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(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)
The Homework I Forgot to Mention
We got rushed at the end of class, so I forgot to mention your weekly exercise homework: for next Wednesday, write a scene that includes both the flat character you sketched in last week’s homework (which you just handed in today), and another, new character. The second character is a more “rounded” character. The interaction between this rounded character and your flat character should be told from the 1st person point of view, from the perspective of your rounded character.
Next time, we will talk a little more about rounded characters, as well as critiquing the three fiction excepts posted earlier.
Note: normally your weekly writing assignment is due on Monday. While I am giving you an extension, be aware you will also have to prepare critiques for Wednesday next week; it’s probably a good idea to finish this assignment sooner anyway.
The title for this assignment is: When Flat Meets Rounded. Please include that assignment title somewhere at the top of the first page of this assignment when you hand it in, to help me keep track of your work. Thanks!
Comments on Beluthahatchie
Sorry for the delay. I had a problem with my scanner and had to use the office scanner today. Here’s hoping at least some of you get to see it beforehand. (Though if not, we can move the discussion to Thursday.)
Here are Andy Duncan’s comments on the background for his story “Beluthahatchie,” from the back of the story collection:
-  Background on “Beluthahatchie� (.zip archive of .jpeg scans of two pages)
Duncan’s comments on the story begin near the end of the first column of the first scanned page. If you’d like to know more about him, there is a collection of interviews with him linked from the publisher’s website, here.
For Next Week
Folks,
Here’s the plan for next week:
On Tuesday, for the first hour,we will be talking about the European phenomenon of enslaving Africans, but also of putting Africans (and other non-Europeans) on display. I’ll be drawing on Strausbaugh’s book — from which I gave you an excerpt — but also from a few others, including The Black Culture Industry by Ellis Cashmore, Where Dead Voices Gather by Nick Tosches, The Wages of Whiteness by David R. Roediger, and The Slave Trade by Hugh Thomas. Controversial or not, I recommend all those books for a deeper understanding of what we’re talking about. (And about which I, too, am still learning.)
And to link this (directly!) to contemporary Korea — a Youtube video by a very angry man. The question is — do you think he has a right to be angry?:
In our second hour on Tuesday, we will be talking about Andy Duncan’s story “Beluthahatchie.” I’ll be uploading a scan of Duncan’s comments about the story, so please check back. By the way, here’s the cover image of that book, which I tried to show you in class. As the guy on that webpage comments, it’s “one hell of a train” — har, har. I expect a lot of questions, ideas, and participation. In the meantime, you might find it helpful to read about this guy.On Thursday, we’re going to talk about the chapter from the Strausbaugh book that I gave you to read. Be prepared to discuss, as this is intended as a class discussion, and not a lecture. (I will have some questions for you, as well as some media I’d like to show you, maybe, but the bulk of the classtime will be yours to talk through. I’ll try to intervene only to steer the conversation, clear up any misconceptions, and clarify things.) Just a thought: it would be a good idea to prepare a paper for the discussion, listing any questions, or ideas, or problems you had with the text, to help you participate in the discussion. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on the subject of blackface minstrelsy. Bonus points for those who can find a way to link it to popular Korean entertainment today.
(And no, I don’t just mean the Bubble Sisters. I said Korean entertainment today. Or as recently as this. Or this. EDIT: Or even this. )
But then again, and I warn you now that you might find these clips offensive: there’s this … and there’s these guys. Or, hell, there’s this website.
(Before you get too mad about the latter clips, remember: these are User Created Content clips on the Internet, not major media entertainment. Also. it might be useful to think carefully about who it is being mocked in each of those videos and pages I’ve linked: is it a whole race, or a group within it? Do you think the racist images or stereotypes intelligible, even if you are offended by them — I mean, do you think the mockery involves offensive exaggeration and generalization, or the wholesale manufacture of traits?)
How you might feel about the whole set of the videos above — those depicting Koreans, and those from the Korean media too — needs to be part of the question of what is going on in cross-racial mockery, appropriation, and imitation… which is at the heart of our discussion of the genesis of American popular culture.
Finally, looking ahead, next week we’ll be discussing blackface minstrelsy more, after watching the Spike Lee film Bamboozled.
For the Coming Week
On Tuesday, we will be discussing the first hour of The Corporation, and, if there is time, watching the second hour.
Normally, I expect that you will be writing Discussion Preparation Papers for each discussion we will have. As usual, you will also write a Response Paper following the discussion, staple the two papers together, and submit them as one document the class following our discussion.
For The Corporation, however, this would normally result in 3 discussion and response papers, which is too much. Instead, I want you to write Preparations for each discussion as we go along, bringing them to class to help you with the discussion. After each discussion, you will write up your response to the discussion. The full set of preparations and responses will be due the class after our final discussion of The Corporation. When that will happen will depend on how fruitful our discussions are, and how quickly we move through the film.
By the way, for those who wish to use the free, legal Bittorrent release of the film to preview or review at home, the link is available at the PirateBay torrent website. However, be careful to click the correct link: the big green download link is an advertisement, but the “Download This Torrent” link beneath it is the link you want. (In case you have any problems, this is a copy of the correct link.) If you have never used Bittorrent before, you need a problem like μtorrent to download the file.
Article for Critique
Folks,
For Tuesday, March 23rd: Those of you who have pitched topics and got a final topic to work on, should have begun writing and researchuing your articles already. Those of you who have no pitched yet, think about your topics and improve your angle ideas and pitches. We’re going to be finishing the pitching phase on Tuesday. I will talk to you about research methods and policies in the second half of the class.
For Thursday. March 25th: Here is the article for Critique that I said we’d be critiquing on Thursday, in the first hour of class:
Remember, you will talk about:
- What effect you think the author wants to have in the writing, and what it’s “about” (themes, ideas, etc.)
- What you think is effective in the writing
- What you think is not so effective, or could be improved
- One single suggestion for the author to focus on, to get a general and wide-range improvement in the story
Please type up your notes formally, so you can pass them to each author. This will help you express your ideas more clearly in the short time you have for offering criticism. Bring two copies, as one copy is for my files. (You will get credit for the total number and quality of pieces of written feedback you provide, in addition to the verbal feedback you give.)
Stories to Look at for Our Next Critique Session
Folks!
Here are the stories for this Wednesday:
Remember, you will talk about:
- What effect you think the author wants to have in the writing, and what it’s “about” (themes, ideas, etc.)
- What you think is effective in the writing
- What you think is not so effective, or could be improved
- One single suggestion for the author to focus on, to get a general and wide-range improvement in the story
Please type up your notes formally, so you can pass them to each author. This will help you express your ideas more clearly in the short time you have for offering criticism. Bring two copies, as one copy is for my files. (You will get credit for the total number and quality of pieces of written feedback you provide, in addition to the verbal feedback you give.)
Remember, we will critique these three stories in class on Wednesday, March 24th.
Also remember, for Monday you are supposed to:
- Hand in a character sketch for a flat character
- Read the story “Flowers for Algernon” which I have given you to read.
We will be talking about “rounded” characters on Monday, and a similar homework assignment will follow.
Some Texts to Check Out
Here are the texts I mentioned in class today. I recommend you get onto them as soon as possible, and remember: feel free to read a Korean-language translation of either or both, as long as you also read the English-language original. The originals are both public-domain and freely available online. (They’re probably also in the library if you want to look for them there.)
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville
We will be discussing Heart of Darkness in a few weeks, and “Bartleby, The Scrivener” after midterms. Get onto those texts now, because I will also be giving you a few critical essays on them for preparation the week we’ll be discussing them. (You’ll want to finish the texts a week before we discuss them, in other words!)
Also, remember: your Preparation and Response Papers for the discussion of Posco in Orissa & Avatar are due this Thursday, March 18th. See you then!
Stuff for Next Week
Folks,
For next Tuesday, we’ll be concluding the discussion of the situation involving Posco and the Orissan government in the state of Orissa, and its comparison with the film Avatar. This discussion will mostly be you, with me providing support and questions, so be ready to talk with others for about an hour. Have some questions, facts, and ideas to share.
For the second hour of class, I’ve decided we’ll be looking at the first hour of the documentary The Corporation. Since it sometimes takes a couple of viewings before a documentary in a foreign language makes sense, feel free to pre-watch the first hour or so online. The first hour of the documentary is online here. If you like, the script for the documentary is available online, too. Look for “Complete Film Transcript” on this page.
Remember that your discussion preparation and discussion feedback paper for the topic of Posco/Orissa/Avatar will be due on Thursday, March 18th.
For The Corporation, you should prepare a discussion preparation paper for part 1 (the first hour) for the discussion we will hold on March 18th; it will be due on March 23rd, along with the discussion response paper you will write after Thursday’s class.
Stuff to Look At…
Folks,
Here’s some stuff to look at, which will help make our next class a little more comprehensible to you in general.
First off, we’re going to finish off discussing the pop culture samples you chose for analysis. We already talked about Desperate Housewives and Harry Potter. If you have more to say about those examples, please note it for class: I’ll ask if anyone has a question or comment, and then we will go on to the other two samples: Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, and the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
Here’s the video for Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean — we can analyze the video as a “text,” as well as the lyrics (and even the music), so have a look:
Also, this article will be useful for those thinking over the idea of pirates (a popular figure in American culture).
And with that, we’re going to turn to the roots of American popular culture, specifically prior to the 20th century. We’ll be checking out some older traditional “popular culture” and it will probably seem a little bit alien to you, so have a listen to some of this stuff:
First, if you don’t know “The Blue Danube” by Strauss, then please listen to this track, courtesy of Youtube:
… and, for contrast, a sample of traditional Zimbabwean music and dance:
Think about the differences and the similarities involved in these kinds of music, and the dances associated with them. We’ll be talking about this in class.
Please also give a look to some other videos and MP3s which will be of some importance, listed below. While we cannot directly access music from before about the 1920s, looking at stuff that’s available today can tell us about the past. So check out the following…
“Dog and Gun� (mp3) by Bradley Kincaid, from the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. (Though lyrics are notoriously changeable in folk songs, this version is pretty close.)
