Com 175 -- Special Topics In Communication: Media In Cuba

Cuba was one of the first of the countries outside of the industrialized world to create a film industry that was not only independent of Hollywood, but in many ways was set up as a direct challenge to the moral and political agenda of commercial cinema of the United States. This challenge was also seen as a way to counter the formal and aesthetic assumptions of Western mass media. This course will look at the history of the island itself and the evolution of Cuban film, art, television and radio on the island which has become one of the last holdouts for socialism in the world. The course will trace the trajectory of "Neo Realism" from Italy to the Caribbean. It will also look at the influence Cuba has had on Third World media from Africa to Taiwan, and especially in Latin America.

First Week

* Introduction: review of Cuban history with discussion of the blockade and TeleMarti. Guest: Joel Kovel

Playback: Who's Afraid of the Little Yellow School Bus?, May Ying Welsh and Cathy Scott

* Cuban Media in Context: A look at images of Latin America in US Films

Screening: Tropical Revue , DeeDee Halleck and Nathalie Magnan

Reading: Ana Lopez, "Are all Latins from Manhattan?", from Mediating Two Worlds: Cinematic Encounters in the Americas, King, Lopez and Alvarado, ed., BFI Press.

Second Week

* Cuban Media in Context: Italian Neo Realism and the Cuban Intellectuals

Screening: The Bicycle Thief, de Sica

Reading: John Hess, "Neo Realism and New Latin American Cinema", from Mediating Two Worlds: Cinematic Encounters in the Americas, King, Lopez and Alvarado, ed., BFI

Playback: Pastor Vega, Viva La Republica

* First Steps: Theoretical and practical background.

Screening: The Train Rolls On, by Chris Marker; For the First Time

Reading: Michael Chanen, The Cuban Image: first three chapters

Playback: Los Olvidados; Miracle in Rome, Stromboli

Third Week

* The role of the intellectual in the revolution; the role of the revolution in culture.

Screening: Tomas Gutierrez Alea's: Memories of Underdevelopment

Reading: Alea in Cinema and Social Change in Latin America by Julianne Burton.

Playback Screening: Zeinabu Davis, Crocodile Conspiracy

* Second half of the Alea film and discussion

Reading: Fidel Castro, "Statement to the Intellectuals"

Fourth Week

* Reconstruction of Cuban History:

The Last Supper, Tomas Gutierrez Alea,

Reading:Espinosa in Cinema and Social Change in Latin America by Julianne Burton.

* Lucia, Humberto Solas

Reading: Ruis, Cuba for Beginners

Fifth Week

* Sara Gomez: One Way or Another (De Cierta Manera)

Reading: Discussion of Sara Gomez

Playback: Portrait of Teresa by Pastor Vega

* Finish film and discussion

DUE: Five page paper on one of the supplemental films that are on reserve, using references to critical literature that is outside of the required readings.

Sixth Week

* The role of ICAIC and Cuba in general on Latin American Culture

Slide Show: Cuban Film Posters and other Cuban Art

* Cuba Art in the post Modern Context

Screening: Coco Fusco's film on Cuban art

Film from San Antonio de Los Baños on Three Cuban Artists, Revolu, Revolu

Playback: Student tapes from San Antonio de los Baños

Seventh Week

* Critique of the Revolution

Screening: Death of a Bureaucrat, Alea

Reading: Tshombe Gabriel, "Towards a critical theory of Third World films", from Questions of Third Cinema, Pines and Willemen, ed.. BFI Press

* Gays and the Revolution: Graciela Sanchez, Not Just Because Fidel Says So

Eighth Week

* The Internationalist Initiative :San Antonio de Los Baños Opening

Screening: Fernando Birri: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Reading: Fernando Birri, "Manifesto for Opening of School of Three Worlds"

Playback: Enrique Pineda Barnet's La Bella del Alhambra

* The politics of the process: imperfection as an aesthetic

Screening: Documentaries by Santiago Alvarez

Reading: Julio Garcia Espinosa, "For Imperfect Cinema", "20 Years of Imperfect Cinema"

Playback: El Super, Espinosa's El Plan

Ninth Week

* Cuban TV: Telenovelas, Children's Programming, Teleseries

Screening: Maritza Rodriguez, Los Abuelos; Iraida Malberti, Quando Yo Sea Grande

Reading: Halleck, Stone's Throw: TV From Cuba, Island in Goliath's Sea; Halleck, "Women in production in Cuba"

* Cuban TV News, Scandal and Telemarti

Screening: Excerpts from Telemarti; TV News; TV trial of Cuban drug connection.

Reading: Laurien Alexander, "An Electronic Bay of Pigs" in Stone's Throw Catalog.

Tenth Week

Discussion: Tomas Gutierrez Alea's Fresas y Chocolate

* Wrap Up

FINAL EXAM Three short essay questions on the screenings and readings, including screenings from playback.