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before correction

The “Black Gold” movie tells a multilayered story about coffee. It focuses on Ethiopia, one of the countries of its production. An important character in this story is Tadesse Maskela, the national head of the coffee farmers union. The movie follows his journey to better the financial situation of the farmers within the international coffee trade. Showing his interactions with the local farmers and cooperatives as well as his meetings and fair presence abroad in an attempt to find new buyers for the coffee. 

I have learnt about the starting point of coffee through footage and interviews with the farmers. About the New York stock market involvement in coffee, and about the existence of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks. Seen the impact of the decided trade rules, made outside of Africa. Hunger and poverty tormenting african families, women and children . 

“From Bean to Brew” article talks about modern slavery and it’s opperation in the coffee production industry. Modern slavery accurs when workers are paid very low wages, workin glong hours and are forced to degrading and hazardous work conditions. Most of the coffee grows in the global south, Brazil being the biggest exporter of Robusta type of coffee. I’ve understood that coffee prices have been dropping in the past decades and this created a low income for the farmers.

The article provides numbers showing that kids are a big portion of the modern slaves. Forced to either work to help the families’ income or are taken out of school because of the lack of income. The Fair Trade organization, although provides an additional income not necessarily bettering living standards of the farmers.

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Coffee

10th July

The “Black Gold” movie tells a multi layered story. One is about the farmers that produce the coffee in Ethiopia. An important character in this story is Tadesse Maskela, the head of the coffee farmers union. We hear about his journey to better the farmers' situation within western trade. This leads to the second story about the trade exchange between African countries and the rest of the world. Footage from the World Trade Organization (WTO) exposes bias decision making by the US and the EU representatives. Third story is about the effect of these decisions on families, women and children in Africa. We hear about poverty and hunger.

Through the film I have learnt about the New York stock market involvement in coffee, and about the existence of WTO. I’ve also learnt about the injustice coffee farmers face in their lives.

I have remained puzzled in face of the fall and rise of prices of commodities.

“From Bean to Brew” article talks about the modern slavery and how it is opperating in the coffee production industry. Kids are a big part of the modern slaves group. I’ve understood that coffee prices have been dropping in the past decades and this created a low income for the farmers. The Fair Trade organization, although provides an additional income not necessarily bettering living standards of the farmers. 

does not promise better working conditions or reasonable living standards

Even with the additional income Fair Trade provides we must remember that this money almost never reaches the farmers or families that grow the coffee. 

Modern salvery exist in the coffee industry.

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Witchcraft

2nd of July

Watch The Witches of Eastwick and Rosemary’s Baby and Compare them when it comes to how they deal with the topic of witchcraft. Text of whatever length you’re comfortable with!

In both films we are shown symbols and actions that are a depiction of witchcraft as they were shown through popular media of the late 20th century. Rosemary’s Baby is a horror film where elements such as magic, satan and cannibalism are used to ignite terror in the viewer's mind. The portrait of the occult presented through Rosemary's neighbours and friends plants fear in the back of our minds and follows us throughout the whole experience. The Witches of Eastwick, on the other hand, although has a very visual representation of the occult does not scare us, it creates a friendly, almost comical image of witches and their craft.

In The Witches of Eastwick bizarre happenings projecting the magical such as sudden weather changes, a floating tennis ball or the cracking earth. The most obvious portrayal of magic is the making of a wax doll, a kind of a voodoo doll, to represent the man on which the magical spells will take effect. Full of feathers, cherry spitting, needle sticking and wondering looks of a house dog the scene displays witchcraft in a foolish form.

On the contrary some scenes from Rosemary’s Baby show us taboos such as rape and group nakedness. This explicit glimpse of a ritual, although might also have been Rosemary’s dream, is terrifying and exposes us to our fears more than the scenes from Witches of Eastwick. The invasive nature of her neighbours, who seem to micro control her pregnancy and the suspicions of her good friend Hutch about the nature of the gifts given to her by them keep us on our toes.

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2nd

Write 2 paragraphs about your two favourite zines and compare them (discuss pros and cons of each).

“Yinal haOlam” is the title of a zine and a curse saying in hebrew, it means “damn the world”. This zine focuses on the punk music scene in Israel and includes interviews with bands, personal stories, drawings and related ads. It is very do it yourself zine, printed in black on white A3 sheets of paper folded to an A4 format. Words are cut out and glued together on a page to form a coherent text. All drawings are hand drawn and scanned to be added between the stories. This format can be hard to read but it represents the feel of the culture and addresses the community of punks and those who are interested to know more about it. Distribution of this zine happens mainly through gigs and independent shops.

“RIOT!” is a zine about feminist alternative music scene in Israel and abroad. Issue #4 that I chose to compare tells about Kathleen Hanna, a forming member of the Bikini Kill band and a lead character in the “Riot Grrrl” movement. This issue, printed in 2016, tells a story spanning almost 30 years, starting with the reasons for Kathleen to form a band and ending in 2016. “RIOT!” has a layout design digitally and printed on a sloggy paper with an inkjet printer. Also an A4 format it is better read and its design appeals to a wider public because it resembles a magazine with clear fonts and english title. 

Both of the zines write about the Israeli marginalized music scene. RIOT! is focused mainly on bands led by women whereas Yinal haOlam focuses on punk bands, although some have been featured in both. 

The main difference of the zines is their designs. RIOT is designed and printed in higher quality yet does not cost more than Yinal haOlam that is made with cheaper methods. It is possible that the effort of making a diy zine today is greater due to the process of cutting, gluing and copying, rather than using digital software that makes it easier to prepare a zine for print.

Another similarity of the zines is their distribution method, both of them can not be found in bookstores or corner shops where other magazines are found, yet they are populating gigs, bars and small independent shops focusing on band merch and skate equipment.

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1st

Up in the air (film) 2009

Casablanca (film) 1942

1. compare the main characters and their relationship to women. 2. discuss how they would perform on the Bechdel test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test

1. In “Up in the air” the main character, Ryan Bingham, is a traveling man of the firing profession who engages in a relationship with a woman named Alex Goran of a similar status. Finding common ground while sitting in an empty looking bar, comparing hotel cards (or were they milage cards?) they continue to his room for a casual sexual engagement and so as this arrangement suits them both, they immediately schedule a meeting on route as they both travel for work. His second interaction with a woman comes with an touch of superiority. A new girl at the office with a brilliant idea of technological nature is there to “make him obsolete” and so the movie continues with Bingham showing her the ropes of the job, teaching the young protege the ropes of the game.

In Casablanca the main female character carries the message of love and endurance yet portrayed with the assistance of the main character as a heart breaker Oh how dares she to come back and torment this man, this manly men. She escapes, she leaves, he is sad, she is with another man he closed him self to everyone else.

2. They both would fail the test, because no woman speaks to another woman at Casablanca while in Up in the Air the women only speak once to each other and that is about a relationship.