Africa Film WebMeeting

Message from: (african-cinema-conference@xc.org)
About: Re: A propos Quartier Mozart

Mon, 10 Jun 1996 18:32:57 -0400

Originally from: "Andrew M. Caplan" <aqc1774@is4.NYU.EDU>
Originally dated: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 18:32:57 -0400

On Tue, 4 Jun 1996, Kenneth W Harrow wrote:

> I loved Quartier Mozart, and assigned it to my Third World Cinema class
last
> semester. It was a sophisticated, open-minded group of upper-class
students.
> They didn't laugh when they were supposed to, they didn't laugh at all.
They
> found it sexist, etc. In short, it was a dismal failure. I still love it,

> but Cameroonian humor is not always available to Western audiences, so
> ...let the teacher be warned.

Dear Ken:

I'm astounded by this! Honestly: sexist? Isn't the whole point of the
movie, or at least part of it, to deflate MAD DOG's pretensions to
patriarchal power/ his conflation of paternal authority with national
authority? And isn't this deflation/deconstructed done by a woman
sorceress?

Maybe my understanding of sexism is naive. At least I liked the movie,
though.

What did you say in response to your students' complaints? And were those
complaints unanimous?

Marc Caplan
Dept. of Comparative Literature
NYU

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