The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil and the Bossa Nova

The Girl from Ipanema is probably the second most recorded pop song of all time, behind The Beatles' Yesterday. It is a type of Jazz called the Bossa nova, and helped make that genre known worldwide in the 1960's. 

Here is Astrud Gilberto singing the song in a live recording:

I love a good story, and I fell into this one a few years ago. As I was looking for more jazz to listen to I came across the story of The Girl from Ipanema. This BBC produced documentary gives us a good look not only into Bossa nova, but into the popular culture of Brazil. I hope you enjoy learning about this amazing musical art form as much as I have.

        

EQ:

• Why is Bossa nova important to Brazilian popular culture?

Engage:

• The Girl from Ipanema recorded live (3:01)

Explore:

• BBC Documentary The Girl from Ipanema (58:33)

Explain:

• What is Bossa nova?
• Why was Astrud Gilberto chosen to sing the song?
• How important is the Bossa nova to Brazilian popular culture?

Evaluate:

• Class discussion

Second Semester Electives

Washington Crossing the Delaware: Part 2 Art as Inspiration

Emanuel Leutze "Washington Crossing the Delaware "

The painting of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze is a historically significant piece of art in the United States. It is so iconic it has become inspiration for pop art. Read about pop art here.

Below is one example of using the painting to create a pop art piece. Compare the two pieces of art, what is similar and what is different?

By WatermelonRat

Assignment

1. Create your own piece of pop art using the knowledge you learned from the Wikipedia page. Use "Washington Crossing the Delaware" as your inspiration.
2. Check with me if you have any questions.

EQ:

• What is pop art and why should it be a thing?

Engage:

• Part 2 of the lesson

Explore:

• The students will examine the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze
• Pop Art

Explain:

• Is pop art based on original works ok? 

Evaluate:

• Students will create a piece of art using Leutze's painting as inspiration.

Washington Crossing the Delaware: Part 1

Washington Crossing the Delaware is a very famous painting. Its use in popular culture probably even led to a contest to pick the best George Washington impersonator to re-enact the crossing every year. Watch this video to find out more about the contest. 

Being George

After watching the video, lets look at the paining. What do you see? Can you find any historical inconsistencies? You can find more information about the painting of Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Emanuel Leutze "Washington Crossing the Delaware "

The painting creates a lot of questions. Why was this painted? Is it historically accurate? Who is the artist Emanuel Leutze? Check out the article below to find out these answers.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-iconic-american-history-painting-facts-wrong

Assignment 

In the comment section of this post answer the following questions:

1. In "Being George" why do you think portraying George Washington is so important to the contestants?
2. Why did Leutze paint "Washington Crossing the Delaware"? 
3. Identify three historical inaccuracies in the painting. 
4. Should art be historically accurate? Explain why or why not. 

Copy and paste the following frame for your comment:

1. Portraying George Washington is important to the contestants because
2. Leutze painted "Washington Crossing the Delaware" because
3. Three historical inaccuracies in the painting are
4. Yes, art should be historically accurate because/No, art should not be historically accurate because 

EQ:

• Should artists have a responsibility to make their art historically accurate?

Engage:

• Fred Armiston Art Afficionado (2:58)

Explore:

• Being George: The real-life drama in the contest to re-enact Washington crossing the Delaware (39 min)
• The students will examine the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze

Explain:

• The students will examine pop culture homages to the painting. We will also discuss how the painting has been used for political reasons.

Evaluate:

• In "Being George" why do you think portraying George Washington is so important to the contestants?
• Why did Leutze paint "Washington Crossing the Delaware"? 
• Identify three historical inaccuracies in the painting. 
• Should art be historically accurate? Explain why or why not. 

Godzilla (1954)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1954_film)#/media/File:Gojira_1954_Japanese_poster.jpg

Godzilla is the longest running franchise in movie history. As Yoda might say, the reboots are strong with this one.

1954 must have been Japan's 1939, the greatest movie year in the United States. We watched Seven Samurai, but the year also boasts Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto which won a special Academy Award for best foreign film and Sansho the Bailiff, an amazing film.

Godzilla is probably a psychological response to the atomic bombs being dropped as well as the fear of nuclear proliferation that was very scary and very real in the 1950's. Who knows what monsters will be revealed?

