Alex Rebman Chile J Term Blog

Describe- All over Chile there is a simple way of greeting people. Whether you know them well or are meeting for the first time, you greet one another with a kiss on the cheek and big hug. They will speak to you and introduce themselves if they don’t already know you and then use that as their way of engaging you into a conversation. This was used in all areas, whether my host family, the school students, our Chilean teachers, or people we met along the way. Interpret- The Chileans have this greeting within their culture and is a standard way to greet someone. Odd looks were given if I didn’t go in for a hug or if I didn’t initiate it because it is an expectation that a hug and kiss are given. This hug and kiss is a way to warm up easily to one another and makes for an easy way to enter a conversation or meeting. I see it as something to present yourself as someone who is caring and open to talk and helps create and inviting feel to all of the people we met. Evaluate- I thought it was ...

The cueca is the national Chilean dance that is performed by anyone and is performed with a kerchief. This dance is often performed by the rural societies in the streets. Even though Pinochet and his regime named this originally the national dance, it later turned into an act of opposition against his regime. The tapping portion was done so that they could dance on his grave, which is ironic because he was cremated. This dance later evolved into a way to remember relatives who were taken during the regime and we almost a symbol of rebellion and freedom. When I watched the video there was lots of small movements and much use of the kerchief. These small movements added to one another and built up to Mae up the dance as a whole. As the video progressed, the partners seemed to stand fairly far away from one another and they all hugged at the end. From the article and the video I learned that all these movements formed together to make meaningful dance. The dancers can put so much emotion ...

Art comes in many forms and may be taken in many different directions. Through art people can express themselves and their thoughts and stories through a representation. In Chile much of the art seemed to express ones personal opinion on political matters as well as used for trying to get people to understand why they felt a certain way. Lots of art was created for the presidency of Allende and the Pinochet regime to express their emotions towards both. Also currently people like "Papas Fritas" (haha, french fries) have used art in a way of protesting, who burned documents of student loans for individuals at a local university. He then later displayed the ashes of these documents to the school in protest of making students pay this money while not even receiving a proper education. This was an act of "love" according to Papas Fritas because he was rebelling against Pinochet's dictatorship where these non-profit universities established themselves. In Chile it ...

Violeta Parra pioneered the "Chilean New Song" movement which brought back many classics. She contributed more about the social life of Chile as she wrote about a good life and the opportunity that is in front of the Chileans. This was ironic because she died by suicide, so even though she wrote about hope, she herself couldn't find her internal happiness. Víctor Jara was a singer who was influenced by Violeta Parra. He helped to elect Salvador Allende and wrote in order to help him get better publicity and reputation. Jara was very into politics as he was a main contributor to the elections results and solely wrote about the presidency. Unfortunately, Jara was killed due to this huge part he had in politics by the coup to follow Allende's presidency. Los Prisioneros is a punk/rock band who wrote songs that were very political and were meant to strike up conversations. They wrote about the Pinochet regime and lashed out against all of his laws that they found to be un...

https://vk.com/video244132350_171200778 The bear story is a well animated short film about a Chilean man who has been operated from his family. The film takes the audience through the grown bears journey and depicts what life was like in a real form, yet appropriate for all ages. This relates to Chile's history as is shows much brutality of the animals just like the brutality of the people of Chile fighting for their beliefs. There was brutality in the film as the bear was forced to work in the circus and was caged up and pushed around like he was nothing. Many individuals in Chile felt similar to this according to previous videos I watched, as they were under the rule of Allende. Here is where they felt they had little say or freedom in their life and often were unhappy. Many animations within the film also showed the bear getting beaten if he was not doing exactly what was required of him which again shows brutality of the government in Chile. I personally really liked this video...

http://www.filmjournal.com/machuca I would have to agree with this review done by the Film Journal, of the movie Machuca. The review explain how the naive children are unaware of their changing surroundings, politically, due to Allende who has taken over power. This holds true in the beginning of the movie as the children spend much time together and often influence one another to go to rallies that they may not necessarily agree with, or rather that their family agrees with. Another part of the review that stuck out to me was how at the end they discuss how the rough times in Chile led the boys to become more involved and start to pin against one other. One specific event that made Gonzalo realize that Machuca is not all he really says he is. When Gonzalo's sister dies, he really is confronted with the hard true of the violence being brought to their country, and how this is dividing the people. Gonzalo is also shown Machuca's true colors when he sees him hiding behind his mo...