Week Two and Three: Points of Entry/Points of Departure; Beyond Ellis Island: Narratives of Citizenship

Week Two: The Terminal (2004)


The Terminal is about a man (Viktor Navorski) who, upon arriving at JFK International Airport, is not allowed to leave the airport. While flying to the United States (NY), unknown to Victor, a revolution starts in his home nation of Krakozhia. As a result of the ensuing war in his homeland, the United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as a sovereign nation and denies Viktor's entrance to the United States since he technically is not a citizen of any country. After viewing the clip, what do you think the filmmaker is trying to say about access to citizenship and the role of airports as gatekeepers of citizenship? Are airports modern versions of Ellis Island or Angel Island? How does historical moment and new technologies shape the narratives that emerge from the two different sites?




Week Three: Narratives of Citzenship

In class or section you might discuss the following:


1.) The tactile experience of reading Angel Island poetry -- how this poetry combines material culture and words to create a new sensory experience. Does the location of the poetry change its meaning for the writer and reader/spectator? See pages 259-261 in American Mosaic and: http://www.kqed.org/w/pacificlink/history/angelisland/poetry/


2.) What are the differences and similarities between poetry written about Ellis Island (draw from research, the book American Mosaic, and the documentary Remembering Ellis Island) and poetry written about Angel Island?


Viewing Guide Questions: Remembering Ellis Island

1. What do the visuals at the beginning of the documentary illustrate about Ellis Island and what images in the first few minutes did you find most captivating?
2. How well do you think the voice over of testimonies enhanced or detracted from understanding what Ellis Island was like for immigrants? Which was more powerful: the narration or interviews? 
3. What narrative about Ellis Island does the documentary tell that our book does not? Is the documentary critical or a romanticization of Ellis Island as a site of citizenship and gate keeping and as a monument?
4. Why should we remember Ellis Island and what is most important to remember about it?
5. How did the artifacts left behind at or brought to Ellis Island or the etchings on the walls tell a story that the photographs and spoken narratives could not?
6. What distinction do the curators make between the Ellis Island monument, museum, and exhibitions in general?
7. How does mise en scene inform the documentary's narrative (music, camera movement, spatial relations of images, voice of narration, close-ups, etc?)
8. What story does the documentary leave out? Should it have focused more so on particular ethnicities rather than a sweeping narrative? What is enabled or limiting about this approach? Is this documentary an example of multiculturalism or uncritical pluralism? 
9. What did the medical categorization of immigrants reveal about the social construction of illness and identity?
10. How were experiences different for children and adult immigrants? Families?
11. What would cause a person to be subject to deportation?
12. What was significant about 1921 and 1924 insofar as immigration was concerned?
13. What role did money play in citizenship and the “assimilation” of immigrants who went through Ellis Island?
14. Is this documentary potentially “dangerous?”  What aspects are uncritical and what aspects could be potentially subversive?  If you were to construct a documentary about Ellis Island, what would you do differently? What would you include and how would you present the narratives of immigration?
 

How does the following documentary, Angel of No Mercy, compare to the excerpt from Remembering Ellis Island shown in class? 

 

Angel of No Mercy - Saving the Angel Island Immigration Station circa 1976 from Mooncloud on Vimeo.