2011 STARTS HERE!

Culture Shock

Culture Shock is a theme that features prominently in The Secret River and The Rugmaker. It is a topic that you could focus on in a piece of writing you create. The following documentary gives you the opportunity to hear the voices of young people who have have left their home country to create new lives in Australia. They are certainly inspiring.

Culture Shock from Change Media on Vimeo.

The New World

This film is a representation of the the clash between native American and British setllers that took place in the 17th Century. It tells the story of Pocahontas and the forbidden love she shared with explorer John Smith. As pointed out in an earlier post, limks can definitely be seen between this narrative and The Secret River. Links to the The Rugmaker could also be drawn out. The idea of encountering a foreign land or place, and trying to adapt to a new culture and way of life. This real life version of the story may appeal to some more than the cartoon. It presents settings and relationships in a realistic way that one could use to inform a piece of writing.

Film Flogging: Racism in Soccer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpO-nnFY9g
I was watching this video about how elite black soccer players were being taunted on the field while in a game. The video clearly shows direct racism from the fans, even from the fans of the team the black player is playing for. Again, this relates to the racism aspect of the Secret River. I think this is wrong and should be addressed not only by the soccer community but also by everybody. One thing I also noticed about this Youtube page is that the comments of the video is just like a racism war with people calling each other names such as “apes” and “pigs”. This video was posted in the year 2006 but the latest comment was one hour ago. This shows how racism is a very serious problem with people having lots to say about the matter that would last years...4 years in fact. If you read through some of the comments in the video, the people wrote things not even related to the video itself. They missed the point of why the video was made which really makes me sad. THEY NEED HELP.

POCAHONTAS

There are many similarities between both the Secret River and the 1995 film Pocahontas. The biggest I feel is the similarities between the two colonies of English settlers and their believes. Both come to a new land intend to find different things. Both were unaware of the other culture, further this lead to their being a conflict between the two as the English believe because they are not like them, they must be savage or inferior. Smasher Sullivan is much like Governor Ratcliffe, who intends to slaughter the Native American Indians. Although Pocahontas has a love story involved, The Secret River has Blackwood, friend of the aboriginals. Blackwood is much like John Smith who discovers the Indians are not at all savage, just have a different way of living, much like the aboriginals. There is also a physical battle between the two, although the battle in Pocahontas is stopped by love from Pocahontas herself for John Smith. The two are similar yet the Secret River is a lot more confronting in its description than Pocahontas, which is intended for children.

By Nick

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, a book that I have just finished reading (and absolutely loved), has just been made into a movie.

The movie tells the story of a young boy, and his father, who flee the war in Afghanistan, to a new home in America. Although their new life is much happier, Amir, who, as a young boy, did many bad things that he deeply regrets later on in life, which continue to haunt him. He grows up in America, get married, and has to visit his old country, which brings up the bad things of his past. Like Will Thornhill, Amir misses his old country, but knows his new country is the better place for him to be. He wishes that he had done many things in his life differently, and if he hadn’t faced the conflicts he had faced throughout his childhood, would he have been a different person, would his life had turned out much different if he had?

By Steph

The Wind of Change by Warkas is a beautiful image that makes me think of The Secret River. This image could certainly have worked as a front cover for the text. The way in which Varcas has transposed the image onto the texture of a film reel makes me think of it as being a scene from within a film. What would be the story of the people linked to this boat on this secret river? What conflicts would these people have encoutered in their lives? How would their struggles have been similar to those of the characters in The Secret River? Perhaps this image of a green boat will inspire a writing piece for some of you.

In creating this image Warkas has taken up magicicada's offer to use his (texture) Film for creative endeavour. Some of you might wish to explore the Context and ideas that arise from The Secret River and The Rugmaker by using this texture to capture a 'moment' of your own. It would be fantastic to view some on our Picture Panic page.

Oyster Farmer

The Oyster Farmer is a film that can be seen to have many links to our set text The Secret River. Both stories use the Hawkesbury River as their main setting, just viewing the trailer for the film will give you a good idea of what the region looks like. The idea of the river nuturing people physically and spiritually is presented in both texts. They also both delve closely into the relationships of the people who live by the river. A husband and wife feature as main players in The Oyster Farmer and they can easily be compared to Sal and Will Thornhill, but a modern day version. They struggle to communicate with each other as they try to survive and raise their children within an unpredictable environment.

If this movie script was written in response to the prompt, 'In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. Growth can come from conflict', it would work strongly as a response. It would be addressing the set prompt, drawing from the set text and considering the Context.

Afghanistan by Dateline

"My oldest son was cut to pieces, my daughter was shot in the head and the chest and she died." Shapero, Mother

Dateline has a comprehensive catalogue of episodes about Afghanistan. They are worth viewing in terms of our Rugmaker studies. They provide a background of the types of experiences and conflicts that have burdened the Afghanii people for centuries. The issues dealt with are heartbreaking and eye opening.

The difficulty of navigating a peace keeping operation in a country torn apart by conflict is tackled in the investigative documentary Questions from Oruzgan by Sophie McNeill. It discusses the validity of a case that involves the death of Afghaniis, including children, at the hands of Australian soldiers during an attack. When considering this piece it is also of interest to reflect on how long it has been since Australia has officially been at war. Can anyone tell me?

Downloads: Views: 251

Downloads: Views: 122702

What change do you want to make in the world?

Elders with Andrew Denton is a show that often discusses themes and ideas of encountering conflict. A recent interview with Muhammad Yunnus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, deals with the issue of poverty in our world. Links to both our Context texts can be seen. The discussion considers the culture shock Yunnus encountered when he moved from Bangladesh to America. The characters in The Secret River and The Rugmaker also deal with such situations. He also comments on the links between poverty and terrorism and how the global community needs to work together to overcome the disparity in distribution of wealth that shapes our world. How differences between people and intolerance of others can cause conflict is a recurring theme throughout history and our texts and should be considered in your exploration of the Context.

An interesting observation by Yunnus is, 'Poverty is a breeding ground for all kinds of terrorism, all kinds of violence because it breeds frustrations and you become impatient to break through and if something happens and yes somebody says here is the gun, take this gun we will give you food, immediately you accept that because food is so important. Here is the gun we will give you a good life, I take it because I don't want to rot in this place. So it's easy. I am not saying that explains everything but it's easy. The more you can take people out of poverty, there's more chance that you'll achieve peace or less violence or you reduce terrorism'.

Muhammad Yunnus: 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner