Social Messages In Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto'

All of the Aztecs were brainwashed to think that the success of their culture was more important than their own lives. Some may argue that they were showing loyalty to their community and religion. In reality, killing a myriad of people for the purpose of pleasing the gods and cannibalism in order to be rewarded, is not justified by religious beliefs. The Aztecs teach us good lessons today about government and countries competing to be the best. From these examples modern world society leaders can learn how selfish actions can impact the entire community in a negative way. It’s conspicuous that Aztecs were doing many things wrong that led to the death of thousands of innocent lives and the suppression of people under their

Imagine living in a civilization that practiced human sacrifice and ritual dances, and then one day that civilization no longer exists because another culture decided to conquer them. These people are known to modern society as the Aztecs. In Graciela Limon's novel, Song of the Hummingbird, she illustrated how a culture like the Aztecs or Mexica, can quickly diminish when there are people such as the Spanish that have very limited understanding about certain subjects. Some people may say that the Aztecs were slaughtered because the Darwinian principle of natural selection even applies to mankind. This concept was perceptible when the Spaniards marched with horses, advanced technology, and armor. But through this novel,

Leon-Portilla based the stories told in this book upon old writings of actual Aztec people who survived the Spanish massacres. The actual authors of the stories told in this book are priests, wise men and regular people who survived the killings. These stories represent the more realistic view of what really happened during the Spanish conquest. Most of the history about the Aztec Empire was based on Spanish accounts of events, but Leon-Portilla used writings from actual survivors to illustrate the true history from the Indians’ point of view.

Have you ever wanted to know what was more important to the Aztec’s, agriculture or human sacrifice? Well, it’s human sacrifice. The human sacrifice was more important than agriculture because they had to perform human sacrifices for the success of agriculture and to make their gods happy. They thought that it was ok because it was part of their religion. We cannot ignore the fact something like this happened, they killed 2,300 men. What should we stress more agriculture or human sacrifice? I say human sacrifice.

The Aztecs should also be remembered for their strong army and expert tactics. Aztec warriors were some of the most “fierce fighters” in Mesoamerica, conquering almost all of southern Mexico in a span of about 100 years (Doc. 1). This extraordinary success came from not only the Aztecs’ expert fighting skills, but the fear they instilled within their enemy. As previously stated, the Aztecs are most known for their human sacrifices; most of which were captured enemies. In The History of the Indies of New Spain, Friar Diego Duran describes a sacrificial ritual he witnessed where 2,300 prisoners from Teuclepec were killed in the name of the Aztec religion (Doc. 6). However, some historians believe that these sacrifices were not performed for

In the film created by Salvador Carrasco, he tells us the story of the oppressed Aztecs by the Spanish conquistadors. The film leads to a social and religious understanding by two of the main characters Topiltzin (a native Aztec) and Fray Diego, (a friar in Catholicism). Together, both characters form a bond and that lets for the two different cultures to get together for the viewers to understand that these cultures are more in tune than what they seem. Carrasco, divides his movie into two parts, setting the tone for the mirroring of scenes, duality, and parallelism that takes place during the course of the movie. The director intends for his viewers to draw important connections from these elements that bring them to a greater understanding of social culture, religion, and faith. In one of the final scenes leading up the end of the movie, Fray Diego confronts Topiltzin at the church. At this point that the viewer sees a behavior change in Fray Diego's eyes. Fray Diego knows Topiltzin's feelings toward religion, indicating the large strides that he has made over the years in

The ancient Aztec civilization is usually thought of as a barbaric, unintelligent people throughout modern society. This could be an ideal carried down from the Spaniards that concord the native lands or even something as simple as today’s society creating overblown stereotypes because of conjoined lack of understanding and overall knowledge. But, because of the extensive research and studies done by Miguel León-Portilla we are able to discover the true nature of the Aztec peoples way of life. Within the book “Aztec Thought and Culture” the author explains the develop of the Aztec civilization through education and philosophy as well as describing the Aztec people as an advanced society rather than the popular belief of a savage people and culture.

