Isabella Mann: Cabeza De Vaca Imagery

    During one of our classes we spent the time watching the 1991 film, Cabeza de vaca. I found an interesting piece of imagery that took place towards the end of the film. A religious practice where a lizard was tied to a pole and it mirrored the persons movements, where it went in a never ending circle, eventually circling back to the lizard. It showed a profound metaphor about interconnectedness and cycles. 

    The imagery also conveys a mere truth, that human actions where never isolated, but instead circle back to affect both ourselves and the world around us. In this sense, the lizards endless movement reflects the consequences and the impossibility to escape the cycles we created ourselves, like the circle of life, death, and rebirth. By blinding us to the natural world and forces beyond our control. the film summarizes how we can easily forget our place within these patterns. This scene represents not only a religious practice but also serves as a reminder that existence is circular, and becoming aware of this cycle is essential to understanding our relationship with nature, spirits, and most importantly, our community. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kip Redick Introduction

  You be able to write your blog by clicking “new post” in the appropriate class.   Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry. Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The stu...
Read more

symbols, culture death, bones

 I find it ironic that skulls, at least in our culture, represent death when in most cultures, death seems to be accepted as something that's not final, in a sense. While it does seem to marry well with the concept of erasure, the erasure that death speaks to seems--to me, at least--to be that of a previous state of being, or a former self. This view of death is usually explored as a type of cleansing and a way to (for lack of more abstract terms) wash away the old to uncover the new or the reformed; a necessary destruction for the purpose of rebirth.  Skulls, however, are a phenomenon, usually reserved for the representation of decay and rot, which is why I find the conflict between this symbolism and this particular view of death so interesting. Out of all symbols that we use to represent death in our culture, why is the skull so prevalent? What makes it so representative of the American worldview that we landed on it as our, for the most part, definitive symbol of mortality...
Read more

Isabella Mann: Cabeza De Vaca

 In the 1991 film, Cabeza de Vaca, the protagonist's transformation from ship wreak survivor to healer and spiritual figure underscores the profound relationship between human survival and the natural world. Stripped of his colonial power and status, he learned to depend on the land not only for sustenance but also for its meaning. The sacredness of place and ecology becomes central to his journey, as the environment itself serves as a teacher, teaching him resilience, humility, and interconnectedness. His journey through surviving and helping various tribes allowed him to fully experience the true meaning of life. His survival is not only achieved through domination but through listening, observing, and adapting to the rhythms of nature and the different spiritual practices around him. 
Read more