Novels and Films of the Southwest
Announcement!
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
The Taos Historic Museums are seeking volunteers to re-mud the Martinez Hacienda and provide snacks and lunch for participants. Mudders please bring shovels, hoes, trowels and gloves. Be prepared to work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a break for lunch. Mudding begins Monday August 8th and continues for three weeks. Call the Martinez Hacienda at 758-1000 to sign up for food service or physical labor tasks.
For a schedule of UNM Bachelor Degree  and Graduate courses in Taos, click on the banner above. “Don’t waste your mind; have a good time”–Flavio. (See news updates at the bottom.)
Popular Imagery in the Southwest, AMST. 310, Media Arts, 330 focuses on Southwestern themes and people. Taught by Bill Whaley, the class meets on Tuesdays, 5 pm, at the UNM Upper Division and Graduate program headquarters on Ledoux St. next to the Harwood. Phone 758—2828 for enrollment information. The course serves as a follow-up for those who attended the Eng. 388 Southwestern nonfiction course in the spring of 2011.
We have tried to space out the novels and films so that students have more time for the works in this course. The following synopsis offers a hint of what’s to come in chronological order. Interested students are invited to send for a syllabus. Email: bwhaley@newmex.com
John Ford’s The Searchers, starring John Wayne deals directly and indirectly with racism in a magnificent Southwest setting. The protagonist, played by John Wayne, sets out to retrieve a niece kidnapped by a marauding band of Indians and from there the adventure begins. Or were the Americans occupying the homeland?  John Ford influenced generations of filmmakers worldwide.
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, produced by Moctesuma Esparza (Milagro Beanfield War), starring Edward James Olmos, tells the story of the famed Cortez from the p.o.v. of the minority culture upon which injustices were perpetrated.
The Brave Cowboy by Edward Abbey is a modern western set in Albuquerque. The film, Lonely Are the Brave, is particularly well crafted in black and white. Kirk Douglas stars and has called it his favorite movie.
The Milagro Beanfield War, written by John Nichols, and the movie, directed by Robert Redford (co-produced by Esparaza), analyze the stubborn and heroic sub-culture of Milagro and Chamisaville. Some say Nichols based the novel on his Taos Experience.
Salt of the Earth, a once banned and rarely seen film, tells the story in authentic terms of Mexican and Anglo miners in a famous Silver City Strike that shook the United States. The miners and their families star in this fictional account, which feels like a documentary and inspires with its timeliness. The movie so frightened the US of A, it was banned!
Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima is considered one of the first Chicano novels to break through into mainstream fiction. We may show the film if it has been released on DVD.
Smoke Signals by Sherman Alexie is one of those wonderfully produced Native American movies with characters and the story told from an authentic point-of-view.
Skinwalkers, by Tony Hillerman, features Navajo Detective Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee, who are played by Wes Studi and Adam Beach in the film, directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals). Combines comedy with the hard-boiled detective tradition and Navajo myths set against the Southwestern landscape.
Off the Map by Joan Ackermann was first a Newsweek feature, then a play, later adapted for the screen by the author and directed for the screen by Campbell Scott. The film sneaks a peek at an otherwise unknown subculture of self-sufficient settlers in the contemporary Southwest. Like Nichols and Anaya, Ackermann found delight and inspiration among the locals of El Norte.
No Country for Old Men, novel by Cormac McCarthy and a Coen Bros film, is a fine example of the updated hard-boiled noir form. Quirky and terrifying, the Coen Bros. film complements McCarthy’s prose with its fine cinematography.
This basic survey course shows how stereotypical visions of historic minorities—Hispanic, Native American, Women–whether depicted in novel or film, have been challenged and changed by a new generation of sensitive writers and film makers.
Join us on Tuesday evenings at 246-B Ledoux St. from 5 to 7:45. Phone Mary Lutz at 758—2828.