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- There is no God: Critique of Colonization in Isle of Flowers
There is no God: Critique of Colonization in Isle of Flowers
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This paper looks at the long term consequences of capitalism and colonization using Jorge Furtado's Isle of Flowers (1989).
| creator | Saffold, Demarco. |
| Title | There is no God: Critique of Colonization in Isle of Flowers |
| advisor | Geller, Theresa. |
| supporting host | Grinnell College. English Department. |
| Index Date | 2017 |
| Date Issued | 2017-06-16 |
| Publisher | Grinnell College |
| Type of Resource | text |
| Genre | research paper |
| Digital Origin | reformated digital |
| Digital Extent | 7 pages |
| Media Type | application/pdf |
| note | Written for a course with Professor Theresa Geller. |
| description | The long term consequences of capitalism and colonization have contributed to a separation of economic, social, and political conceptions between first and third world countries. This division is reinforced through first world entertainment and prevents spectators from perceiving indigenous people outside of a colonizing gaze. In this paper, I examine how first world films provide the spectator with false feelings of utopia by obscuring the violent relationship between capitalism and colonization. As an example of a film that subverts this model, I turn to Jorge Furtado's Isle of Flowers (1989), which works to reconstruct the spectator's perception of different subjects in the third world through a postcolonial framework. The film’s awareness of confliction between Portuguese colonizers and the indigenous people of Brazil introduces spectators to the convoluted history associated with colonization. Isle of Flowers begins to work at deconstructing what first world entertainment supports; instead of concealing these issue, spectators intervene through the eye of the camera. Postcolonial framework becomes the necessary tool Isle of Flowers applies to remodel how spectators view the third world. I contend since third world production techniques are distinct from the first world, Isle of Flowers functions as a strong example of third cinema, a democratizing piece that allows spectators to have a new perspective. |
| Language | English |
| Topic | Documentary films. |
| Topic | Ilha das flores. English. |
| Topic | Criticism, interpretation, etc. |
| Topic | Poverty in motion pictures. |
| Geographic | Brazil - Porto Alegre. |
| Temporal | 20th century |
| Classification | PN |
| Related Item | Digital Grinnell |
| Related Item | Student Scholarship |
| Identifier (local) | grinnell:18954 |
| Access Condition | Copyright to this work is held by the author(s), in accordance with United States copyright law (USC 17). Readers of this work have certain rights as defined by the law, including but not limited to fair use (17 USC 107 et seq.). |
| Identifier (hdl) | http://hdl.handle.net/11084/18954 |