Week Two Assignment

Please complete all parts of this assignment no later than Thursday, February 1.

Read: Twilight: I’ve tried to pick accounts that line up with the segment of the film you’ll watch, but don’t hesitate to read around in the book or zero in on particular passages you’re most captivated by.

•         Anonymous Man, “Your Heads in Shame” (juror); Gil Garcetti, “Magic” (district attorney); Stanley K. Sheinbaum “Hammer” (former president of LA Police Commission) pp. 70-80
•         Reginald Denny, “A Weird Common Thread in Our Lives” (pp. 103-112) – if you don’t know who Reginald Denny is, do a quick google search to understand his place in the riot.
•         Mrs. June Park “And in my Heart for Him” (p. 147)
•         Maxine Waters “The Unheard,” “Washington” (p. 159-169)
•        Elaine Young “The Beverly Hills Hotel” (pp. 150-155) – we saw bits of this piece in the first segment of the film.

Watch/Write: Twilight:  from minute 23 (where we left off last time) to 56:35 (after Elvira’s narrative)

Craft a blog post (create a new post: don't reply to this one) on one of the following topics or really anything else that Twilight makes you think about. Also, respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. Let’s see what different conversations we can get going and how the blog lets us continue and deepen these talks. Shoot for at least 400-500 words to start.

-        In the first segment, the person Smith portrays is a witness to the King beating. She is then not asked to testify because her perspective conflicts with the account of the highway patrol. “Let the jury hear the facts!” she urges. Consider how the court creates a narrative of its own and what (or who) contributes to this creation.

-        In the second segment, Smith portrays an anonymous male juror. How does this portrayal help humanize this aspect of the process?  What might it be like to be a juror on a trial like this?

-        Around minute 38-39, Smith shifts back and forth between portraying two different characters in the same moment. How does this “layering” of dialogues help us understand or think about how conflicting narratives and perspectives exacerbate the pain of situations like this? We’re talking a lot about alternative facts in society right now, but it’s clear that different individuals have very different views of the truth of a situation. How can a community deal with this?

-        What’s the role of elected officials in situations like this? You can think specifically about Maxine Waters (or President George H.W. Bush, who we’ll see footage of in this section), or you might even think of the role Senators and Representatives have played in more recent circumstances of civil unrest. What can they do? What should they do?

-        At 47 minutes, Smith portrays a character of privilege (Elaine Young). Do you think this presentation could be seen as mocking—why or why not? How does seeing Smith, as a woman of color, portray a white woman of privilege enhance our thinking about how different people experience situations like the LA riots? What’s the effect of transitioning right from this narrative into that of Henry “Keith” Watson, who was one of Reginald Denny’s assailants?

Think: When I run this class on an everyday basis, my sense is to have Twilight be our first studied text. Think about what would be helpful to you as a class member as far as background information, historical context, etc. Think about whether you think it would work best to watch the film in one stretch (over several days) before the book, or alongside the reading as we’re doing. Do you think students would benefit from reading the whole book, excerpts, etc? I’ll ask for more formal feedback when we finish the text, but start thinking about these ideas now!