It seems to me that the opera represents the privilege and prestige of the upper class, the ability have the experience of seeing an opera. It may not mean anything to the rich as they are accustomed to receiving nice things and experiences, they have become apathetic to consumption of these. However, the poor are willing to row thousands of miles in order to attend the opera show for just one night. Fitzcarraldo mentions that his father was Irish, it seems to me that he comes from a poor background. He says his one dream is the opera which could have been why he wants to build a railroad. He wants to fit in with the rich and prestigious in Peru. “The rubber business is growing by leaps and bounds” and one of the characters said that the opera house could soon be too small for the growing city. The rich lady says that having natives as her house keepers is “much better than sending them out on the street”. It’s funny that Fitzcarraldo says “I can’t stand the sight of dandies who think money can buy everything”. Then the woman says “you could take a crack at respectability”. Maybe Fitzcarraldo really is only interested in going to the opera. I feel like his obsession that turns into insanity has something to do with his craving for riches but perhaps he does not support demeaning others.
The film engages with colonialism because the characters mention gold and cities of gold many times throughout the movie. I think the part in the movie when the camera zooms in on the jungle cat in the rich woman’s room represents the nation that has been colonialized and taken by the white men and women. We see the poor defenseless animal’s sad eyes that look like they’re pleading for help.
The racial tensions are represented in many ways. The white man playing poker and smoking a cigar laughs at Fitzcarraldo (even though he is also a white man). It seems like the natives in the area have been pushed all the way off their land to the edge of the water. Fitzcarraldo is the only white one in the jail which says something about who gets in trouble in their town. The quote “it’s no easy job to discipline ‘em believe me” stuck out to me because it represents that the natives do not approve and are not happy with the industrialization and corruption going on in their city. The natives do all the work for the rubber industry and the white men get all the profit.
I feel like the ideas we talked about in class last time were represented in the beginning of the movie with the man and the woman who come to the opera from a boat they had to paddle and are well dressed. They said they came from 1,000 miles away. I found the contrast between them and the guys sitting on the steps shirtless interesting. To me the quote “He hasn’t got a ticket but he’s got a right” says something about the idea of poverty and who should be allowed to enjoy the finer things in life (like what Hunter mentioned last class about the lobster).
It is really intriguing to me that Fitzcarraldo uses a hammock when he stays at the rich woman’s house. In the beginning it seemed like he tried not to associate himself with the privileged but he couldn’t help himself. He put his greed and sexual desires in front of his moral values.
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