any reason he can to punish the slaves. After a brawl breaks out between Solomon and Tibeats, Ford sells Solomon to another plantation owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender, Prometheus, X-Men: First Class).

Epps is not so kind to his slaves, measuring the amount of cotton each slave picks and every day whipping those who don't meet his standards. Perhaps the most horrifying and tense portrayal of slavery is shown at this plantation, as Epps becomes obsessed with a young female slave, Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o, Non-Stop). Epps' wife (Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story, Serenity) sees his obsession and attraction to Patsey and becomes extremely jealous, taking every opportunity she can to punish Patsey, from throwing a whiskey glass at her head to not allowing the girl any soap. Hating how badly she smells, Patsey runs to a different plantation to find some soap, and when she returns Epps is enraged. He attacks her, and Solomon runs to her aid, resulting in Epps forcing Solomon to whip Patsey.

Epps later hires a white Canadian, Bass (Brad Pitt, Fight Club, World War Z) to work on the plantation as the slaves do, but with the luxuries of pay and no threats of violent punishment. Bass, having seen what the black slaves are put through, argues with Epps that they are humans too, and voices strong feelings against slavery. Solomon, upon hearing Bass' sympathies, explains to him that he is a free man, and Bass contacts Solomon's friends in the north, who come to rescue Solomon from Epps' farm and bring him back to his family, ending his 12 years of slavery.

12 Years a Slave has been commended by critics everywhere for its real and unfearful portrayal of slavery, showing both the good and the bad - although emphasis is placed on Epps' and Tibeats' treatment of the slaves, the film does not lie about the existence of people such as Ford and Bass. Often films about slavery will show the morality of the characters as very clearly good or bad - the slaves as victims, the white people as either cruel and malicious, such as Epps, or kind and anti-slavery, such as Bass. However, Ford falls into neither of these categories. Although he never raises a hand to a slave, and shows respect and even kindness to Solomon, he is still a slave owner. He still buys and sells the slaves, he still puts them to laborious work for no pay. When the tension between Solomon and Tibeats boils over, Ford chooses to keep his cruel overseer and sell Solomon on to another plantation owner he knows to be just as cruel as Tibeats. Ford is a new characterisation of a slave owner we haven't seen before: the slaver who appears to feel for his slaves, but still partakes in the slave trade, who may be considered too cowardly to enact cruel punishments on his slaves, so he hires a cruel overseer to do what he cannot bring himself to do.

The film does not hold back from showing the true cruelty enacted on the slaves. It is raw and real, reminding the white populous of America of what their not so distant ancestors did. Events such as whipping, hanging, murder and rape are not censored. 12 Years a Slave shows no mercy for its white audience, constantly and brutally reminding them of what their society is founded upon, of what so recently was seen as okay and normal. This film could be considered as the first true representation of black people - so often their sufferings are erased, and black actors and characters are found in roles which only highlight their position today, almost as if every black person seen on screen is the white director or writer giving themselves a pat on the back, as if by including a few black people they are saying "look, there's a black person, aren't I progressive?" However, by rarely if ever showing or even just alluding to the past sufferings of black people in America, these white people are erasing and ignoring a significant part of black history, so as not to offend white people with the reminder of what their culture was built upon.

Friday, October 24, 2014

'12 Years A Slave' Review

'12 Years A Slave' (2013) Review

Steve McQueen (‘Hunger’, ‘Shame’) directed, whilst John Ridley wrote the screenplay. Chiwetel Ejiofor leads the cast as Solomon Northup, with Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Brad Pitt supporting in various roles.

Adapted from the best-selling 19th-century memoir written by Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who suddenly had his liberty taken away after being kidnapped and sold for slave labour in Louisiana, ’12 Years A Slave’ (12YAS) tackles the issue of slavery with commendable realism and a level of unrelenting brutality not before seen in other films confronting the same subject.

Unlike the more recent slavery-based pieces, such as Quentin Tarentino’s ‘Django: Unchained’ (2012) and Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’ (2013), 12YAS is revised from a first-hand account, giving a more personal, hard-hitting and raw experience for the audience. At times, the piece is hard to watch, from the sequence where Northup is strung up at a tree and the shot lingers on for what feels like an age whilst people around him continue on with their work, to the flat-out savage scene in which Patsy (Nyong’o) is tied to a pole and whipped by Northup and Epp’s (Fassbender). The film does not hold back, and nor should it. It was made to make the audience feel uncomfortable, as the topic of slavery in general in the West today does; many would like to forget that this kind of behaviour ever happened, but it can’t be and shouldn’t be. The piece should be commended for its portrayal of slavery as it may be the first to truly do it justice. Audiences need to be shocked by this, because it is true.

