“Brazil,” by Terry Gilliam, is a 1985 science fiction noir film about the dystopian society of the future. The film follows the story of Sam Lowry, a government employee working at the Department of Records, a massive government bureaucratic organization that keeps records and track of all individuals in the "Brazil" society. The story revolves around the character Archibald Harry Buttle, who is mistaken as the terrorist engineer Archibald Harry Tuttle (played by Robert De Niro) and killed in custody. Jill Layton, a neighbor of Mr. Tuttle, tries to report this mistake to the Office of Information Retrieval (which is highly reminiscent of the Gestapo from both their uniform and tactics), but is instead marked as a terrorist herself for insisting the government made a mistake. Sam Lowry becomes obsessed about this woman because he keeps seeing her in his dreams, and as such he finally accepts a promotion to “The Department of Information Retrieval ” in order to get her classified information as well as clear the charges against her. However, Sam Lowry gets detained due to abusing his power, and is tortured at the end of the movie. The movie ends with him going crazy during torture and imagining that he escaped and lived a happier and simpler life in the countryside.
Although this film is primarily a critique of bureaucracy, the film also gives us a unique perspective on how the physical features of city actually reflect both the levels of corruption and inefficiency within a society.Near the beginning of the story, Sam Lowry goes to a fancy restaurant with his mother, and one of the noticeable features in the restaurant is the number of unsightly ventilation tubes snaking above the tables (as seen below).
Later in the movie, Tuttle explains that only the Central Services are allowed to work on ventilating systems, and as such the sloppy ventilating system visible in the restaurant is the work of Central Service Employees. This brings up an important idea that looking at a the physical characteristics of a city, especially the parts that the government runs, one can actually tell the efficiency of the government and the society as a whole. Thus, Just looking at the restaurant, one can already see the visible levels of bureaucratic and inefficient that plague the government.Another example of how the physical features of a city reflect its efficiency is shown when Sam goes to Jill’s apartment building. The camera first shows a propaganda poster, and the camera pans out after this shot to show a dirty and impoverished community, a reflection of the government’s inefficiency and the inequality rampant in the society(something which the masses are visibly displeased about, as shown in the pictures below).
Notice what is written over the H in Happiness on the picture below:
Notice the change as the camera shot above pans to the shot below:
The idea of using physical features to understand city works not only with the cities of “Brazil” but also with actual cities. For example when you look at a street in Austin, you can tell the presence the local government has in an area by observing subtle features like trash bins or street cleanliness (aka does the city of Austin Garbage Department regularly come by?) to more overt features like the nearness of police stations. Terry Gilliam uses these same techniques and features in his movie “Brazil,” albeit on grander scale than one would find in the real world.
Edinburg, Texas was a place abundant with orange trees and fields of cotton. Migrant farmers came and went with their families and a few small businesses flourished with the repeating faces of their customers. People tended to their ranches and the town was quiet and peaceful. All this change though when highway 281 was built! The quiet town became a connection between the border of Mexico to the larger cities of San Antonio and Houston. The small businesses in the city of Edinburg began to fade into the past while all the commotion of commerce migrated straight to the new areas surrounding this highway. Eventually the areas around 281 grew to be part of Edinburg and this transformed a quiet farm town into a city.
As a new city, Edinburg, like other towns along the Rio Grande border, began to experience a flood of people coming into its grasp. Not from the U.S, but rather from our neighboring country, Mexico. Attracted by jobs opening up, better schools for their kids, and the rights given to Americans, Mexican citizens along the border hopped the river like bunnies excited to be part of this growing city. The idea of a better life attracted so many people to the point where rules and restrictions had to be made and people in the hopes of being a part of the U.S didn’t have the money to follow them, so they found “other methods” (other methods led to terms like wetback…). Because of its history, Edinburg has grown to be defined by its population and the rich culture they bring to the table. The population is more than 80% Hispanic draping Edinburg with deep Hispanic and American traditions combined. The Spanish and English language slowly began to merge together presenting the city with Spanglish and imaginary words like “cagger (from the spanish word cagar), menso, wakala, sonso, watcha, and Welo.” These are some worlds that you can find only in the Rio Grande Valley(http://http://www.facebook.com/onlyinthevalley), but they drip off the tongues of Edinburg residents full of unique culture.