1776 The Musical

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#/media/File:United_States_Declaration_of_Independence.jpg

Since 2015 the biggest musical, let alone history based musical has been Hamilton. Here is a clip from the Tony's.

What you may not know is there was a musical over the same time period that started on Broadway in 1969 and later became a movie in 1972. We are going to watch the movie and try to parse what is factual and what is changed for the medium (besides the congressman not randomly breaking into song.)

EQ: Why did the Declaration of Independence get written and who wrote it?

Engage:

• Clip from Hamilton the Musical

Explore:

• 1776 the Musical

Explain:

• What held up the Continental Congress from declaring independence from Britain?
• Who was the most ardent supporter of independence?
• How did slavery complicate declaring independence?

Evaluate:

• Worksheet questions

Extend:

Map of Mexico

This is a political map of Mexico. You will color the states, but do not label (otherwise there will be way too much writing on the map when we are finished.) 

https://www.mapsofworld.com/mexico/mexico-political-map.html

Here is the physical map that you will use to label the transparency with the names provided on the checklist. 

https://www.ezilon.com/maps/north-america/mexico-physical-maps.html

EQ: Where in Mexico do you find the important landforms and cities?

Engage:

• Ask if any students are from Mexico. If so, have them identify on the map where they are from. 
• Mexico Geography Now (18:20) 

Explore:

• Map of Mexico
• Political Map of Mexico

Explain:

1. Color the states of Mexico on the paper map.
2. Find and label on a transparency over the blackline map. 
3. Checklist

• Rio Grande River
• Rio Santiago River 
• Rio Bravo River
• Yucatan Peninsula 
• Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
• Baja California 
• Mexican Plateau
• Sierra Madre Del Sur, 
• Sierra Madre Occidental 
• Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains
• Pacific Ocean 
• Gulf of Mexico 
• Gulf of California
• Caribbean Sea

Evaluate:

•  Map of Mexico

Extend:

• Mexico Imax Video (41:42)

Seven Samurai (1954)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai#/media/File:Seven_Samurai_movie_poster.jpg

Seven Samurai is arguably the greatest film from arguably the greatest Japanese director. Akira Kurosawa and his writers created the plot elements of recruiting heroes and starting the film with the hero undertaking a mission unrelated to the actual plot. He used multiple cameras and telephoto lenses to capture the action, which was almost as unusual as his insistence on creating the entire village away from the movie studio to make it more authentic.

Probably the most well known actor in this film is Toshiro Mifune, probably because he made 16 movies with Kurosawa. I suspect he is second only to Godzilla when it comes to recognition from audiences outside of Japan.

Boston Massacre Printmaking

Here is a link to a shared class document where we will record questions we have about today's lesson:

• 8-1 Document
• 8-2 Document
• 8-3 Document

The most famous example of propaganda in United States history is the Paul Revere print of the Boston Massacre. The fact that we still refer to this incident as a massacre is proof of that. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre#/media/File:Boston_Massacre_high-res.jpg

The real story of the 'Boston Massacre' is more complicated than a bunch of soldiers indiscriminately firing into a peaceful crowd of Boston citizens. As we examine the evidence as revealed in the trial of the soldiers and find out the true story we need to ask ourselves why would Revere lie? What purpose did it serve? Who benefitted from the false narrative and who was harmed?

Your assignment will be to create a print using the facts of the incident. Obviously the medium we are using will make details very difficult so keep that in mind as you work on the design. 

EQ: Why did Paul Revere create his famous Boston Massacre print?

Engage:

• Foam Printmaking (5:06)
• Foam Printmaking (5:06)
• Question Worksheet:
• 8-1 Document
• 8-2 Document
• 8-3 Document

Explore:

• John Adams miniseries video of Boston Massacre
• Boston Massacre Wikipedia

Explain:

• What is propaganda?
• Why did Revere create an inaccurate print of the Boston Massacre?
• Do you think the soldiers were justified when they fired into the crowd?
• What do you think was the effect of John Adams representing the soldiers on his career?

Evaluate:

• Students will create a factual print of the Boston Massacre.

Extend: