Weekly Response 2: Character Analysis
Readings (Look in class library for readings, by organized by author’s last name). I suggest you read in the following order.
1. By Sunday (April 12), please watch the film, Cesar Chavez, currently in theaters. [film]
2. Moraga, “Heroes and Saints” [excerpt from a play]
3. Ruiz, “Citizen restaurant” [article]
4. Alexie, “How to write the great american indian novel” [poem]
5. The last samurai (movie trailer)
6. Said, “Orientalism” [excerpt from book]
7. “Reel Bad Arabs” [50 minute documentary.] Can be found on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lugFgJn9krI
8. Menez, “Viscera Sucker” [chapter from edited book]
9. Lopez, “White by law” [article]
WRITING RESPONSE: Your reflections do not have to be same length, but should total approximately 1-2 pages (300-600 words) in total for both responses.
1. Reading reflection. In American literature and movies, the fictionalized figures of “racially-marked Others” carry out a lot of “work” in inventing what is “right”, what is “wrong”, who is “right”, and who is “wrong”, who should be allowed to live, and who should be killed. Please reflect on how “common sense” ideas of race are connected to material and legal realities – for example, laws, military policy, labor practices, citizenship rights, etc. Please reflect on how this across ALL of the readings. Be sure to discuss every single reading (videos too).
2. Character archetype analysis. Pick a TV or movie character from the film, Cesar Chavez. Based on your lecture notes, reflect on the following:
Surface = Superficially, what is being sold to viewers? What are viewers supposed to find “satisfying” about this character?
Decode the Code = What historical archetype(s) are being reproduced in the character?
Triangular Analysis = What is the relationship of the character to 2 other archetypical characters in the story?
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