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.