From roper@csf.Colorado.EDU Mon Sep 5 17:14:29 MDT 1994 Date: Mon, 5 Sep 1994 17:14:29 -0600 From: ROPER DON To: movies@csf.Colorado.EDU Subject: Costner's Field of Dreams Status: RO year: 1991 (?) rating: *** SOCIAL CHANGE AT THE MOVIES Field of Dreams is a daring breakthrough and, with massive ticket sales, it should be widely imitated. If other producers accurately assess it's avante garde message, we could have the movie industry playing an important participatory role in social change. You can't sell tickets unless you give the buyers something they want to hear. I think that one of this movie's great appeals is operative at a subconscious level. It's obvious that the voices that Kevin Costner hears and acts on are not a model of Western rationality. But I suggest that, at a subsconscious level, we in fact WANT to consider ways of knowing which run counter to mainstream, Western, Descartean epistemology based on scientific objectivity. The inner voice to which Costner listens is not an extreme New Age affrontry to Western anti-mysticism of the kind that is found in Shirley McClaine's statement on reincarnation. It's much too subtle to be put in the same camp as, for example, channeling. But the soft gentle way that listening-to-voices is portrayed through this film is part of its effective role as part of our culture's changing attitude towards the way we know. The movie is powerful because it carefully strokes so many of the chords of America -- binding family loyalty, baseball, Iowa cornfields, "don't sell the farm," and the pursuit of individual vision. Pitting the good guys (Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Bert Lancaster...) against the bad guys (real estate vultures anxious to prey on a family whose farm is worth less than the mortgage) brings all of our heart throbs in line with a family willing to risk it all in response to "inner voices." This movie is not about baseball -- that's clearly a vehicle to call forth traditional American passions and loyalties. It is, to a significant extent, about, as one reviewer put it, "correcting the regrets of the past and the peace that comes with resolution." But that's something we know and for which we are grateful to be reminded. By rearticulating this noble value more credibility is lent to the underlying avante guard message which, I think, facilitates social change. Field of Dreams is not just about fantasy. To see it as a charming story on fantasy (like the ephemeral rabbit that only James Stewart could see in Harvey) is to underestimate the powerful social message. Seen as fantasy, it says that the pursuit of fantasy-dreams isn't all bad even if it does put the family farm to risk. The purity of heart with which Costner pursues his "fantasy" helps make fantasizing more socially legitimate. The message which, in my estimation, we want to hear and which is generating large box office sales, is that profound events are possible if we pursue other forms of knowing. And we are looking for new sources of change since our traditional scientific ways of knowing are increasingly perceived as leading us into peril. Through Field of Dreams, writer and director, Phil Robinson, is helping us believe that it's all right, mabye even valuable, to listen to our inner voices, to listen to our intuitive, spiritual selves, for guidance. Various art forms, especially music, are widely recognized as vehicles for social change. This movie, standing alone, may not have the power of the Beatles or Bob Dylan, but it could, if it spawns a wave of movies that grant greater credibility to subjective ways of knowing. From 34LPF6T%CMUVM.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu Sat Oct 1 13:15:55 MDT 1994 Sat, 1 Oct 94 15:17:54 +1100 Wed, 21 Sep 94 14:53:21 +1100 Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 12:50:47 -0600 Reply-To: 34LPF6T%CMUVM.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu Originator: psn@csf.colorado.edu Sender: psn@csf.colorado.edu Precedence: bulk From: "T R. Young" <34LPF6T%CMUVM.BITNET@vaxf.colorado.edu> Subject: Do the Right Thing X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: PROGRESSIVE SOCIOLOGISTS NETWORK Status: RO Ted Manley has an article in the Jan. '94 issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies in which he explicates the scenes from the movie, Do the Right Thing...it is well laid out for teaching students in Intro, Social Problems and courses on racism in the USA. He quotes Marable's reading of the movie to the effect that it lays out the social consequences of racism for poverty, disemployment and police brutality. Manley brings the scenes into sharper focus on the various symbols set which Afro-Americans use to create 'an oppositional social identity.' Oppositional, that is, to the one created by institutional racism; movies, magaazines, politics and economics. It is a way of managing the spoiled identities available to young men and women who reject such social identities...those in soc psych or who teach symbolic interactional theory will also find a rich vein to work. Ted's exigesis also give insight into the formation of minority enclaves in majority institutions including university. Those in marxist studies/pol econ will find the discussion on commodity fetishism helpful to their students. The bifurcations in the Afro-Amer community is extricated as well. Those in family/age courses will find useful material in the discussion of intergenerational conflict; those in gender studies might want to look at Ted's treatment of sexism in the film. He turns to Bell Hooks to explicate that part of the movie. Inter group relations between AA and Koreans; AA and Italian-Americans is also discussed. All in all, the piece is a useful contribution to cultural marxism and a macro-analytic