Anthropological Perspective on "Life and Debt"
Goal: Using your anthropological perspective, write a critical analysis of the ways in which people, places, and problems are represented in the media.
Audience: General readership of a newspaper, magazine, or reputable online media outlet.
Description: You have now viewed two full-length ethnographic films based in the Caribbean, Life and Debt and Nothing Like Chocolate, and completed worksheets highlighting some of the key points. For your final essay, you will choose one of these films to write about in a five page film review. (Note: if you write about a different film, you will be asked to submit a complete rewrite. You must write about Life and Debt or Nothing Like Chocolate.)
First Step: Select one of the assigned films for this essay and join a roundtable group for that film. (Remember: roundtable participation is mandatory.) You will want to watch sections that you are analyzing multiple times. They can be streamed from our HuskyCT site.
Draft: See Brown pp 30-36 for detailed instructions. Be sure to address each of the bulleted points on p. 31: Briefly summarize, then contextualize, evaluate, and identify something interesting by using one of the strategies on pp 34-35. Outside sources are optional. DO NOT just summarize the film: you should be reviewing its strengths and weaknesses. Note that you still need a thesis, and this is not the same as the film’s argument. For example, if you write “Life and Debt presents the argument that structural adjustment programs have had a negative effect on Jamaicans,” this is true, but it is not a thesis; it is part of a summary of the film. No reasonable person would disagree that this is what the film is arguing. YOUR thesis might be: “I argue that Life and Debt effectively conveys its central argument because of x, y, and z aspects of the film.” Or, “I argue that Life and Debt does not effectively convey its central argument because of x, y, and z aspects of the film.” In other words, your thesis must be about the film, and it must be something arguable (i.e. another reasonable person might see things differently).
Papers should integrate at least one expanded analysis of a particular scene in the film. In addition to Brown’s list on p. 36, you may want to consider the filmmaker’s choices about some of the following:
- Narrator/Narration
- Atmosphere/Mood (Music, lighting, etc.)
- Filming angles (background visuals, close-ups, etc.)
- Choice of interviewees and questions
- Spontaneous or scripted
- Lingering shots (what draws your attention and why)
- Choice of beginning and end of scene
- Placement of scene in relation to scenes before and after
Please cite your film on a Works Cited page as follows:
Director's Last Name, Director's First Name, dir. Original Release Date. Title of Movie. Location
of Distributor: Name of Distributor, Item Release Date. Medium.
For example:
Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. 1954. Rear Window. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures, 2001. DVD.
Sample In-text citation: (Hitchcock 1954)
Outside sources are optional, but should be properly cited if included.
Revision Guidelines: Based on the Roundtable and your own self-assessment using the Writer’s Checklist, revise your draft. Your final draft should be five pages plus your completed Checklist.
Life and Debt
Students Name
Professor's Name
Course Title
Date
"Life and Debt" documentary illustrates a factual instance of the effects that economic globalization may poss on a developing nation. When people visualize or fantasize about Jamaica, we imagine the fantastic vacation destination that has the best weather, lovely beaches, and seeing the gorgeous sunsets. A different story is painted out by "Life and Debt," in 1962 after independence, and the IMF rescues Jamaica from the deepening financial huddles plus the loans from World Bank in 1976. Through the financial assistance worth seven billion dollars Jamaica is put into a tough place because of the high-interest rates. I argue that "Life and Debt" effectively conveys its central argument because it shows how the survival tactics of infant economy are dependent especially on business agenda and foreign policies enforced by America and monetary organizations like the World Bank and the IMF.
Joint with customary documentary enlightening and told in a stylized framework, the documentary shows international loaning complications, procedures, and market liberalization to work in free trade peripheries. The economy, unfortunately, is hurt by these policies. The vast effects are felt in manufacturing, health care, export and import, education, monetary valuation, agricultural, employment opportunities, and tourism sectors. Petchesky’s writings say, "it is important to understand the culture of your subject in order to a relative with their norms, ethics, and multiculturalism. Culture on its own is a constructed, socially produced norm”.The tourist does enjoy the cool weather, and from the look of things, tourism seems to be just okay. The visitors enjoy the entertainment and imported delicacy in the nation, which the majority live in abject poverty. At the start of the film, the scene is with Ms. Kincaid's narration as many vacationers set foot on Jamaica Island. We see deep disparity behind the spectacular sceneries. Kincaid's voice-over brings an informed comprehension of the colonial legacy, past, and economic difficulties on its tourism sector.[Petchesky, Rosalind, and Meena Alexander. "Introduction: Life and Debt." Women's Studies Quarterly 42, no. 1/2 (2014): 13-20.]
In other areas, tourist visits come with a lot of demands for goods and services. Fishermen, merchants and farmers do benefit since they are needed to grow and distribute more food products in order for a large number of consumers to be fed. In Jamaica, unfortunately, this is not the situation. For example, the 'voice-over' reminds the viewers of a dead agricultural sector as the holidaymakers take their meals in an exotic restaurant. It's said that "When you sit down to eat your delicious meal, it is better that you don't know that most of what you are eating came off a ship from Miami. There is a world of something in this, but I can't go into it right now”. As the first scene claims are starting to be comprehended by the audience, the former Prime Minister recording, Michael Manley surfaces as he totally condemns IMF for the economic agonies facing post-independent Jamaica.[Mains, Susan P. "In/Secure Conversations: Retheorizing Life and Debt, Tourism, and Caribbean Geopolitics." Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism 22, no. 3 (2018): 90-104.]
He states categorically that "the Jamaican government will not accept anybody, anywhere in the world telling us what to do in our own country". The loan to IMF World Bank and IADB grew to four billion usd after the short-term loan signing. The figure has grown to over seven billion, considering that none of the positive changes were yet to be actualized. The situation is worsened by the inauspicious policies and huge interest charges; this is because the good foreign exchange percentage acquired is channeled to the repayment of the debt leading to little reinvestment. Jamaica is troubled with huge interest loan repayment in the face of the fact that it gets little than what it reimburses. In addition, every single renegotiation is followed by even severe structural programs for adjustments should the benchmark circumstances fall short of the lenders' expectations.[Mains, Susan P. "In/Secure Conversations: Retheorizing...