I would like the film adaptation to have colorblind casting.  Since The Jungle is about the working class, I believe that casting two white actors to play the roles of Jurgis and Ona would just reinforce the typical historical narrative that white people are inherently hardworking and their stories are more important to follow.  I would cast Zoe Kravitz as Ona, she is a very petite actress and she has an incredible emotional range.  Ona needs to appear physically delicate, and I think Zoe would embody the physicality of the role very well.  

“She was so young—not quite sixteen—and small for her age, a mere child; and she had just been married—and married to Jurgis,[1] of all men, to Jurgis Rudkus, he with the white flower in the buttonhole of his new black suit, he with the mighty shoulders and the giant hands.”

In terms of Jurgis, I think the one star in Hollywood who could really embody a working man of his size would be Jason Mamoa.  I think the opening of chapter 2 embodies Jurgis’ attitude for casting.  

“Jurgis talked lightly about work, because he was young. They told him stories about the breaking down of men, there in the stockyards of Chicago, and of what had happened to them afterward—stories to make your flesh creep, but Jurgis would only laugh. He had only been there four months, and he was young, and a giant besides. There was too much health in him. He could not even imagine how it would feel to be beaten. “That is well enough for men like you,” he would say, “silpnas, puny fellows—but my back is broad.” ”

Jurgis needs to be cast as someone who physically appears indomitable.  I think Jason would take to this role very well.  The contrast between these two physically would be enough visual interest on a movie poster, but I also think the acting capabilities and chemistry between the actors would show on screen as well.  We need to portray the delight and dismay of new immigrants, so some actors with a slight edge to them would also help.

Upton Sinclair describes Ona as small or petite especially in comparison to her husband but even in general she is small. She is smart and feminine. So no casting ideas automatically came to my mind at first. No actresses clicked so I went on google images and typed in petite Lithuanian women 1900s but nothing really caught my eye. I had typed in Lithuanian of course because that’s what Ona was but then I just searched up petite women 1900s and came across the photo the I would use. This photo just isn’t a random photo. The women’s name is Della Moore(also goes by Annie rogers and/or Maude Williams) and she was actually around during the old west and was the girlfriend of an outlaw named Harvey Logan. I picked her because she did look petite and also looked like she could pull that small side of Ona as described. For Jurgis unlike with Ona a name did actually come up to mind. Upton Sinclair describes him as big and strong, just like how Ona was the more traditional women Jurgis was the more traditional man. In my head I imagined someone I could see working hard physical labor jobs, someone who was physically big but not huge in like a body builder or wrestler type of way. Pedro Pascal came to mind as he is in a show I’ve been watching called The Last Of Us and in that show I think he fits the Jurgis role perfectly  since it looks like he bulked up especially compared to his other roles in other works.

The rubric for comments:

To post a comment reply, click on the post, scroll down to the bottom where it says “Leave a Reply” in bold, fill out the “Comment Box,” and click “Post Comment.”

Note: Wi-fi can be a bit tricky, so make sure you are in a place where the signal is strong enough to post.

Rubric for Comments

The rubric for blog posts

Rubric for Blog Posts pdf

A  5 min video showing you how to create a Blog Post

One of the options for “Welcome to the Week” is is use Zoom to record yourself or your screen using google slides or both.

Here are directions from the Zoom site, linked here “Enabling and starting local recordings”

Directions:

Local recording is available to free and paid subscribers. Local recording allows participants to record meeting video and audio locally to a computer. Local recordings can include participant names, separate audio tracks for each participant, timestamps, and other options. Local recordings capture the meeting as the participant recording sees the meeting, meaning the recording will capture the meeting in speaker view, if that is what video layout is currently in use.

You can upload recorded files to a file storage service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or a streaming service like YouTube or Vimeo. Local recording files can be found in the default Zoom recording folder on your system.

Prerequisites for local recordings

• Basic (Free) account or above
• Zoom desktop client for Windows, macOS, or Linux: Global minimum version or higher

Note: Local recording is not supported on iOS, iPad, or Android devices. See cloud recording for paid accounts if you are using a mobile device.

