Elsa M. Calderón
I have included films in this unit because students enjoy watching them and because they provide another method for understanding the themes of race and ethnic identity. Students have different learning styles, and some students derive a finer appreciation of the literature if they also view the films that accompany them. The films are carefully selected and are meant to be educational and not merely entertainment.
Furthermore, in the seminar by Yale Professor Bryan Wolf, we learned methods for analyzing films, via questions posed by Professor Wolf before, during, and after each film. Each film we saw was examined by the class with an eye to identifying themes of the American West, myths of the American West, rites of passage, and the metaphor of the border. In my unit, I will use some of these techniques to help my student view the films critically.
The most important videos are the 5 video set written and narrated by Carlos Fuentes, entitled
The Buried Mirror
, or
Espejo Enterrado
. I have shown some of the videos to my students and they were very successful for initiating discussions, making connections, and pulling together various concepts, themes, metaphors, and large amounts of historical information that would otherwise be almost impossible to do in a Spanish class. I show the videos in Spanish and prepare question before and after the video segments, to facilitate class discussions.
Chart of countries, artists, authors, and films:
(chart available in print form)
Thematic chart of authors and artists:
(chart available in print form)
Note to teachers on the metaphor of the mirror: The authors and artists who explicitly use the metaphor of the mirror, buried mirror or buried city are so indicated. However, the author of this unit has used the metaphor of the mirror in a broader way, to include reflections, distortions, and omissions. The other authors and artists have been included because the way they handle the discussion of race and ethnic identity suggests an understanding of the multiple ethnic layering that inherently includes the concept of more than one, as in more than one ethnicity, with the likelihood that one is viewed and one is kept hidden or buried. What is perhaps buried in the Americas is the history of the native americans, the precolombian civilizations, and the ensuing African presence. What is perhaps buried in Spain is the history of oppression of the gypsies and the persecution and expulsion of the Moors and Jews.