The food in Edinburg is also what makes the city unique. Restaurants paint the streets of Edinburg with their cheap prices and tasty cuisine. Most eateries in the area consist of family operated businesses sharing what they have to offer with the rest of the Edinburg population. Franchises pop up every now and then, but cannot compete against places that have been open and trusted since Highway 281 fell from the sky and blessed the small town. Panera Bread couldn’t compete against a panaderia’s 4 donuts for $1 and assortment of tasty treats for less than 15 cents each. Mexican food in Edinburg is like the smell of weed at ACL, It is everywhere. Streets give birth to Taquerias, Tamale places, and barbacoa restaurants as if it were trying to save a species. The problem is though and it is plastered all throughout the City is that Mexican Food = obesity. Mexican food tends to be layered in grease and fat that it has shaped the Edinburg population, therefore shaping the city. People are less active and tend to be lazy in the city partially because of obesity. Part of the population that cannot be left out is the illegal population. They have probably shaped the City of Edinburg more so then anyone else who decided to play with clay and build a city. They provide the town with affordable food because they work and collect it for cheap. Lawns are always maintained and tidy because they are willing to cut half an acre of grass for 10 dollars including trimming trees. House keepers are easy to find because 80$ a week keeps your house clean every day. They do the jobs people don’t want to do themselves and it contributes to the city positively.
Like any other City, Edinburg has downsides. As the population grew, gangs moved into the city originally from Mexico. Theft occurs often because people can just take your belongings across the border and/ or sell them at a nearby flea market a.k.a la pulga. Being close to the border, means the drug trade is right under the cities nose. The United States demand for illegal substances from Mexico affects the City of Edinburg in so many ways bringing violence to areas. Teen pregnancies are high because not all families can afford T.V’s and the high school dropout rate is still an issue as families struggle to meet ends meet. Edinburg may have some chaos, but what’s a city without azucar, latino spice, and everything nice.
Everyone grab an applehead, pike up to my place, and have a horn by the jeffer. I got heelches aplenty of bahl steinber, I'd sure be charlie balled if anything weren't to happen to it all...
I was afflicted by a strange case of gelatinous lethargy the other day and did the only thing I could think to do in such a situation: surrender my glazed eyes to the infinite wisdom of the Internet hive mind via wiki surfing. (For the poor, deprived souls who don't know what I'm talking about: The point is to surf wiki connecting two off beat subjects using only the links on each page provided). Moon landing and chicken wire. It was a tough one. The bizarre trajectory of that surf led me to a delightfully boringlist of dialects of the English language.
The general thing about dialects is that they are, by nature, distinctly dull when written. As a result, the Western English dialect known as "Boontling" immediately shone as an eccentric incongruity in an otherwise uneventful list of dialects. Sadly, the arrival of the Boontling language into my world meant that my hard work involving chickens and the moon had been derailed. Ordinarily, an incomplete wiki would demoralize even the strongest of men. I, however, was able to overcome the setback with the power of love. The love of Boontling, and its Youtube herald Dinken who mentored me.
Say hello to Dinken.
Boontling is a language that originated in Boonville, California, dating back to the turn of the 20th century. The fact that the language developed in a town numbering fewer than 1000 people in a mere century is linguistically and culturally remarkable. How did this language come to be? Well, while the language itself is fascinating, the story of its origin would appear to be fairly ordinary. Dinken recounts the two prominently accepted and largely similar allegories of Boontling's beginnings, which are in sum: 1) Local women wanted to spread rumors and gossip without the victims understanding what they were saying and 2) The elders didn't want the kids to understand what they were saying, so 1) and 2) created the code language that would become Boontling. Over the years, each Boont generation has evolved the language. This process and the language in general are described here by our friend Dinken and others: (Here are the highlights if you don't feel like watching the whole thing-> :39 Boontling spoken for first time, 1:40 Meet Dinken, 5:12 Dinken gets feisty).