The acting talent is stellar, with Fassbender and Nyong’o particularly impressive as the crazed, obsessive slave owner and the emotionally crippled aim of the former’s affections, respectively. Ejiofor does a notable job in the lead, showing the progress of Northup’s changing attitude over time. From the initial defiance to when he embraces with the other slaves when singing “Roll Jordan Roll”, as well as the very touching final scene when he is reunited with his family. However, looking at it from a cinematic angle, not just an historic angle, the character is not fully explored or developed.  Audiences will side with him, as they should, but that may just be the problem, he is looked at as an idol, not necessarily a real person. This isn’t Ejiofor’s fault, leading on to a larger problem with the film.

As a piece of cinema 12YAS lacks something. The story is without doubt powerful and engaging with some very moving scenes, yet it does not go beyond the historical documentation of which is comes from. There are traces of McQueen’s talent and vision, but it is not developed consistently. It almost feels as if the piece has been made for the commercial and mainstream audiences, as it is rather simplistic in its approach, and it also leaves out some parts of Northup’s original account, whilst adding some fictitious events. Conversely, it can be argued that this was McQueen’s intention, to show the rawness of Northup’s life and elicit a response, which it does. The script isn’t necessarily anything truly remarkable, but again, this way, it meant there were no deviations from the source. Also, the inclusion of Brad Pitt in the role of Samuel Bass, a progressive Canadian, seemed forced and actually detracted from the film towards the end. I can’t help but feel that if an actor not so well known played the role, I would have connected more with the character.

Overall, 12YAS is an important film about an important story. The narrative of the piece was near perfection. The way it was shot and pieced together was beautiful, from the stark contrasts between human brutality and natural serenity, whilst the cast was very well thought out and performed well in their roles. The fact that it does Solomon Northup’s life justice shows how good McQueen is as a director and allows the audience to, perhaps for the first time ever, experience the true life of a slave.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Slave Stories

"I 'membahs de time when mah mammy wah alive, I wah a small chile, afoah dey tuck huh t' Rims Crick. All us chillens wah playin' in de ya'd one night. Jes' arunnin' an' aplayin' lak chillun will. All a sudden mammy cum to de do' all a'sited. "Cum in heah dis minnit," she say. "Jes look up at what is ahappenin'," and bless yo' life, honey, da sta's wah fallin' jes' lak rain. Mammy wah tebble skeered, but we chillen wa'nt afeard, no, we wa'nt afeard. But mammy she say evah time a sta' fall, somebuddy gonna die. Look lak lotta folks gonna die f'om de looks ob dem sta's. Ebbathin' wah jes' as bright as day. Yo' cudda pick a pin up. Yo' know de sta's don' shine as bright as dey did back den. I wondah wy dey don'. Dey jes' don' shine as bright. Wa'nt long afoah dey took mah mammy away, and I wah lef' alone."

As evidenced by the spelling, the accent of this slave, Sarah Gudger, was strong. The account is written phonetically, rather than by standard spelling.

In this narrative, Gudger recounts a story from her childhood, a memory of her mother and a meteor shower. She mentions that her mother was taken away shortly after, a common happening at the time, when families would be ripped apart when family members were sold to other white families.

There is an indication of a lack of education for both Gudger and her mother, as they both believe the meteor shower to be falling stars. Gudger's mother says that every time a star falls, somebody will die, and Gudger comments that a lot of people will die since so many stars were falling. This indicates that they had spiritual beliefs, since they believed in a link between falling stars and death.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Week 4 Work - Slave Diary Analysis


Ohio Narratives, Volume XII (1937): Ben Brown. Ex-slave - 100 years old.


The account from Brown, much like every other slave account, is one of heartbreak and anguish. He speaks of his family, living conditions and the work he had to do, as well as the treatment he received from his owner. Below are some notable quotes from the piece.

"It wuz a tough life. I don't know how old I am, dey never told me down dere..."

The fact that he didn't even know how old he was shows how deprived of the basic things that everyday people take for granted he was. This perhaps could be because no one actually did no precisely, but one would think the owners or even his family would have a rough estimate of his age.

"It wuz jus work, eat an sleep foh most of us, dere wuz no time foh play."

This quote is the prime example of how slave life was in its most basic form. He also mentions that those who did try to sing or pray simply got too tired to and had to sleep. It shows that these people were mentally and physically pushed to their limits to work.

"I missed mah sistah terrible...ran away three times..."

