Syllabus & Rubric Buzzwords
This term refers to human behaviors or choices that deviate from what is expected or considered standard in a society.
What is an anomaly?
The president of ACAMJG who reads Machiavelli and Neitzschke while picking materials in the landfill.
Who is Tião?
Extreme long shots and aerial tracking shots of Jardim Gramacho establish this visual relationship between the workers and the land.
What is the overwhelming scale of the trash vs. the insignificance/vulnerability of the human figures?
The famous Brazilian city on the outskirts of which Jardim Gramacho was located before its closure.
What is Rio de Janeiro?
Complete the famous aphorism by Valter: "99 is not..."
What is "...100"?
The contradiction seen when catadores derive immense joy, dignity, and artistic value out of working in a toxic, degraded garbage dump.
What is a paradox?
The catadora cook who feeds the workers fresh, warm meals cooked directly inside the landfill using salvaged food.
Who is Irma?
Moby’s musical score shifts from somber, ambient tones during landfill scenes to upbeat, rhythmic tracks during this process.
What is the artistic creation/portrait production process in the studio?
The medium Vik Muniz uses to recreate the large-scale projected photographs of the catadores before photographing them again.
What are recycled materials / garbage from the landfill?
When asked if she is ashamed of being a catadora, Suellem famously declares that picking recyclables is better than doing this.
What is prostitution or crime / drug dealing?
The shift in Vik Muniz’s perspective when he hesitates to take the catadores back to Jardim Gramacho after they experience the high art world in London.
What is an inconsistency in human behavior/motivation?
The subject of the portrait titled Gypsy, who breaks down in tears when she sees her portrait for the first time.
Who is Magna?
The cinematic style of photography where high-contrast lighting is used to make garbage look like marble or fine-art texture.
What is chiaroscuro / high-contrast lighting?
The famous London auction house where Tião's portrait Marat (Sebastião) was sold for £28,000.
What is Phillips de Pury?
Magna states that she prefers working in the landfill over working as a domestic maid because it gives her this key human quality.
What is freedom / independence / dignity?
While picking garbage is an individual daily struggle, the catadores forming an association (ACAMARC) represents this type of human experience.
What is a collective human experience?
This character's portrait was inspired by Jacques-Louis David’s famous painting The Death of Marat.
Who is Tião?
Walker frequently uses this camera framing choice during interviews to elevate the catadores from mere subjects to dignified storytellers.
What are eye-level close-ups?
Vik Muniz’s personal background that creates a parallel between his human experience and that of the catadores.
What is his upbringing in a poor favela in Brazil before gaining international art fame?
Vik Muniz states that his goal is not just to take photos, but to "change people's..."
What is "...lives"?
The ultimate goal of storytelling in the syllabus, demonstrated when Waste Land challenges western audience assumptions about poverty.
What is inviting the responder to see the world differently / challenge assumptions?
Vik’s wife, Janaina, raises this ethical dilemma regarding Vik’s intervention in the catadores' lives.
What is the ethics of introducing them to a luxurious lifestyle and then leaving them back in the landfill?
The non-fiction sub-genre feature used when Vik, Janaina, and the crew are shown debating camera setups and ethical concerns on screen.
What is meta-documentary / self-reflexive filmmaking?
The central paradox of Muniz’s artistic medium—using literal trash to create valuable, high-end fine art.
What is the juxtaposition of material worthlessness with immense aesthetic/monetary value?
The final transformation shown in the epilogue demonstrates that art acts as a catalyst for this specific human capability.
What is agency / self-determination / transcendence?