The Mayan people do not want to be associated with the Latino culture and decides to defend their right to their own traditions. In “Three Dirges” the conflict is immediately started, "Don Lazaro, you've got five boys in Comitan teaching the campesinos how to read. That's subversive. That's communist. So tonight, you have to kill

People see movies to get a momentary escape from reality and be engaged in a fictional perfect world or other genres that may snatch their emotions. The emotions seen in the audience are created by using ethos, logos, and pathos throughout the movie. Ethos is what portrays the credibility throughout the film such as using famous actors or placing historically accurate scenes in the film. Logos is represented by the logical scenes throughout the film such as the fame of the film including its rating and awards or the historically accurate scenes representing the time the film was set in. Finally, pathos is what grabs the emotions of the audience from the dramatic scenes throughout the movie. In the movie Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis portrays ethos, logos, and pathos several times throughout the film to pull the audience in and leave them as if they were living in the film.

The Movie Crash is valuable in learning about social issues because it points out things that we may tend to ignore in everyday life. It also brings light to things that we may do, but not necessarily consciously realize. Another benefit of this movie portraying social issues like racism is that it helps us think about ourselves as a person and we can analyze ourselves in our way of thinking and our actions. Using a movie in class is also beneficial because it breaks up the traditional classroom activities. It helps student be a little more involved and interested in the topic. It also helps extend learning beyond just the textbook and classroom lectures and activities. Although using movies can make students more involved and interested

The Aztecs and Incas possessed different ideological and intellectual values or developments throughout their powers. For instance, an image of the Aztecs shows their practice of human sacrifice through a ceremony and the building of large temples to honor the gods (Fefferman, “Human Sacrifice Mendoza”). Ideology was a major interest of the Aztecs for they sacrificed themselves for their many deities and cared more about them, unlike the Incas who did not practice sacrifice for their gods. Aztec

     Mexica rulers flooded their lands with propaganda that promoted their imperialistic religion. Most of the Aztec’s art and literature was made up of this propaganda, which created this religious fervor among the people that grew beyond the control of the ruling elites. “Oral literature, monumental art, written codices, and public and private ceremonies instilled and continually reinforced belief in the divine struggle and the unceasing need for sacrificial victims” (Conrad, 51). Furthermore, religious zeal was strengthened by the guarantee that immortality would be granted to warriors who died in the divine quest and increased social standing awaited those who faired well in wars (Conrad, 52).

The representation of the individual in Karen Tei Yamashita’s “Through the Arc of the Rainforest” shows interactions between the characters with varying degrees of individuality, as well as generic “crowds” representing the population at large. The individuals represented are characters with both weak and strong personalities, as well as exploitative and exploited crowd interactions. Yamashita portrays the “individual” with basic cosmetic differences, evidenced by Kazumasa’s orbiting cranial satellite and Tweep’s third appendage. However, Yamashita also uses the ideological differences, specifically Chico Paco’s religious devotion and Mane Pena’s knowledge in the field of featherology. These distinctions serve to cast these characters from the homogenous “crowd,” elevating them from the nameless characters that occupy the background of the novel. The individualism these characters demonstrate is identified by their personalities, their interactions with other individuals, and their interaction with the crowd around them. This paper will use these actions to explain Yamashita’s portrayal of flawed individuals, and how they interact with the “crowd.”

In this movie, one may observe the different attitudes that Americans had towards Indians. The Indians were those unconquered people to the west and the almighty brave, Mountain Man went there, “forgetting all the troubles he knew,” and away from civilization. The mountain man is going in search of adventure but as this “adventure” starts he finds that his survival skills are not helping him since he cant even fish and as he is seen by an Indian, who watches him at his attempt to fish, he start respecting them. The view that civilization had given him of the west changes and so does he. Civilization soon becomes just something that exists “down there.”

The practice of bloodletting and human sacrifice ritual is undoubtedly important in the life of the Mayans. The bloodletting allows the ruler the ability to communicate with the Gods and their ancestors. While the human sacrifice is connected to the continuation of the cosmos and the resurrection of the agricultural seasons. A summary and a discussion of the book Popol Vuh is presented, on the topic of reassurance theme of human sacrifice is addressed in this paper. The examination of how bloodletting and human sacrifice is crucial to the Mayan culture, and how these rituals provided the stability of social and political aspect of the Mayan society.