social psychology. T.R. Young From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Sat Oct 1 13:17:55 MDT 1994 Sat, 1 Oct 94 15:19:53 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 1 Oct 1994 15:19:24 EDT Subject: reality bites Status: RO title: reality bites reviewer: allan liska (hstaub@bss1.umd.edu) year: 1993 my rating: ** cls rating: **** theory: merton's strain theory review: while this movie is a big favorite with the class, i thought of it as more of a nineties version of a stupid, predictable love story. what it is useful for is standing merton's theory on its head, as the main character moves through each one of merton's levels of strain. she starts the movie as a conformist, valedictorian of her class; she moves on to ritualist, dead end job, can't advance, gets fired. she becomes [i forget the next stage, but it will be in my review], as she sits on her couch and won't leave the house and runs up a large phone bill to the psychic hotline. she turns innovator when she uses her dad's gas card to make money. and finally ends the movie as a rebel whe she rejects all of society's norms and chooses the jobless musician over the successful executive. watch also, for the other characters, as they are all in different stages of merton's development. From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Sat Oct 1 13:26:24 MDT 1994 Sat, 1 Oct 94 15:28:23 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 1 Oct 1994 15:27:59 EDT Subject: mind walk and far away so close Status: RO One of the best movies I have seen in a Sociology class was Mind Walk. I am not sure who directed it, but it is well worth finding. The scene is a small island off the coast of France. A physicist (female) a poet, and a politician (just lost presidential race) meet. They spend the day wandering the island discussing Quantum Physics and how it relates to society as a whole. Quite a film. Another one which I have seen recently (not in a class) could work well in a social-philosophy setting. It is called Far Away So Close. It takes place in Berlin just after the wall came down. An angel comes to life and has to cope with human abstracts, time, hunger, alcoholism. The film is in German, French, Italian, and English with subtitles where needed. Probably the best movie I have ever seen. Another great aspect of this film is the soundtrack by Lou Reed ("Berlin"), and the presense of Peter Falke (sp?) ala Columbo. I give both of these films 4 smilies :-) :-) :-) :-) and a wink ;-) . From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Sat Oct 1 18:17:43 MDT 1994 Sat, 1 Oct 94 20:19:42 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 1 Oct 1994 20:19:17 EDT Subject: the struggle for an american way of life Status: RO THE STRUGGLE FOR AN AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE: ** Coal Miners and Operators in Central Pennsylvania, 1919-1933 (IUP Folklife Documentation Center: Indiana Pa., 1992) 56 min. This two part documentary focuses on how a progressive mine worker coalition struggled with operators and conservative unionists over problems facing the industry in the post WWI era. Conflict between these forces erupted in three nation-wide work stoppages in the bituminous fields, the 1919, 1922, and 1927 strikes. Although the 1919 strike stalled the industry and resulted in the intervention of the federal government, its outcome did not resolve labor/management tensions. The unresolved issues of 1919 festered and culminated in the 1922 strike. The outcome of 1922 provided a framework for the remainder of the decade with the operator led right wing triumphing by breaking all contracts with the UMWA by the middle of the decade. The documentary also identifies and follows the progressive trends that ultimately helped influence and shape the dramatic come back of the UMWA in the early 1930s. The video mixes various approaches to documentary making. It includes oral interviews with rank and file miners and their wives, overview narration of events and themes, and contextualization by academics such as Melvyn Dubofsky, Professor of History, SUNY-Binghamton; Gary Gerstle, Associate Professor of History, Catholic University and author of _Working Class Americanism_; and Alan Singer, Assistant Professor of Education, Hofstra University. Mr. Singer wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on mine workers in Nanty Glo, Cambria County Pa. _The Struggle for an American Way of Life_ raises questions about how interpretations of Americanism affect prospects for human rights, democracy, and fairness. For a 1/2" VHS copy please send $20.00 to the following: United Mine Workers of America Unemployment Assistance Fund Rebecca Barna Director 625c South 13th Street Indiana, Pa. 15701 (412) 349-4959 ** Produced, directed, and written by Jim Dougherty, Coordinator of the IUP Folklife Documentation Center. From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Thu Jan 5 11:22:28 MST 1995 >From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Thu Jan 5 11:22:27 1995 Received: from umail.UMD.EDU (umail.umd.edu [128.8.10.28]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with SMTP id LAA02995 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 1995 11:21:51 -0700 Received: by umail.UMD.EDU (5.57/Ultrix3.0-C) id AA02613; Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:26:23 -0500 Received: from LEFRAK/MAILQUEUE1 by bss1.umd.edu (Mercury 1.13); Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:26:24 +1100 Received: from MAILQUEUE1 by LEFRAK (Mercury 1.13); Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:26:01 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 13:25:54 EDT Subject: 1877: Grand Army of Starvation Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.21 Message-Id: <1E3D3FC73AB@bss1.umd.edu> The short (30 minutes) film, 1877:The Grand Army of Starvation, uses a collage of period illustrations, narrated by James Earl Jones, to tell the story of the great railway strike of 1877. This little known strike, and the brutal way in which it was put down, is described in such a manner that students really get a feeling for the time and the reasons for the job action. It brings in the different ways that the communities respond, from mass support in Pittsburg, to class warfare in Chicago. I used it, supplemented with lecture taken from P. Foner's book on the strike, in a lower division deviance class, to introduce marxist perspectives on deviance. I was extremely pleased by the class response. Its length makes it ideal for the standard 50 minute class, and J.E.J. narration lends legitimacy for even the most resistant student. Celia Winkler Graduate Teaching Fellow Sociology Dept. University of Oregon cwinkler@oregon.uoregon.edu From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Thu Jan 5 11:26:55 MST 1995 >From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Thu Jan 5 11:26:55 1995 Received: from umail.UMD.EDU (umail.umd.edu [128.8.10.28]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with SMTP id LAA03345 for ; Thu, 5 Jan 1995 11:26:54 -0700 Received: by umail.UMD.EDU (5.57/Ultrix3.0-C) id AA03078; Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:31:25 -0500 Received: from LEFRAK/MAILQUEUE1 by bss1.umd.edu (Mercury 1.13); Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:31:26 +1100 Received: from MAILQUEUE1 by LEFRAK (Mercury 1.13); Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:31:17 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 13:31:10 EDT Subject: Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.21 Message-Id: <1E3EA850920@bss1.umd.edu> This is a classic film, required viewing for all undergraduates, telling the story of women's workforce participation before, during, and after WWII. I used it, however, to demonstrate the relationship between ideology and social structural changes in a family class. At one hour, it is too long for 50 minute classes, so I showed selected portions. Because it is comprised of period film clips and interviews, it responds well to that kind of editing. It is now available on videotape. Celia Winkler Graduate Teaching Fellow Sociology Dept. University of Oregon cwinkler@oregon.uoregon.edu From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Wed May 3 23:56:11 MDT 1995 >From HSTAUB@bss1.umd.edu Wed May 3 23:56:10 1995 Received: from umail.UMD.EDU (umail.umd.edu [128.8.10.28]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.11/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with SMTP id XAA11065 for ; Wed, 3 May 1995 23:56:08 -0600 Received: by umail.UMD.EDU (5.57/Ultrix3.0-C) id AA22661; Thu, 4 May 95 01:57:39 -0400 Received: from LEFRAK/MAILQUEUE1 by bss1.umd.edu (Mercury 1.20); 4 May 95 01:57:38 +1100 Received: from MAILQUEUE1 by LEFRAK (Mercury 1.20); 4 May 95 01:57:28 +1100 From: "ALLAN LISKA" Organization: University of Maryland,College Park To: movies@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 4 May 1995 01:57:25 EDT Subject: Justice in the Coalfields Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.21 Message-Id: This review submitted by John Gaventa The discussion on May Day and labor events around the world prompted me to share with others an excellent new resource on labor strugles in the coalfields. The film, called "Justice in the Coalfields" is about the struggles of the miners in the Pittston strike and one of the largest spontaneous mass actions of workers in recent times. Justice in the Coalfields demonstrates how labor law has crippled the collective bargaining power of unions and weighed the scales of justice against working people. The documentary follows the United Mine Workers strike against the Pittston Coal Compan y and explores the strike's continuing impact on coalfield communities. When the contract between the UMWA and Pittston expired in February 1988, Pittston terminated the medical benefits of 1,500 pensioners, widows, and disabled miners. This violation of a long standing social contract ignited a community-wide sense of outr age. Justice in the Coalfields documents the events that followed in southwestern Virginia, the heart of the strike and a right-to work state. Hundred of state troopers are seen escorting "replacement workers' through the picket lines. Union members, their families and friends are shown responding with mass civil disobedience resulting in over 4,000 arrests. State and federal judges reached w ith injunctions and fined the UMWA more than $64 million. These events are given context through conversations with the rank and file. Additional perspectives are provided by a federal judge, a public interest lawyer, the coal company president, and the public affairs director of the National Right to Work Committee. Justice in the Coalfields is an excellent vehicle for discussion about community, government, and corporate concepts of justice; the history and future of organized labor in the U.S.; the future of American workers in a global economy; health care reform ; and the role of culture and heritage in community empowerment. People interested in learning more about how to get the film should contact Appalshop 306 Madison Street Whitesburg, KY 606-633-0108 606-633-1009 -allan/LWP ...................................................................... . I'd like to take some senators down Allan Liska . . that Reservation Road --Bill Miller Dept. of Sociology . . University of Maryland . . Mute Newt! --Steve Lankenau HSTAUB@BSS1.UMD.EDU . . FREEDOM NOW--FOR LEONARD PELTIER!!!! . ......................................................................