Boontling in Boonville
Pretty neat stuff, right? Everyone who speaks the language is connected to one other in this really uncommon way. When I think of a country, the first token of identity that comes to mind is the dominant language its people speak. Without a common language, identity becomes this clumsy, awkward thing that doesn't quite make sense. Cities provide a firm foundation for a culture's sense of identity-Boonvillie's sense of identity through the Boontling language in this case.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's early in the morning and I've got a hankering for some saddle blankets.
Chase Tower is
a 21-story skyscraper in downtown Austin, Texas at the intersection of Lavaca
and West Sixth Street. Owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co, this building is a
major banking center for the city of Austin as well as the surrounding area.
The Chase Tower houses 389,503 square feet of office space and Chase is a major
employer in the Austin community. Furthermore, the Chase Tower has an
underground parking garage and it is connected via a skywalk to a parking
garage on the opposite side of Lavaca.
For our
English project, our group (Connor Smith and Payton Broaddus) initially chose
Austin City Hall as our location, but after seeing a crowd of protestors
picketing outside Chase Tower, we decided to move location and investigate the
role Chase Tower held in the city of Austin. From our research, we found a
serious divide on people’s views of both the physical Chase Bank building as
well as what it represents.
From one point
of view, the Chase Tower is portrayed positively as a public domain and an
important part of Austin, and many of the iconic small business and restaurants
in Austin were created using capital loaned from the Chase Bank. Looking at the
architecture alone, one sees a building that is very grand with its slick black
walls and shiny silver windows. This outside appearance of elegance reflects
the professionalism of Chase and its employees. During the time we spent there
we observed that each of the employees and customers was wearing the
professional attire of sport jackets and ties. In one way, then, the Chase
Tower is a physical economic and business center of the Austin community.
On another
level, the Chase Tower also physically acts as a center of local and national
politics in the Austin community. On September 26, 2011, Speaker of the House
John Boehner came to Austin for a fundraising dinner held at the upper levels
of the Chase Tower. From protestors on the ground, we learned that Boehner’s
purpose for holding a fundraising dinner was to gain financial donors for his
reelection run, and that each person would have to pay upwards of thirty
thousand dollars to attend this fund raiser. By choosing Chase Tower rather
than any other corporate place to hold his luncheon, Boehner showed that Chase
Bank was a fundamental tool in the Austin community for connecting wealthy
local business owners to people in the national government. Thus, looking at
Chase Tower, you see a corporate entity that plays an important role in
connecting the City of Austin’s powerful people to the national political
arena.
In a way,
Chase Tower can also be described as a public place. The Chase Tower follows
the city rules of the sidewalks around the building being public space, and
thus they had to allow people to protest outside of the building. Surprisingly
the lobby at the bottom of the building is also open to anyone, and we even saw
a few protestors stand in the air-conditioned lobby to escape the heat outside.
Furthermore, the police and security guards at the building were very friendly,
answering all of our questions and even giving us advice that they were not
necessarily supposed to do. For example, an officer who will remain nameless
said that he could not give his consent for us to take a picture of him, yet he
slyly added that nothing was stopping us from taking a picture of him without
asking (which we did). Chase Tower surprisingly had that unique Austin feel
(like you would find at places like Amy’s or Barton Springs) even though it was
a large corporate building.
However, many
people at the protest thought negatively of both the Chase Tower and Chase
Bank. I asked one of the protestors what he thought of the actual building and
its architecture, to which he replied: “Well architecturally, it shows crap can
pile high and pile deep.”
Although the
building on the outside looked nice, to many people the polished surface of the
bank could not hide the corruption they believed to be rampant underneath. For
many of the protestors, they had a legitimate reason to be angry and suspect
corruption in the banking industry. Many of the people we talked to were
unemployed, and many others were facing foreclosure by banks due to defaulting
on payments. Seeing as how in recent years the federal government bailed out
and gave stimulus money to a number of large banks (include JP Morgan Chase and
Co.) in order to reduce foreclosures and stem the recession, many of the
protestors were angry that they still face threats of foreclosure and suspected
foul play on the part of the banks. The anger they felt at John Boehner for not
signing the “American Jobs Act” (a bill to jumpstart the economy and help get
jobs for the unemployed) transferred also to the banks for mismanaging federal
funding and punishing the “middle class.” Thus, the Chase Tower can also be seen
as a hub for political cronyism (as seen by Boehner recently holding a luncheon
there) as well as hub for corrupt business practices.
