Assignment 1: Race and Ethnicity Movie Analysis
Overview
For this assignment you will choose to view one of two documentaries. It is up to you which you choose, and you will only be required to view one of them. After reading/viewing all of the lectures from the race and ethnicity section of this module you will evaluate one of the two movies below using that information. Your analysis should be at least 3 pages (1,000 words) in length.
Movie option 1: A World of Ideas: Maya Lin
The first documentary is about Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam War Memorial. In this movie she discusses her experience as an Asian American artist, her childhood as the daughter of immigrants, the racism she experienced when the media found out that an Asian American had designed the Vietnam War Memorial, and her own views on how race and ethnicity fit into the American identity. Lin talks about these issues mainly from her own personal perspective. One of the links below should work for you to view the movie.
Link to view the video by logging in through the LPC Library. If you use this link you will need to log in as prompted, then search for “Maya Lin World of Ideas” in the search box.. The first film that comes up will be “World of Ideas: Maya Lin.” That is the film you need to watch.
Transcript to the Maya Lin movie. Here is a link to the complete transcript of the movie. Not very exciting, but if you can’t access the move it will do in a pinch. It is several pages long, so be sure to scroll through the complete program: http://www.pbs.org/becomingamerican/ap_pjourneys_transcript5_print.html
Movie option 2: A Victim of Two Cultures: Richard Rodriguez
In this movie author and American culture analyst Richard Rodriguez talks about his own experience growing up in America with a Mexican-American background. He discusses the plight of Latinos and minorities in general in the American experience, how his religion connects him to his heritage, how he forms his own identity by integrating parts of the Mexican and parts of the American identity, and why he has chosen to embrace American culture and the American dream. His analysis is mostly from his own perspective, but he sometimes (a bit uncomfortably for my tastes) generalizes about his culture and the experience of other minority groups.
Link to view the video by logging in through the LPC Library. If you use this link you will need to log in as prompted, then search for “Richard cultures” in the search box at the top. You’ll want to view the video: “Richard Rodriguez: A Victim of Two Cultures: Richard Rodriguez.” That is the film you need to watch.
