MANDERLAY

a pretext for reflecting on school, identity, and difference

Abstract

regarding teaching, identity, and difference. Two themes of the film have been privileged: one regards what is strange, in the way Bauman puts it. I have aimed at relating it to school, which ends up becoming the second theme. I have tried to deal with these themes in a utilitarian way; Veiga-Neto did the same in the discussion of another film. Both choices, his and mine, were arbitrary. Based on the film and on the authors that support the discussion, I view modern school as a space where order, control, and homogenization take place. I have presented some principles which can destabilize this traditional school organization without giving up modern-day utopia and ideals completely.