Course Description
This course examines twelve Latin American films—features and documentary films—to analyze social, cultural and political themes and issues present in several Latin American nations. We will address topics such as national cinemas and film industries; stylistic conventions and genres; film and political movements; and representations of race, class, and gender.
This is a three (3) unit class: you’re expected to spend an average of nine (9) hours working on each module.
Remote Online Synchronous Course
This course will be conducted remotely over the Internet.
All course material is available on the course website at https://juanmonroy.com/latinamerica. Graded assignments are are available on Google Classroom. We will not be using Blackboard.
This course consists of twelve modules on Latin American cinema—one for each film we will study.
Consult the section on modules for more information.
Learning Objectives
In this course, we will aim to accomplish the following:
- understand some basic history of Latin American nations and the contemporaneous events that informed the production of specific films
- know some canonical works of filmmaking and their filmmakers within specific Latin American nations
- write an informed analysis of a film
- contextualize specific films within larger tendencies in global cinema
Instructor
Juan Monroy
Office Hours
Office Hours will be held remotely on Google Meet by appointment only.
Log into a Google account and sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/qcofficehours.
Appointment slots—in twenty minute increments—are available at the following times:
Use the Google Meet in the email and calendar entry to connect to the conference.
Google Classroom
We will be using Google Classroom for graded assignments and for exams.
How to join our course on Google Classroom
1. Go to https://gdrive.qc.cuny.edu, enter your qmail address as your Google account.
2. When you see a QC-branded login page, sign in with your CAMS account (looks like jsmith100). If you have forgotten your username or password, go to https://cams.qc.cuny.edu.
2. Accept terms and conditions if it’s your first time logging in).
3. Go to https://classroom.google.com
- Identify as a student
- Click the + button on the top right.
- Add the course code listed in the welcome section of this syllabus.
Troubleshooting:
After adding the course, it won’t let you add the class again. Sometimes it switches you back to your personal Google account if you have more than one logged in at a time. Open the account switcher by clicking on your initial or profile picture in the top right and enter your QC account. If you don’t know my CAMS account/password, go to https://cams.qc.cuny.edu and click forgot Username or Password.
For more information, go to https://juanmonroy.com/courses/googleclassroom-qc/.
Counseling Services at Queens College
Counseling Services are available to any Queens College student. They assist students with personal concerns that can affect their enjoyment of and success in college. Services are free and confidential. All sessions take place on Zoom or by telephone, depending on student preference.
To make an appointment, students should call 718–997–5420 and leave a message with their phone number and CUNY ID. You can also e-mail counselingservices@qc.cuny.edu to set up an appointment.
https://www.qc.cuny.edu/studentlife/services/counseling/counseling/Pages/default.aspx
Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should register with the Special Services Office by emailing QC.SPSV@qc.cuny.edu. For more information about services available to Queens College students, visit the Office of Special Services website: https://www.qc.cuny.edu/studentlife/services/specialserv/Pages/default.aspx.
CUNY Policy on Academic Dishonesty
Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion as provided at https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-procedures/academic-integrity-policy/.
Netiquette
Please maintain a professional demeanor when posting online. You can be respectful even when you have a difference of opinion. Treat others as you’d want to be treated yourself. Don’t type in all caps, as that is the online equivalent of shouting. If you need to emphasize a word or phrase, use italics.
Technical Support
The Queens College Helpdesk, (718) 997–4444, helpdesk@qc.cuny.edu, is located in the I-Building, Room 151 and provides technical support for students who need help with Queens College email, CUNY portal, Blackboard, and CUNYFirst.
Modules
This course is broken up into twelve modules. Each module consists of:
Readings
Each module requires you to read a chapter or two from the following textbooks:
- Paul A. Schroeder Rodríguez. Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2016.
- Alberto Elena and Marina Díaz López, eds. The Cinema of Latin America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Ebooks versions of these titles are also available on reserve from the QC Library
Film Screenings
For each module, we will study one film.
Please links to where to stream the film in the course schedule below.
Watch the film in advance of our live discussion session as noted on the course schedule.
Live Discussion Sessions
We will have a virtual meeting each Monday, between 4:30–6:00 PM, on Zoom.
The joining information for this course is available on Google Classroom.
Sign in using your CUNY Zoom account before joining the meeting. This article explains how to sign in to your CUNY Zoom account.
This is a required activity. If you miss more than four live discussion sessions, you will not pass this class. However, if you attend twelve or more sessions, you will receive five extra-credit points added to your final grade.
Film Analysis Questions
On Google Classroom, I will post an image or a video clip from the film we studied for this module. Write a brief—two hundred word—discussion about the image or clip in relationship to the film in general.
Essay 1
In this essay, you will write a 600-word essay about one of the films we studied in the first six modules. Your analysis should avoid plot summary and instead explain how two scenes or the sequences from the film address how national identity is articulated, as we addressed in the discussion sessions.
Your essay should answer the question: “how does this film address the nation’s history, politics, or its people?”
Be sure to pay attention to the following five elements of film style: narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, or sound.
Essay 2
In this essay, you will write a 600-word essay about one of the films we studied in the last six modules. Your analysis should avoid plot summary and instead explain how two scenes from the film address how the film criticizes the nation and its political, social, or economic conditions.
Your essay should answer the question: “how does this film criticize the political, social, economic conditions of the nation?”
Be sure to pay attention to one of the following five elements of film style: narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, or sound.
Grading
Please submit your work on time. All late work will be penalized as follows:
- After a 24-hour grace period, late work will be penalized by a 10% reduction for each 24-hour period it is late. After one calendar week, the assignment will not be accepted, and you will likely fail this class.
- No work will be accepted after the last class session.
