Kategorie: Course Material in English
"First Cow" – Worksheets
Three exercise regardings "First Cow" recommended for school subjects English, German, Politics, History and Ethics, from grade 9 and for senior Classes
Exercise 1: Introduction to "First Cow"
Subjects: German, English, Ethics, History from grade 9, age 14 and upwards
Before the screening:
a) Watch the two Zum Inhalt: scenes from the film "First Cow" .
b) Describe what you see in the film excerpt. Address Zum Inhalt: camera angles, Zum Inhalt: picture composition, color composition and especially the Zum Inhalt: locations. Then analyze the effects of the cinematic means.
c) Where and when might this film be set and to which Zum Inhalt: genre does it belong?
During the screening:
d) Pay attention to what you learn about the two protagonists, Cookie and King-Lu, so that you can outline their characters. Keep an eye out to see if the cinematic means observed in steps b) and c) are used throughout the entire film. Make a list noting your observations immediately after the screening.
After the screening:
e) Discuss among yourselves what surprised or moved you about the film. Then compare the results of your work on step d).
f) Summarize the plot in a few sentences. Consider also whether your conjecture about the genre from step c) was accurate.
g) Explain the title of the film "First Cow" . Take into account the role of the cow.
h) The film is an Zum Inhalt: adaption of the novel The Half-Life: A Novel by Jonathan Raymond. Research online to find out what the plots of the novel and the film have in common and what distinguishes them.
i) Collate the results of your work on steps e) to h) in the form of a film review.
Exercise 2: Westerns and Anti-Westerns
Subjects: English, History, Politics, Geography, German from grade 9, age 14 and upwards
After the screening:
a) Divide up into small groups. Discuss which Zum Inhalt: western you already know. Are there certain attributes they have in common with regard to character portrayal, Zum Inhalt: locations, Zum Inhalt: camera angles, Zum Inhalt: film scores ? Write down the results of your deliberations and then present them one after the other in class.
b) Discuss which of the attributes you identify are (not) to be found in FIRST COW.
c) In the mid-1960s, a new Zum Inhalt: genre of film emerged: the so-called anti-western, which broke with established conventions of the genre. Look at the table below, which provides an overview of commonalities and difference between the genres. Note: This table does not aim to be exhaustive. Afterwards, discuss which aspects justify its categorization of "First Cow" as a western and which justify its categorization as an anti-western. Take into account how "First Cow" questions classic role images.
| Classic Western | Anti-Western |
|---|---|
| Locations: small towns or "frontier land" (in territory not yet or barely settled by whites) | Locations: small towns or "frontier land" (in territory not yet or barely settled by whites) |
| Protagonists: sheriff, whites, "cowboys", trappers – portrayed with characteristics that have positive connotations | Protagonists: sheriff, whites, "cowboys", trappers, indigenous people, people of color – protagonists may also be portrayed as anti-heroes |
| Antagonists: bandits, indigenous people | Antagonists: bandits, government officials, US military |
| Camera angles: : for example, panorama shots that make clear the vastness of the Plains, or mid close shot, known in German as the American angle | Camera angles: for example, panorama shots that make clear the vastness of the Plains, or mid close shot, known in German as the American angle |
| Narrative motifs: loneliness, roughness of nature, permanent danger | Narrative motifs: crimes against indigenous peoples, criticism of egregious masculinity, portrayal of the perspectives of indigenous and other supposed "minorities", critical stance toward the US government and military |
| Violence: committed by protagonist(s) as a reaction to the antagonists | Violence: appears to be omnipresent, emphasis on lawlessness |
| Humor: plays no essential role | Humor: dark humor or caricatures of western clichés |
d) "First Cow" features quotations by the English poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827) from his work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1770-93). Research what other (anti-)western addresses these quotations. Note: The protagonist in this film is even called William Blake.