"Dey start home on horses pullin de rope tied to mah hands. I had to run or fall down an' be dragged on de groun'. It wuz terrible."

Brown states that his sister was sold at an auction. This shows that families were torn apart for business and to make money, exemplifying just how little the traders thought of them, if at all. Brown would try and visit his sister, but every time he tried, he would get caught by his owner. The way he was just tied to a horse and had to keep up is brutal, again showing that no remorse was giving by his owner.

"She told me nevah, nevah to tell about it and I nevah did until now."

"When de wah wuz ovah, de missie nevah tell me dat I wuz free..."

The former quote is about Brown having to hide a box of valuable items in the ground from the Northern armies and demonstrates just how much power the owner had. Brown to that day never said anything about it. It could be simply because he made himself forget, however it could also be that he was still to scared to say anything about it. The latter quote just shows an abuse of power. The fact he was never even told he was free is plain evil, just to ensure he kept working, showing that the owner obviously believed the slaves didn't deserve it and were too stupid to do anything about. 

"De slaves wuz not allowed any learnin..."

"I wanted some learnin but dere wuz no way to git it until a white man cleared a place in de woods..."

These quotes again support the view that slave owners didn't want any equality at all between themselves and the slaves. Slaves were forbidden to learn or even attempt to better themselves. The latter quote carries some interesting connotations as it was a white man that helped them. This shows an attitude change from within the South as some actually wanted to help, however it's also important to say that Brown says there "wuz no way", implicating that the blacks could not do it themselves, again showing a dominance and power with the whites.

"Some nights I dream about de old slave times...an' I wake up cryin'."

This just shows the lasting effects of slavery and the lives they all lived, there was and still is no way to escape from it. It's something that can never be forgotten.

"I'm sure glad it's all over." - Ben Brown.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Researching one state: Alaska


Although Alaska's "modern" history began around the 18th century, it has been home to Indians and wildlife for a much longer time. The first people to inhabit Alaska arrived around 15,000 years ago across the Bering Land Bridge, a portion of land which once connected Alaska to Asia, until the most recent ice age, after which sea levels rose and covered the area, isolating the Americas and Asia as two separate land masses.

The Indians and Eskimos peacefully inhabited the Alaskan and Canadian areas, until 1728 when a Danish explorer, Vitus Bering, discovered the Being Straight between the new continents. In 1741, he then led a Russian expedition with George Seller and landed in the area of Kayak Island. Bering and his explorers explored the west coast of Alaska, before becoming shipwrecked and disappearing in Commodorsky Island (later renamed Bering Island).

In 1776, a British explorer named James Cook set sail on an expedition to find the Northwest Passage, a proposed sea route along the north coast of Canada, which would serve as a trading route across North America, as well as potentially between Europe and Asia. Two years later, Cook sailed up the northwest coast, and discovered what is now known as the Cook Inlet, before continuing up the Bering Strait and entering the Arctic Ocean, at which point he was forced to turn back due to ice barring his passage. A sailor, John Ledyard, established the first contact with the  Russians after he travelled to inland Alaska with Native Alaskans he had met.

In 1784, Russians settled in Alaska on Kodiak Island. Alaska remained Russian territory until 1867, when the USA bought the land from the Russians for $7.2 million in gold, equalling approximately two cents per acre.

Almost 100 years later, gold was discovered in various parts on Alaska. It wasn't until 1884 that the US Congress provided for an Alaskan government, and four years later over 60,000 Americans migrated to Alaska for the abundant riches of gold. Later, in the final years of the 19th century, over 100,000 more prospectors travelled north in what was known as the Klondike Gold Rush.

After being renamed a territory in 1912, the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska were invaded by the Japanese in 1942, prompting the introduction of a large military presence as well as the construction f the Alaska-Canada Highway. A year later, the American military drove the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands, and took them back for the USA.

In 1959, after petitioning from Alaskans, President Eisenhower signed an official declaration, naming Alaska the 49th state of the USA.



Today, Alaska is made up of 5 regions: the Far North, the Interior, the Southwest, the Southcentral and the Inside Passage.

The Far North
This is Alaska's coldest region, home to the Inupiat Eskimos. As shown on the map above, communities in the Far North are few and far between, nestled in such extreme conditions that these places are mostly only accessible via air.

Temperature range: -30c to 7c
Sunlight range: 4 to 24 hours

The Interior
This area is home to the tallest peak in North America, Mount McKinley, and the Athabacan Indians. When the area was first settled by Russians and Americans, they discovered abundant riches such as gold, farm land and animal fur. The area is best known for its wildlife, and is home to the state bird, the Willow Ptarmigan.