Your final grade will be based on the following:
- Film Analysis, ten of twelve are required: 30%
- Essay, lower score: 30%
- Essay, higher score: 40%
Course Schedule
Getting Started, August 30
- Get the required textbooks:
- Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History
- The Cinema of Latin America
- Activate your Google Apps at QC account
- Join the class on Google Classroom.
Module 1, Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, September 13
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “Transition to Sound,” 71–87
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “Birth and Growth of an Industry,” 88–115
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “Maria Candelaria,” 45–52
- Watch María Candelaria (Emilio Fernandez, 1944, Mexico, 76 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due Thursday, September 16
Module 2, The Brazilian Bandit, September 20
Module 3, Magical Neorealism, September 27
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “Neorealism and Art Cinema,” 129–163
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “Los Olvidados/The Young and the Damned,” 53–62
- Watch Tire Dié [Throw a Dime] (Fernando Birri, 1958, Argentina, 33 min.)
- Watch Los Olividados [The Young and the Damned] (Luis Buñuel, 1950, Mexico, 77 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due October 18
Module 4, Cinema Novo, October 4
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “New Latin American Cinema’s Militant Phase,” 167–178
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol/Black God, White Devil,” 89–98
- Watch Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol [Black God, White Devil] (Glauber Rocha, 1964, Brazil, 125 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due Thursday, October 18
Module 5, Third Cinema, October 18
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “New Latin American Cinema’s Militant Phase,” 178–184
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “La Hora de Los Hornos/The Hour of the Furnaces”, 119–129
- Watch “Neo-colonialism and Violence,” Part 1 of La Hora de los Hornos (Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino, 1968, Argentina, 84 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due Thursday, October 21
Module 6, Cuban Revolutionary Cinema, October 25
Essay 1, November 1
Your Essay 1, on cinema and national identity, is due on Google Classroom
Module 7, Argentina and the Dirty War, November 8
Programming note: we’re covering this material before the material on Chile because the films for Chile under the dictatorship of Pinochet aren’t available until November 13.
- Read Lewis, Daniel. “Dirty War (1974–1983),” in Alexander Mikaberidze, Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2013), 147–150
- Read Stephen M. Hart, “Nation/Image,” in Latin American Cinema (London, England: Reaktion Books, 2015), 74–82
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “La Historia Oficial / The Official Story”
- Watch La Historia Official [The Official Story] (Luis Puenzo, 1984, Argentina, 112 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due November 15
Module 8, Chilean Cinema in Exile, November 15
Programming note: we’re covering this material after the material on Argentina because the films for Chile under the dictatorship of Pinochet aren’t available until November 13.
- Read Jesse Hingson, “Chile, ” in Alexander Mikaberidze, Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2013), 96–100
- Read Latin American Cinema: A Comparative History, “New Latin American Cinema’s Neobaroque Phase: The Battle of Chile, 1975–79,” 185–190
- Read Zuzana M. Pick, “Chilean Cinema in Exile (1973–1986): The Notion of Exile: A Field of Investigation and Its Conceptual Framework,” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, no. 34 (1987): 39–57
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “La Batalla De Chile / The Battle of Chile,” 150–159
- Watch Part II of La Batalla De Chile / The Battle of Chile (Patricio Guzmán, Chile, 1976, 88 min.)
- Watch Diálogos de Exiliados / Dialogues of Exiles (Raul Ruiz, Chile, 1975, 100 min.) recommended
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due November 22
Module 9, Contemporary Brazilian Cinema, November 22
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “Terra Estrangeira / Foreign Land,” 210–219
- Watch Terra Estrangeira / Foreign Land (Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, Brazil, 1995, 100 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due November 29
Module 10, Contemporary Mexican Cinema, November 29
- Read Stephen M. Hart, “The Slick Grit of Contemporary Latin American Cinema (2000–2014),” in Latin American Cinema (London, England: Reaktion Books, 2015), 105–113
- Read The Cinema of Latin America, “Amores Perros / Love’s a Bitch”
- Read Germán Martínez Martínez, “A Mexican in Hollywood or Hollywood in Mexico? Globalized Culture and Alfonso Cuarón’s Films,” in Maria M. Delgado, Stephen M. Hart, Randal Johnson, eds., A Companion to Latin American Cinema (West Sussex, England: Wiley Blackwell, 2017)
- Watch Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico, 2000, 153 min.)
- Watch Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico/USA, 2018, 135 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due December 6
Module 11, Contemporary Argentine Cinema, December 6
- Read Stephen M. Hart, “The Slick Grit of Contemporary Latin American Cinema (2000–2014),” in Latin American Cinema (London, England: Reaktion Books, 2015), 114–115
- Read Stuart Klawans, “Imitation of Life: A Valediction for Fabián Bielinsky,” Parnassus: Poetry in Review 30, no. 1 (2008): 347–354,657
- Read Jens Andermann, “December’s Other Scene: New Argentine Cinema and the Politics of 2001,” in Jens Andermann and Álvaro Fernández Bravo, eds. New Argentine and Brazilian Cinema (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
- Watch Nueve Reinas / Nine Queens (Fabian Bielinsky, 2000, Argentina, 114 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due December 13
Module 12, Contemporary Colombian Cinema, December 13
- Read Stephen M. Hart, “The Slick Grit of Contemporary Latin American Cinema (2000–2014),” in Latin American Cinema (London, England: Reaktion Books, 2015), 141
- Read Juana Suarez, “The Reinvention of Colombian Cinema” in Maria M. Delgado, Stephen M. Hart, Randal Johnson, eds., A Companion to Latin American Cinema (West Sussex, England: Wiley Blackwell, 2017)
- Watch Maria, Llena Eres de Gracia / Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004, Colombia/USA/Ecuador, 101 min.)
- Answer the discussion question on Google Classroom, due December 20
Essay 2, December 20
Essay 2 is due today on Google Classroom