'Dead Birds' and 'Nanook of the North'...

Hey everyone! I would appreciate a little bit of homework help if people have time.

I'm not asking for people to do it for me, I'm just asking for input on what my teacher wants me to write. The way she worded the essay requirements is kind of hard for me to understand.

Here it is: "Identify moments that the filmmakers’ ethnocentrism is transformed into empathetic understanding of cultural otherness in both Nanook of the North and Dead Birds. Based on these identifications, discuss which film would communicate cultural knowledge more effectively to viewers in 2009."

And because I know someone will probably ask... I did ask my teacher what she ment by this description, but I couldn't make sense of what she said either. My teacher is from Korea and has an accent that is extremely hard to understand. I didn't want to offend her by asking her to explain it again because I couldn't make sense of her words, so now I'm stuck with a paper due tomorrow that I'm not sure how to complete.

Any input would be appreciated!

 

This is not a homework help forum.

 

Okay, I think she's asking that you examine the films and identify moments in them when the filmmakers seemed to be aware and have genuine concern and understanding of the culture--like, moments when the filmmakers really seemed to be putting themselves in the place of the people and could understand their situation.

 

Rei, I think she just needs help trying to decipher her teacher's explanation of the homework assignment and nothing more.

 

Yeah, its just moments in the film where the filmmaker depicts other cultures in a way that both reinforces the difference between the two cultures in a way that is not condescending or offensive to that culture. The key terms you need to think about in the essay, then, are ethnocentrism (the filmmaker's intrinsic belief that their own culture is most important to them), empathy (a sharing of experience without condescension, supremacy or pity) and cultural otherness (ways in which the culture is made other to the filmmaker's own).

 

Yes, thank you. That's all that I need. Actually asking someone to help me with (do) my homework would only be hurting myself and my grade, so I would never do that.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant to say.

 

Sorry, I should have made that a little more obvious in my original post :redface:

And thank you, Marina and Aaron. I was going about my essay the wrong way for sure! I really appreciate the help!