e) Gary Farmer is in the cast of both this film and "First Cow"
. Farmer is both an actor and indigenous activist. Read the first part of the following Zum externen Inhalt: interview (öffnet im neuen Tab) (2012) with Gary Farmer and summarize
• what art can achieve in general and what he specifically as an artist can achieve
• what he has to say about the plight of indigenous peoples in the US at the beginning of the 21st century.
f) Imagine you want to present "First Cow" at a film evening in your school. Write a short text for your introduction in which you offer a synopsis of the plot, describe the particular attributes of the genre and the results of your work on steps d) and e). The introduction should be no longer than three minutes. Make sure to avoid spoilers.
g) Find out more about anti-westerns. Split up into small groups. Each group presents a film. Watch the film together first and prepare a brief introduction as you did for step d). Decide which film you want to watch with your group. During the screening, use the table from step c) to analyze the elements of anti-western. Here is a list of possible films:
"Little Big Man"
(USA 1970)
"McCabe & Mrs. Miller"
(USA 1971)
Zum Filmarchiv: "Der mit dem Wolf tanzt " (USA 1990)
"Erbarmungslos"
(USA 1992)
"Dead Man"
(USA 1995)
(USA 2005)
(USA 2010)
Zum Filmarchiv: "Slow West" (USA/NZ 2014)
Zum Filmarchiv: "Die Frau, die vorausgeht" (USA 2017)
Exercise 3: The Frontier Myth
Subjects: English, History, Politics, Geography, German from upper school, age 16 and upwards
After the screening:
a) Watch the following three Zum Inhalt: scenes from "First Cow" again. Describe the Zum Inhalt: locations in as much detail as possible.
b) The American historian Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932) published an essay in 1893 entitled The Significance of the Frontier in American History, in which he wrote that the settlers kept expanding the frontier to the west. He said that an interaction had taken place in this region between the "civilization" of settlement and the "savagery" of wilderness. Turner Zum externen Inhalt: argued (öffnet im neuen Tab) that, in contrast to Europe, the settlers had advanced into regions that belonged to nobody: "The American frontier is sharply distinguished from the European frontier – a fortified boundary line running through dense populations. The most significant thing about the American frontier is, that it lies at the hither edge of free land."
Watch scenes 2 and 3 again and discuss why the term "free country" is not fitting.
c) Read the Zum externen Inhalt: article (öffnet im neuen Tab) by Alfred Defago and answer the following questions in class.
1. What did "frontier" mean at the beginning of the 19th century in the US?
2. How did the use of the term change in the course of the century?
3. Which parts of the population are excluded by the frontier myth?
4. What is that is meant by the term "new frontier"?
5. What connections do you see between the economic system of capitalism and the frontier?
d) Discuss how the frontier aspects in step c) are thematized and implicitly criticized in "First Cow" .
e) Optional extra study: The American philosopher and writer Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2017) wrote an essayistic novel Lila: An Enquiry into Morals (1991) largely agreeing with Frederick Jackson Turner that the frontier was of great significance to the US. However, his point of view is that it were not the white settlers who shaped the cultural values of the US but their encounter with indigenous cultures. Work out which examples he used to demonstrate this. Apply the Zum externen Inhalt: Skimmings (öffnet im neuen Tab) method.
f) Nowadays, modern historical sciences and postcolonial studies have a more differentiated view of US history.
How does Hartmut Lutz, Professor of Native American Studies in Greifswald, define the term "post-colonial" in the dlf article Zum externen Inhalt: Edel, grausam und demokratisch? (öffnet im neuen Tab). Apply the Zum externen Inhalt: scanning (öffnet im neuen Tab) method.
g) Read the article closely and work out what influence the Iroquois had on US society with regard to:
• Federalism
• The Constitution
• Equality between men and women.
h) Compose a comment for the school magazine using the film "First Cow" as your peg and explain how the once euro-centric/white view of US history has changed. Use the results from steps c), e) and f).
h) Compose a comment for the school magazine using the film "First Cow" as your peg and explain how the once euro-centric/white view of US history has changed. Use the results from steps c), e) and f).