Reacting to The Documentaries

The 301 class watched the two documentaries with their homeroom teacher revolving around the themes of being a minority in Han Chinese society, discrimination and identity. Its been challenging to try and find a suitable time in our schedules to have a live, joint interaction with the class from Beijing. It couldn't happen, sadly the timing is terrible,  and this is 301's graduating week.

Last week we tried filming 301's response, which was hardly a success; they were uncomfortable and shy in front of the camera. They did answer in writing, Jocelyn's 3 questions she said she would ask her students, I changed the 2nd one a little. Fortunately, I had one student (Sharon from B class) sit down with me and discuss what she wrote. My students answers were focused on Jocelyn's film, Nowhere to Call Home.

I. After Video Join Discussions

Some of the questions Jocelyn is discussing with her class are:

1. Which stereotypes, perceptions or attitudes contributed to conflict and why?

2. How did perceptions or attitudes contributed to resolving a problem, and why?

3. What could various characters have done to defuse conflict (make the situation less tense)? 

There are some common themes in all of 301's ideas about conflict resolution for Han discrimination against Tibetans:

 Foremost is a call for the Chinese government to legislate anti-discrimination laws to protect minorities, (which included giving Tibetans ID cards) and for the foreign media to expose such blatant racism. Both of those solutions seem to be influenced by my kids taking for granted living in a democratic society. Other popular answers were using NGOs, educating Chinese kids on treasuring minority cultures and teaching empathy. There were a few suggestions that Tibet declare independence, and again, I think my students don't know much background history on Chinese-Tibetan relations. I'm not so sure how easy it would be to convince Beijing of any of 301's solutions. Also from their unit on Colonialism, no one seemed to remember that looking at Natives as inferior and backward was part of the narrative that condoned the land grabs of the Americas, Africa and SE Asia by Europeans.

Since 301 and Jocelyn's class watched the recent racist Chinese laundry ad that went viral a few weeks ago, Jocelyn's students filmed their reactions and reviews, which I know that we over the Strait are deadly curious to hear (download here). 

With my class, I'd like to discuss a recent article about Tsai Ingwen using aboriginals to make her case of Taiwanese identity being separate from the mainland (NPR's June 11 report). Here are two timelines of Chinese-Tibetan relations one from the BBC, the other from Free Tibet that would be useful for my class.

How to watch a documentary: Learning to See

My 301 class will be involved with a special project after their racism unit. They along with a university class taught by filmmaker Jocelyn Ford in China will watch 2 documentaries about minorities in Taiwan and China followed by a joint discussion using WIGGIO.

The first film they will watch is Ford’s No Where to Call Home (2014) and the second one is my friend Tony Coolidge’s Voices in the Clouds (2010). I will remind the class about themes we have discussed in the past around issues of Colonialism, Otherness and Identity. 

A good article about Tsai Ingwen using aboriginals to make her case of Taiwanese separation from the mainland is NPR's June 11 report. Here are two timelines of Chinese-Tibetan relations one from the BBC, the other from Free Tibet.

I. Preview Lesson

Before they watch the films (with their homeroom teacher) I want to do an introduction on documentary films. As they watch the films they can fill out this viewing guide worksheet.

I.             Introduction

A.    Vocabulary

B.    Since the 1930s, documentaries have included:

• Educational films (made primarily for classroom use)
• Newsreel depictions of events
• Nature films
• Biographies
• Autobiographies
• Films designed to raise awareness about social issues and inspire people to action

One of the distinguishing characteristics of many documentary films is that they are not only informational but also artistic. Film Historian Tim Dirks describes them as “factual works of art.”

B. Techniques:

1.  Exposition:  In a documentary, the exposition occurs at the beginning and introduces the important themes of the film. It is important because it creates the viewer's first impression and introduces the viewer to the content.

Dramatic segments of the documentary are specially chosen in order to catch the viewer’s attention. These shots are specifically positioned, such that the montage positions us to believe a certain theme presented by the documentary.

2.    Re-enactments and live action (vérité) footage

3.    Stock or historical footage (Archival footage) and images shot by the filmmaker (Actuality)

4.    Voice Over

5.    Interviews

6.    Montage- visual representation of character’s thoughts

C. Film-making ethics:

1. When filmmakers tell someone else’s story rather than their own, what responsibilities do they have to their film’s subjects?

2. What are the ethics that should govern putting someone else on film?

3. Should the subjects of the film be shown the footage?

4. Should the subjects have a right to decide what is or is not included in the film?

D. EXTRA PROJECT: 

Allow them 10-20 minutes to plan their film and discreetly give each group a specific angle to take when thinking about their plans:

Group 1 – How does the student body feel about the school cafeteria? What do the students like? What do they think can be improved?

Group 2 – What kind of food is being served? What is the nutritional value? How does the quality of food compare to that of neighboring schools’ cafeterias?

Group 3 – Profile the head chef in the cafeteria.

Have each group present the elements of their plan without revealing their assigned focus. After all three groups have presented, ask for observations about the similarities and differences between plans. Ask them to guess what accounted for the differences. Then, reveal the three different angles and discuss how three films, all looking at the cafeteria, could turn out to be so different. Be sure that by the end of the discussion students understand the link between content and perspective. Advanced students might also discuss how content might have differed if they had the same assignment, but wanted to convey different points of view (e.g., they were all looking at the nutritional quality of the food, but one group wanted to highlight improvements in recent years, another group hoped to raise additional funding by highlighting improvements that still needed to be made, and the third group opposed the changes and wanted a return to foods that a greater number of kids liked, such as pizza, burgers, chicken fingers, and fries.

Discuss why a television series and website that showcases independent documentary films would choose the name “POV.”

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/behindthelens/lesson-plan-1/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film_techniques

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