Branford Marsalis’ recording of the prison work song “Berta, Berta”, here:
… which was “resurrected” by August Wilson in his play, “The Piano Lesson”:
Please also have a look at Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” (lyrics here):
… and Fred “Mississippi” McDowell (with his wife Annie McDowell) doing “Get Right Church” (one version of the lyrics here, but there are many versions of this song):
… and a few more recent versions of the same song, including one by Reverend James Cleveland:
and another (much more recent, by some random guy out on the internet) this time using a banjo, and in a more “folksy” style:
I’ll also be giving you a story (by American writer Andy Duncan) to read next week, and while I don’t expect you to finish it for Thursday, we will be talking about it.
Terminology
I’ve gotten some questions about the terminology discussed in class. Next time, if you’re fuzzy on something, please be sure to ask in class. I got tied up all day, so it was hard for me to get this posted until Wednesday evening, and I have an appointment so this is going to be quick and, I fear, a bit sloppy. In any case, a clarification of terms I discussed:
- anxiety: simply put, this is the feeling or experience of discomfort which a society has regarding something — its own attitudes, its history or politics, its status in the world, or whatever. For example, King Kong can be argued to be “about” (or to “encode”) American social anxieties of the time it was made, regarding the status and position of blacks in America (as an imagined “threat” to white women and to social order, as social “underdogs,” as victims and underdogs who summoned up feelings of guilt, and as symbols of America’s brutal, racist history). When a society is anxious about something, it tends not to want to “talk about it” directly (ie. to confront the object of the anxiety directly) but also tends to feel an overwhleming need to represent it in indirect ways — in metaphors, for example.
- trauma: as with personal trauma, a social trauma is the effect of a painful, shocking, or distressing event that has a deep impact on a society and its outlook. Traumas often give rise to specific anxieties — for example, 9/11 and the immediate aftermath was a trauma that created new anxieties (or deepened old ones) about terrorism, government control, and religious extremism. Examples of other traumas specific to South Korean society include the partitioning of Korea into North and South, the Korean War, the assassination of Park Chung Hee, the Kwangju Massacre, and the 1997 economic crisis. Each of these events has generated specific anxieties, and each (arguably) has had an important influence on the literature and popular culture of South Korea.
- trope: a familiar, common, or recognizable structure, theme, or feature of a genre or of stories in general (in literature or cinema alike). For example, the vampire trope is recognizable to us, because we all know the traits of vampies (what kills them, what their powers are, and so on). Another kind of trope is a common theme, such as, “Boy Meets Girl” or “The Underdog Overcomes Impossible Odds,” or “The Cop Must Give Up His Gun and Badge and Go It Alone” or “If You Have Sex, You Will Die” (as in many horror movies).
- cliché: this is a trope that is used in a lazy way, or in a way that is so predictable as to be insulting to the audience. It has a negative connotation, so that sometimes familiar tropes are called “cliché” simply because the speaker dislikes the trope. For example, many feminists would say that the “Smart Girl Learns To Become a Pretty Girl” trope is a cliché. Not all tropes are necessarily clichés, but most clichés are, by necessity, familiar enough to be tropes, or part of tropes. (For example, one cliché in cop/army films is when the soldier or cop says angrily, “I didn’t sign up for this sh*t!” and disobeys orders. This is part of the individualistic “Cop Disobeys Orders and Goes It Alone” trope, of which one form is the copy giving up his gun and badge.)
Another way of saying this is: tropes are conventional structures we see in a kind of story. (Wikipedia has a great list of Fantasy Tropes and Conventions, for example.) A cliché is a trope that is so overused as to become predictable, or insulting, or annoying — it’s basically a trope that someone has decided he or she does not like. Therefore, cliché is a personal value judgment describing a particular trope.
- discourse: whatever I write here will not make this idea easier to understand, but the basic point is this: a discourse is the set and structure of ideas which form a kind of hidden “story about the world” (or about people, or about life, or about nature, or whatever) which can contain tropes, anxieties and the traumas they originate from, and more. If you think about tropes, anxieties, and the rest as lego bricks, then they build two stories: there’s the obvious story — like, a love story, or a story of colonization, or a murder mystery — and then there’s the deeper story about the world that is hidden inside the story.
For example, to say that a text contains a “Eurocentric discourse” is to say that, whatever the story it seems to tell on the surface, there is a deeper story embedded in it which claims that European people and culture are best, that non-Europeans are somehow inferior or in need of “help” (ie. Europeanization), and so on. A sexist discourse is one where there is a deeper set of assumptions and tropes or anxieties that support them, which suggest that one sex (often, but not always, male) is better than the other, that one sex or another has limited mental or social capabilities, and so on. A colonialist discourse is one that supports colonization of other societies, often by the society in which the text was produced. Because discourses are deeply embedded in narratives (stories) they often contradict the overt story. For example, a novel that argues, overtly, that men and women are equal can still have a sexist discourse embedded in it. (For example, while King Kong seems designed to make its audience feel sorry for King Kong, and by extension for African-Americans, the film also definitely contains an unarguably racist (and sexist) discourse… among others.)
I think that’s all the major terms we discussed. I hope this helps! If not, please ask me in class next time!