This assignment requires that you watch the film, The Visitor and respond to a series of questions. In the film there is a protagonist and a different social conflict that offers you an opportunity to explore an experience different from your usual family, work, community or group experience. The difference may relate to gender, ethnicity, racial identity, religion, spirituality and the full spectrum of beliefs, political ideology, sexual orientation, age, economic/class status, national identity, immigration status, and different abilities. You are to answer the following questions in this Essay. This should not be written in question and answer, it is an essay. Support your insights with class readings and discussions. Use examples from the film to validate your impressions and be as specific as possible.
1. How do the protagonists or social conflicts in the film offer an opportunity for you to explore a lived experience that is different from yours? 2. Who is the visitor? (And why?) 3. How do factors of intersectionality at the micro level, (e.g. class, age, ethnicity, immigration status etc.) of the lived experience reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social structural level (e.g. racism, classism, ageism etc.). 4. What specific examples of are there of group put downs, stereotypes, myths, and conflicts? How do these alter, develop or change in the film? 5. How do examples of oppression, marginalization, discrimination, ethno-centrism, privilege and powerlessness affect the experiences, interactions and growth of the character(s) in the film? 6. Using the film as an example, discuss Freire’s, (2006) observation that “the oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves…The oppressed are regarded as potential enemies who must be watched.” (p. 59) 7. Using the film as an example, in the context of “humanization” and “dehumanization”, what does Freire (2006) mean when he observes that “almost always the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation tend to become oppressors” (p.45)? 8. What examples of strengths, perseverance, empowerment, resilience, pride, and/or determination did you observe among the characters’ behaviors and the playing out of social conflicts in the film?
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