The New Continent, shadow of the desire for the West - focusing on the images through films
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2009.13.1.41
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature
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Historical accident survives by the memories of the descendents and coming ages. And its reconstructions get new meanings through the interpretations of them. The Discovery of America has been interpretated differently with passing eras. There have been many interpretations about this historical fact, but most of them are reflecting the perspectives of the westerners. Between the westerners and american indians or latin americans there is no objective perspective to evaluate the Discovery of America. In this case, objectivism is not a fixed form, but a flexible one through times. Now we, the contemporaries are living the world where the visual images and cultural codes are full everywhere. Therefore the films and documentaries are available to interpretate the modern meanings, reconstructing the historial accidents with visual images and cultural codes, with which the modern people think and cognize the world where they live. In this investigation we've planned to analyze the necessity and advantage of using the films and documentaries to know how the contemporaries recognize the Discovery of America and evaluate it. To realize this investigation we've analyzed some films and documentaries such as [1492, Conquest of Paradise], [El Dorado], [Mission], [Soy Cuba], [Historia de España: La noche de los tiempos. Vol. XIV El descubrimiento de América], [Nueva historia de España -10 El descubrimiento de América], comparing with the historical documents, essays and books like Diario de a bordo, Venas abiertas, Primer viaje alrededor del mundo, etc. Columbus described the America as a Paradise in [Diario de a bordo],but [Historia de España: La noche de los tiempos. Vol. XIV El descubrimiento de América] considers America as mine of gold, silver, and natural resources, alluding that the westerners deserve the Discovery of America as a reward. At least, [Nueva historia de España -10 El descubrimiento de América] recognizes the cultures and civilizations of the american indians and latin americans, even though the documentary rationalizes partially the cruel and violent behaviors of the westerners in the process of Conquest and Exploitation. [1492, Conquest of Paradise] emphasizes how warm-hearted person was Columbus with everyone including even indians who practically had died of violence and exploitation as mentioned in the book, Venas abiertas of Eduardo Galeano. [El Dorado] tells us how greedy the explorers for worldly riches in America, but Carlos Saura emphasizes more on the weakness of the human being. [Mission] shows how the desire and ambition for the geographical expansion of Spain and Portugal destroyed the happiness of the guarani who inevitably sacrificed the missionaries. Mikhail Kalatozov accuses Columbus and the westerners in America of the violent exploitation in [Soy Cuba], considering the Discovery of America as tragic reencounter between two Continents, while Jan Elliott accuses Columbus as historically most cruel murderer, judging him as person responsible for the genocide of the indians. Now in the 21st century films and documentaries have the advantage of reflecting the mind and thoughts of the contemporaries. Therefore we've focused on how the films and documentaries reconstruct the history in the mind and thoughts of the people. The meanings of the Discovery of America always can be re-interpretated by the new perspectives of descendents, coming ages and others.
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Discovery of America, History of Exploitation, Image of Desire, Latin America, Memories of History, Reconstruction of Memories, Columbus, Species, Analysis of films and documentaries, Utopia, El Dorado, [1492, conquest of Paradise], [El Dorado], [Soy Cuba], [Mission], Diario al Bordo, Primer viaje alrededor del Mundo, Venas abiertas
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[book] Colón, Cristóbal / 1985 / Diaro de a bordo / Ediciones Generales Anaya
[book] Elliott, Jan / 1992 / Exhibiting Ideology: A Review of 'First Encounters: Spanish Exploratin in the Caribbean and the United States, 1492-1570) in : Confronting Columbus: An Anthology / N.C. Jefferson
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[book] 이전 / 1994 / 라틴아메리카 지리: 문화와 역사 그리고 정치·시사를 중심으로 / 민음사
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[other] / [1492, Conquest of Paradise]. Ridley Scott(Director). UK/France/Spain. English. Color, 1992
[other] / [El Dorado]. 149m. Carlos Saura(Director). Spain/France/Italy. Spanish. Color, 1988
[other] / [Historia de España: La noche de los tiempos. Vol. XIV El descubrimiento de América]. 55m. Martín Cabañas y Antonio Ibañez(Producción); Joaquin Vera(Dirección). Producción de Televisión Española. Spain. Spanish, 1995
[other] / [Mission]. 126m. Roland Joffé(Director). UK. English. Color, 1986
[other] / [Nueva historia de España -10 El descubrimiento de América]. 60m. DV-420/ Universidad de León. Spain. Spanish. Mediateca, 2002
[other] / [Soy Cuba]. 141m. Mikhail Kalatozov(Director). Soviet Union/Cuba. Spanish. Black and White, 1964
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