Finally, by observing both the architecture as well as
the people there, I noticed that despite its Austin feel, in other ways the
Chase Tower is a private domain that is almost entirely disconnected from the
rest of Austin. By comparing the people who worked at Chase Tower and the
protestors outside the building, one could see a stark contrast between the
economic statuses of the two groups. Whereas the majority of the people who
work at Chase Tower were clearly well off and were probably upper class or
upper middle class (evident by their attire), the protestors represented the
middle class majority of Austin. Nearly everyone I interviewed identified
themselves as middle class, and they definitely did not identify themselves
with the people of Chase Bank. For example, I interviewed a woman who was one
of the first African Americans to graduate from the University of Texas, and
she strongly identified with the middle class and the middle class struggle.
This
difference between the “middle class” and the “white collar high paid bankers”
shows a clear economic divide that helps define the Chase Tower as a fairly
separate entity from the mainstream of Austin.
Furthermore, the architecture of the Chase Tower
radiates an aura of power and supremacy that separates the building from the
rest of Austin. Not only does the Chase Tower overshadow the other buildings
and show a sort of supremacy over the rest of the city, but also the chilly and
elaborately decorated interior of the building similarly shows a clear
distinction from the hot and dirty sidewalk outside the lobby. This idea of
supremacy and power compared to the rest of Austin can further be shown by the
skywalk that connects the Chase Tower to the parking garage across Lavaca. By
making it so that employees of Chase do not have to walk across the sidewalk
with other pedestrians, the Chase Tower literally puts the people of Chase
above the traffic and other citizens in the city. An image that perfectly
captured this was the two well-dressed bankers watching the protest from the
parking garage. After a few minutes they got bored with watching the protest
and simply traveled across the skywalk to their office, thus physically avoiding contact with the
middle class protestors. In effect, the Chase Tower is both architecturally as
well as emotionally disconnected from City of Austin.
(Caution: Profanity flows freely due to the subject matter discussed in this post)
As rap music was growing on the east coast in major cities like New York, it hadn't quite spread to the west coast. However, eventually, rap spread to the west coast. Compton, California is located just south of Los Angeles. Compton was infamous for its gang related crime including shoot outs, murders, and narcotics. The city of Compton became a major influence of Gangstar Rap(aka Gangsta Rap) in the shaping of rap history. Gangsta rappers rapped about their experiences in Compton, selling drugs and running with the gangs (the Bloods and the Crips). By the 90's, Compton was recognized as the center of West Coast and Gangster Rap, producing rappers like Ice-Cube, Dr. Dre, Easy E, Tupac and Snoop Dog. Many new record companies also sprouted up in Compton. Including Total Trak Productions (TTP), named after the gang Tree Top Pirus located in Compton and Death Row Records run by Marion Suge Knight, a well known gang leader. Easy E also started a record label in Compton which he claimed was funded by his selling of cocaine and other narcotics in Compton.
Map of Compton, CA
N.W.A was one of the most famous rap groups that originated from Compton. In fact, N.W.A pioneered Gangsta Rap on the West Coast. N.W.A rapped about their tough upbringing in Compton. In their album Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A wrote some very controversial songs such as "Fuck tha Police."