Temperature range: -27c to 22c
Sunlight range: 5 to 20 hours

The Southwest
A warmer environment than the Far North, the Southwest is known for its range of volcanoes, preserved in the Katmai National Park, and an outreaching arm of islands, known as the Aleutian Islands, which reach over 1000 miles towards Asia.

Temperature range: -18c to 17c
Sunlight range: 5 to 18 hours

The Southcentral
This area is the most populous region of Alaska, with over half its inhabitants residing there. It is also a popular travel destination for tourists, home to various hiking and fishing destinations, linked by air and road to mainland Canada while maintaining the factor of isolation and wilderness.

Temperature range: -13c to 18c
Sunlight range: 6 to 18 hours

The Inside Passage
The Inside Passage is the southernmost region of Alaska. It is home to Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida Indians. It was shaped by massive glaciers millions of years ago, and is a common tourist destination for cruises among the shoreline and amongst the various islands.

Temperature range: -7c to 18c
Sunlight range: 4 to 18 hours
 
 
Population
 
Alaska is the least densely populated state in the USA, with 1.2 inhabitants per square mile. Although it is the 47th most populated state, it is physically the largest state in the country - in comparison to mainland USA, the westernmost Aleutian island touches the west coast, while the easternmost area of the Inside Passage touches the east coast.
 
While less than 1% of the population of the USA is Native American, 14.8% of the population of Alaska is Native American or Native Alaskan. There are very few roads and highways in Alaska, meaning prices in Alaska are high, since importing goods is difficult. The capital city, Juneau, is accessible only by ferry. Most cities and towns in Alaska are accessible only by sea or air, meaning many Alaskans are isolated from the rest of the state, let alone the country and the world.
 
Although Alaska has universities and colleges available to its populous, many young people, due to the restlessness they feel from growing up in such isolated areas, leave the state to attend university.


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Week 3 Work - Oregon

Oregon


Facts:
  • Became a state in 1859.
  • Population - 3.9 million (as of 2013).
  • Capital - Salem, population of 160,000.
  • Largest City - Portland, population of 603,000
  • Ninth biggest state in the USA.
  • 22% of population come from German descent.
  • Oregon's state flag pictures a beaver on its reverse side. It is the only state flag to carry two separate designs.
  • State nickname - Beaver State
  • State motto - "She Flies With Her Own Wings" and "The Union".
  • Between 1841 and 1869, hundreds of thousands of people travelled westward on the Oregon Trail.
  • The Columbia River forms most of the northern border between Oregon and Washington. The Snake River forms over half of the eastern boundary with Idaho.
  • Silver Falls State Park is the Oregon's largest state park.
  • Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and is formed in the remains of an ancient volcano.
Typical Inhabitants:

From research, it seems as if the general stereotypes are that of young, friendly, environmentally conscious, healthy eating, liberal, "hipsters". All pretty positive stereotypes in my eyes. The idea that the people care about the environment potentially comes from the fact that the area they inhabit is so grand and visually captivating, as well as it holding many natural resources. Oregon has many state parks within to exemplify this. Research also suggests that many people are well educated and actually complete university. This again could point to why they care so much about the environment as they are well endowed with information as to why they should, as well as healthy eating, Portland is listed by PETA as the second most vegan-friendly city in the nation (even having a vegan strip-club). However, this is a stereotype of the 80% of White-Americans in Oregon. The state is not very racially diverse. This initially stems from its history. Oregon outlawed slavery, but then banned blacks from moving there. 


Thursday, October 2, 2014

Demographics of the U.S.

Demographics of the U.S. - Surnames of the country.


This map shows the density of American surnames throughout the country as well as showing where they originate from. As one can see, the surname 'Smith' dominates a majority of the country, especially on the East coast. One reason for this is due to English settlers that first colonised the country. As well as this, names originating from Germany and France are prevalent throughout the states. Immigration from these countries in the 19th Century, especially, accounts for this. Spanish names have become more recognised, particularly on the West coast, where the country's border meets Mexico, again immigration plays a huge role in this. However, the map does neglect one of the largest ethnic groups in America, African-Americans, as well as Native-American origins.

As a whole, the map shows just how much of a melting pot the Unites States really is, with so many different cultures and origins mixed together. None of the surnames are categorised as 'American'.

Demographics

 

 
This demographic map of the US displays the distinct food for each state, not by what is eaten most, but by what is most frequently occurring on restaurant menus. The colour code indicated the relative popularity of each food, i.e. the difference between the term's frequency on menus in the state versus the US as a whole.