Monday 1 February 2016

Adaptation B: Investigating the Mapuche

  I decided to do some research into the other elements o fthe project. Since the tale of Colo Colo relates to the indigenous Mapuche of South America I decided to look into their culture in regards to the house. In the source I found i was a little disappointed to learn that the traditional Ruka is no longer lived in by the majority, who these days more favour dwellings in Chilean or Argentinian cities. But if an online journal by J. Cavigla is anything to go by, there are a few who still live in them in the wilderness here and there but for the most part the Mapuche have adopted city life.

  While there are variations of shape, most rukas are straw windowless buildings with only one entrance, a bed set against the wall and a central fire pit and numerous domestic implements hanging from the ceilings and walls. The simplicity of the ruka should allow me to direct creative focus on Colo Colo itself. Could also explain how the entire thing could be burned down considering it is made of straw. Sources also mention that ideally, a fire is burning at all times within the building, which means I might be able to play around with smoke and lighting.

For landscapes however I hopped into Google Maps to see what the regions were like and got something of a duality depending on where I looked. In southern Chile, within the Andes, there was lots of lush, green, mountainous terrain. In southern Argentina it is a lot more flat and dry.

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2 comments:

  1. Hi Mark,

    Although the Mapuche mainly live in cities these days, I think it tends to be in shanty towns, so that might give you another visual to play with... I was in Chile around 20 years ago, and the shanty towns are a sight to behold, clinging precariously to the hillsides...

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    1. I've seen imagery of such places from Mexico and Mumbai and in my research did crop up the odd mention of tensions between the Mapuche and the Chilean government, so I'll take it into consideration. I've also heard that fires in those sorts of places can quickly spread across the entire neighborhood so when it comes to the exorcism scene it could just be Colo Colo itself that is set on fire.

      The concept of burning the house down is used only if exorcising Colo Colo doesn't work. So it doesn't always happen.

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