N.W.A said that they rapped about reality. In song "Fuck tha Police," N.W.A treats the song as if it is court hearing in which different artists from the group "testify" against police brutality and racial prejudices. For instance, when Ice-Cube raps "Fuck the police/Comin straight from the underground./Young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown/And not the other color so the police think/They have the authority to kill a minority...With a little bit of gold and a pager/Searching my car, looking for the product/Thinking every nigga is selling narcotics" Here, Ice-Cube questions the ethics of the police force in Compton and the prejudices that they might have towards black men as all being criminals. Since he has "gold and a pager" the police automatically believe that he is selling drugs, they don't believe that he can make an honest living. The police also think that they "have the authority to kill a minority." Ice-Cube argues the injustice of the society and the police force because he believes no one will question a police man if he kills a minority, but if he kills a white man or women, there would be investigations into the shooting. "Fuck tha Police" even incited action from the FBI who wrote a strongly worded letters to N.W.A and the record producer Ruthless Records about the message of the song. This only inspired N.W.A to write new lyrics, and in a the song "100 Miles and Runnin'" Dr. Dre raps "the FBI is all over my dick!"
"Fuck tha Police"
Selected Lyrics from the song "Fuck tha Police" by N.W.A
Right about now NWA court is in full effect. Judge Dre presiding in the case of NWA versus the police department. Prosecuting attourneys are MC Ren Ice Cube and Eazy muthafuckin E. Order order order. Ice Cube take the muthafuckin stand. Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothin but the truth so help your black ass?
Why don't you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say?
Fuck tha police Comin straight from the underground Young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown And not the other color so police think They have the authority to kill a minority
Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't tha one For a punk muthafucka with a badge and a gun To be beatin on, and throwin in jail We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell
Fuckin with me cuz I'm a teenager With a little bit of gold and a pager Searchin my car, lookin for the product Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics...
M. C. Ren, will you please give your testimony to the jury about this fucked up incident.
Fuck tha police and Ren said it with authority because the niggaz on the street is a majority. A gang, is with whoever I'm stepping and the motherfuckin' weapon is kept in a stash box, for the so-called law wishin' Ren was a nigga that they never saw
Lights start flashin behind me But they're scared of a nigga so they mace me to blind me But that shit don't work, I just laugh Because it gives em a hint not to step in my path
To the police I'm sayin fuck you punk Readin my rights and shit, it's all junk Pullin out a silly club, so you stand With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand
Fuck the police (4X)
Police, open now. We have a warrant for Eazy-E's arrest. Get down and put your hands up where I can see em. Just shut the fuck up and get your muthafuckin ass on the floor. [huh?]
and tell the jury how you feel abou this bullshit.
Fuck the police (4X)
The jury has found you guilty of bein a redneck, whitebread, chickenshit muthafucka. Wait, that's a lie. That's a goddamn lie. I want justice! I want justice! Fuck you, you black muthafucka!
Fuck the police (3X)
Other songs like "Gangsta Gangsta" describe their lives growing up in the city of Compton where they were surrounded by crime and violence. "Straight Outta Compton" was another song in which N.W.A rapped about the reality of the street life. When Dr. Dre says, "You are now about to Witness the strength of street knowledge" he is telling the audience that N.W.A has experienced the harsh life on the streets in the inner cities and these are some of the lessons that they learned while growing up in Compton. Later, when MC Ren raps, "Straight Outta Compton, Another crazy ass nigga/ More punks I smoke, Yo, my rep gets bigger." Here, MC Ren illustrates one of the important lessons of the inner city streets, the importance of a street "rep" (reputation). A strong street "rep" in important to surviving in the inner cities. In order to build a "rep" one must become known for his ability to inflict violence. The "more punks" someone "smokes" or shoots, the more one is feared and respected because of his or her reputation of being a killer.
"Straight Outta Compton"
Selected Lyrics from the song "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A
You Are Now About To Witness The Strength Of Street Knowledge
Verse One: Ice Cube
Straight Outta Compton, Crazy Motherfucker Named Ice Cube
From The Gang Called Niggaz With Attitudes...
Goin Off On A Motherfucker Like That
With A Gat That's Pointed At Yo Ass...
Here's A Murder Rap To Keep Yo Dancin
With A Crime Record Like Charles Manson
AK-47 Is The Tool
So When I'm In Your Neighborhood, You Better Duck
Coz Ice Cube Is Crazy As Fuck
As I Leave, Believe I'm Stompin
But When I Come Back, Boy, I'm Comin Straight Outta Compton
Chorus:
[City Of Compton, City Of Compton]
[Eazy E] Yo Ren
[MC Ren] Whassup?
[Eazy E] Tell Em Where You From!
Verse Two: MC Ren
Straight Outta Compton, Another Crazy Ass Nigga
More Punks I Smoke, Yo, My Rep Gets Bigger
I'm A Bad Motherfucker And You Know This...
Shoot A Motherfucker In A Minute...
A Crazy Muthafucker From Tha Street
Attitude Legit Cause I'm Tearin Up Shit...
See, Coz I'm The Motherfuckin Villain...
But A Nigga Like Ren Is On A Gangsta Tip
Straight Outta Compton...
Chorus:
[City Of Compton, City Of Compton]
[Damn That Shit Was Dope!]
Straight Outta Compton reached number 37 on the U.S billboards, selling over 3 million copies and receiving a double Platinum award, and was named the 62 best album of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Album Cover of Straight Outta Compton
As a result of the rise of West Coast Rap, a feud between the West Coast and the East Coast was sparked. The most powerful record labels in this feud was Death Row Records from Compton, and Bad Boy Records from NYC which featured rappers like Notorious B.I.G.
After an awards show in which members from the west coast rappers and east coast rappers attended, there was a party at the El Rey theater were one was killed. One of the most infamous crimes related to West and East Coast feud was Tupac's murder. When Suge Knight of Death Row Records, and Tupac beat up Orlando Anderson in a gang related incident, Anderson shot Knight and shot and killed Tupac. After months of investigation, Knight was prosecuted for his involvement in Tupac's death as well as many gang related crimes like the selling of narcotics.
The West Coast felt that Bad Boy Records from the East had hired Anderson from the South Side Crips in Compton to kill Tupac, and therefore, they retaliated. After the 11th annual Soul Train Awards in L.A. Notorious B.I.G was shot and later died. The West Coast and East Coast feud had left its mark, with the murders of two of the greatest rappers of their time: Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.
The Laramie Project was written by Moises Kaufman and the members of Tectonic Theatre Project as an investigation of a brutal hate crime in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. This play is taken entirely from interviews of Laramie residents, and the journal entries of the Tectonic Theatre Project, and in this way, it gives a completely genuine and fascinating look at Laramie from the inside and from the outside.The way Tectonic views Laramie changes a lot throughout the course of the play. Beginning with the view of Laramie as your typical town, it morphs to become something just a little out of the ordinary. One of the first things Greg Pierotti notices about Laramie is the welcome sign. It reads: "WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ON EARTH. Instead of WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ELSE ON EARTH," (27). Similarly, Barbara Pitts notices that "in the dark, [they] could be on on any main drag in America -- fast food chains, gas stations. But as [they] drove into the downtown area by the railroad tracks, the buildings still looked like a turn-of-the-century Western town," (28). Greg even swears he "saw a heard of Buffalo," (27). To the Tectonic Theatre Project, Laramie is a tiny rural town that's just a bit off. This view is also shared by Stephen Mead Johnson, a representative of the Unitarian Church who first finds Laramie to consist only of a "tumbleweed" and a "cement factory," (36).
The next scene is an interview with Marge Murray and Allison Marge who really begin to show the depth that Laramie seems to hide. Marge, in particular goes from asking "Well, yeah, honey, why wear clothes," to describing the intricacies of Laramie's view on homophobia (28). Allison and Marge are such a fantastic example of how this play operates -- one second Allison is embarrassed to explain to Greg that "S. O. L." stands for "shit outta luck," and the next Marge quite eloquently sums up Laramie's class problems with the few sentences: "It's about the well educated and the ones that are not. And the educated don't understand why the ones that are not don't get educated," (29). Though both Marge and Allison seem like your typical comical country bumpkins, they both have a lot more to say about Laramie, Wyoming than anyone would expect. Marge ends this scene by frankly telling Greg that she's know more than she's telling him.
At the end of the play, Tectonic leaves the "sparkling lights of Laramie, Wyoming," with a completely different perspective on this tiny town (88).
Kaufman, Moises, and Leigh Fondakowski. The Laramie Project. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2001. Print.
