COMM 150 Lecture Notes - Jean Cayrol, Alain Resnais, Great Man Theory
Document Summary
Grapes of wrath, titanic, amistad, gangs of new york. Characters stand in for people back then, how they felt, etc. Ken burns, closest thing we have to a national historian. His films stand in for a certain idea or concept in the past that he supports. Follow a biographical, great man theory, structure. Each are a chance to speak to the uniqueness of the american experience. Work is engaged in understanding the past. 1950"s leading up to the 10th anniversary of the holocaust. Schindler"s list, life is beautiful, the pianist. Jean cayrol was imprisoned at oranienburg, and wrote the text of the documentary. Tried to make the film a warning signal more than a memorial to the dead. We are seeing nothing of the reality of the camp. The images are meant to make us uncomfortable and act as warnings. Immeasurable numbers of people who died there. Women"s hair mountains, lists of people in books.