How to start a local recording

The host must record the meeting or grant the ability to record to a participant.

1. Start a Zoom meeting as the host.
2. Click Record .
3. If there is a menu, select Record on this Computer.
   Hosts will see the following recording indicator in the top-left corner while recording is active.
   
   Participants will see the following indicator in the top-left corner while the recording is active.
   
4. Click Participants to see which participants are currently recording.
   
   Note: Dial-in participants will hear a message informing them that the meeting is now being recorded unless disabled by the host.
5. After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording so you can access the files.
6. Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open.
   Note: By default, the recording files are formatted a certain way. The audio/video file (MP4) will be named video[random number].mp4. The audio only file (M4A) is named audio[random number].m4a.

Note: 

• If the meeting unexpectedly shuts down or if the conversion process is interrupted, the recording files could become corrupted and non-recoverable. Restarting or shutting down your computer, putting the hard disk to sleep, or closing your laptop will interrupt the conversion process.
• If the conversion process is not successful after the meeting has ended, you can try to manually convert the recording.
• You can record the meeting in different layouts including Active Speaker, Gallery View, and shared screen.
• After the file has completed converting, if you choose to rename the file from the default naming convention, we recommend you use a unique file name. We recommend you do not use the words Zoom, Personal Meeting Room, or My Meeting when saving your meeting files.

Greetings!

Below is a rubric for the “Welcome to the Week” presentation/leading discussion blog post/video. Each student will do ONE. This is worth 10% of your grade. This is regarded as a “larger” assignment along with the 2 critical analysis papers.

Main Goal and Point of this Assessment:

To provide a foundation and motivation to engage the material. What does that mean? “foundation” are your passages, contemporary parallels, links, and resources. Your questions and explanation of your own curiosity and thinking will further motivate the class.

There are items to check off in terms of form and content detailed below, but you want to think more about how you can select quotes and related sources and word questions (your question may have an explanation or levels.)

Form

Add a category

Each video should be embedded in a blog post so that peers can make comment replies on our class site and so that material is archived in a centralized location

Provide a title that informs which week and text is your focus.

Include the category (metadata that you must add). On the right-hand side of the blog post, composition page there is a box that says “Categories.” Pick “Welcome to the Week” so that it automatically be found under the “Welcome to the Week” menu heading. You may also choose to add your own phrases and words associated with your post in the “Tags” box.

Word Count/ Length

Each post should have a video: 5-10 mins long Or 300-800* words. If you write your post, be sure to break down topics and points of focus with subtitles or subheadings to help guide our reading of your post.

*I extended the word count if needed. The word count DOES NOT include passages. Remember, the goal is not “how much do I have” but “how well did I provide a foundation and motivation to engage”?

Content

Questions

Pose at least 3 questions for peers to respond to in their comment replies

Passages

Include 2 passages (you can read them out loud or just post and describe them)

Cultural content, contemporary parallels, media, and images are welcome (if you are uncertain about how to add these materials, check out the “How to Guides and Tutorials” page in the menu)

Try to cite and link as much content as possible (this will help when it comes time to write larger assessments).

In class, you will be invited to reflect (e.g. speak for 1-2 mins) on your post before I go through the comments

Real Talk about Time management

It took me an hour and 1/2 to read, 1/2 hour to create my slides and video, an hour to edit the video, and a final 15 mins to upload and post. That’s 3 hours and 15 mins.  You may not have to edit the same amount as I did, but this is a larger assignment that takes time. Be sure to schedule tasks.

If you want to create a video, here is a link to a blog post with advice and directions for creating a video blog, but you can take your own approach. Just avoid trying to upload a video to the “media library” on this site because if there is too much data, it will run out of room, and I will need to request more.

Assessment (Grade form instructor provided on Blackboard)

1. Post  one 5-10 mins Youtube video embedded in a blog post posted to this CUNY Commons site OR a blog post with a  word count of 300-800 (50 points)
2. Category, titles, and subheadings (if needed) (5 points)
3. 3 questions (30 points)
4. 2 passages (10 points)
5. Media, Links, citations (5 points)