Encountering Conflict Through Film Flogging

60 Minutes - Dammed

2011-07-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

In The Secret River the struggles the Aboriginal people faced as the Europeans took control of their land is documented. It is a struggle many groups of people throughout the world have encountered. Inhumanity, racism, discrimination, ignorance, greed, survival, economics, dominance and various other factors have contributed to the poor treatment of native populations throughout history. It is a story that continues for generations as the impacts reverbrate significantly ever after. Much has been and is being done in many countries to acknowledge the suffering and hardship that has occurred due to the invasion of indigenous communities and their lands. What has happened cannot be undone, but it can be acknowledged and humanity can move forward. In terms of the context, Encountering Conflict, it might make one wonder how modern society, if put in the position of coming upon an established tribe of indigenous people, would handle the situation. Unfortunately, one does not need to research much to find the same devastating conquer and destroy story of the past at play today.

Allison Langdon's 60 Minutes story 'Dammed' tells of the Kayapo Indians fight for survival in Brazil. They face an uncertain future as the Brazilian government prepares to turn their home into a hydro dam. The story makes compelling viewing as Langdon investigates the situation, leading to the revelation that the vulnerable Kayapo are knowingly being dismissed and treated as lesser, just as the Australian Aboriginal and other native populations have been in the past. Thankfully some hope for change is instigated by Langdon's story, alongside the campaigning of Christina G Mittermeier, James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver. The Kayapo have a voice that is being heard the world over. Hopefully, they will have an outcome where they are listened to and respected.

(A variety of writing pieces could be inspired this topic, leave any ideas that come to mind as a comment. View the story at http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8270648).

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Amazon dammed - Images by Cristina Mittermeier

You S/N Task - Exploring the Context

2011-05-31T01:43:00.000-07:00

Aim to create four posts for The Secret River . You need to complete a post for the Picture Panic, Text Tremors, Film Flogging and Music Matters areas of the blog.

The posts will discuss articles of your choice. Your discussion should consider the article in relation to the context of Encountering Conflict and highlight any connections between The Secret River and the article. Include an idea for a piece of writing the material might inspire - note the form and audience for the piece.

So, have a go. Don't panic about doing it right or wrong, in this case it's about the discussion we can generate and the ideas that will put us in a strong position from which to tackle the SACs and exam. If you see something put up by someone else that gets you thinking leave them a comment. If you come across something that inspires you in regards to The Rugmaker put a post up about that too. Good Luck.

2011 STARTS HERE!

2010-12-16T01:58:00.001-08:00

Culture Shock

2010-10-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-13T06:07:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-14T19:11:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-06T05:40:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-17T00:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-06T06:09:00.000-08:00

"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?

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What change do you want to make in the world?

2010-01-25T03:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-07T19:15:00.001-08:00

FILM FLOGGING
CLASS OF 2010
LET'S BEGIN

Tongo Diamond Fields, Sierra Leone

2009-10-01T04:42:00.001-07:00

Tongo Diamond Fields, Sierra Leone
Originally uploaded by AdamCohn

Miners manually dig out the large pits that yield the diamonds. Just before the Sierra Leone Civil War, miners used Caterpillar machinery to mine these very same fields, but since the war, transporting large machinery to Sierra Leone has become logistically difficult.

More of the story at www.adamcohn.com

Uploaded by AdamCohn on 30 Jan 09, 12.25AM PDT.

THE HARSH WORKING CONDITIONS THE MINERS IN SIERRA LEONE FACE ECHOES THE EXPERIENCE ARCH FLANAGAN DOCUMENTS THE SOLDIERS ON THE LINE EXPERIENCED. THANKS FOR THE INTERESTING POST MADDIE.

Blood Diamond

2009-09-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

Blood Diamond is a movie set during the sierra leone civil war in 1999. the film shows a country torn apart by the government and rebel forces.

Solemon Vandy, a fisherman in Sierra Leone, has hopes of his son becoming a doctor, his dreams are shattered when rebels come to his villiage and kidnap him, to work in diamond mines. one day he found a huge pink diamond, and while hiding it one of the rebels see, fortunately the rebels are attacked and soleman is arrested by the government army.

danny archer, a man tortured to have strong survival insticts. he made himself a key player in the conflict of diamonds. somehow he finds out about Solemon's diamond, and offers to help find his family and bring his whole family to safety inreturn of the diamond.

after much conflict between Danny and Solemon, they become good friends, and Danny ends up dying fighting to protect Solemon and his family. Solemon and his family end up being brought to safety in America, and their lives are changed forever.

MESSAGE STICK

2009-09-29T06:15:00.001-07:00

BEAUTIFUL MIRIAM COROWA.
Originally uploaded by RubyGoes

Message Stick is a program on the ABC that explores the history and culture of Indigenous Australia. It is presented from the Aboriginal viewpoint and perspective. It features many issues, themes, ideas and topics that supplement our study of The Secret River. In your preparation for the exam you could check out the Message Stick website and view stories that capture your interest. In the screening of The Professor, Professor Marcia Langton made many stirring and poignant comments about Australia's history that can be seen to have strong links with the subject matter of The Secret River.

Conflict between Professor Marcia Langton and Germaine Greer over their interpretations of the film Australia by Baz Luhrman also makes for interesting reading. Read Langton's review and then check out Greer's perspective. Langton also responds to Greer in defence of her point of view.

The Line - S/N activity

2009-09-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

When you study The Line by Arch and Martin Flanagan you will need to make connections that go beyond the set text, just as you did with The Secret River. The connections you make are about exploring the set context, Encountering Conflict, and building a pool of ideas to inspire writing pieces that are underpinned by themes, ideas and literary devices used in the set text.

To begin this process you are going to source four texts (a picture, a written text, a song and a film) that you can see are about Encountering Conflict and can be linked to The Line in some way. In these explanations make clear:
- the conflict/s you can see
- the links with the set text
- the ideas for possible writing pieces

An area for improvement from our The Secret River blog posts:

Enhance your digital writing by including links to information on sites that supports your commentary. Also, where possible, incorporate a relevant visual with your post. For example, if you are writing about a novel in the Text Tremors section of the blog, import a picture of the novel’s cover.

Transformers

2009-07-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

Transformers is a movie about alian robots that come to earth to find a cube which has the power to turn any computerized object into an evil robot. The desepticons are trying to find the cube so that they can use its power to help take over the world where as the Autobots are trying to get to it first so that they can destroy ity and prevent the desepticons from destroying the earth.

It relates to the book The Secret River when the desepticons come to earth and try to take over just like the British come to Australia and take over the aboriginals land but like the book the humans fight the desepticons with the Autobots to help save the earth just like to Aboriginals fight to save there homes.

The Notebook

2009-07-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

The Notebook is one of my favourite movies. I have read one of his novels The Lucky One, and watched two movies written by him The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. Each story is beautiful love story, but in each story conflict was encountered.

The Notebook is a story about about Allie, brought up in a rich family, with parents who put a lot of pressure on her to go to university and become very successful just like themselves. Allie meets a boy, Noah , in a much lower economic status than herself, and, after a lot of convincing from Noah, they fall in love (Much to Allie's parent's disgust). Allie's Parents realize Noah does not have the same economic stability as they have. They say Noah is "trash! trash! trash! Not for you!", they didn't want their daughter to throw all their effort away on a "summer romance". In order to get rid of their problem they decided to leave town giving Allie no opportunity to say goodbye to her first love.
After leaving town, Allie's parents watched her cry herself to sleep for weeks, and didn't inform Allie of the letters Noah had sent her everyday for a year. All this was because Noah didn't earn the same amout of money as they did. After many fights with her parents, and even getting engaged to another man. Allie and Noah found each other again and lived happily ever after.

raisin in the sun

2009-07-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

raisin in the sun stars well known star Sean 'P Diddy' combs. the film is about poverty, racism and internal conflict these themes involve all of the character. i believe the secret river also expresses these themes throughout itself.

In the film they are poor and Walter(P. Diddy) is forever trying to earn money for his family; going into dodgy business investments just to get one step further. This relates to the secret river when Thornhill is trying to persuade Sal to agree to him owning their own land; he believes this is best for his family.

Also in the film the grandmother receives an amount of money; the inheritance of the grandfather's passing, this news brings about conflict between the family, all of whom give their two cents to where the money should go and who it should be given to, the conflict that arises in relation to the money is conflict within themselves their own morals and values. this relates to Thornhill in the secret river because he also has conflicting views in his mind about what is right and wrong.

the other theme i mentioned was racism, this occurs when the grandmother decides on what to do with the money. she had decided to buy a house. the house is in a white community on the south side of Chicago. the film, being set around the 1950's, shows the diversity between the African Americans and white people around this period. The white people went to many lengths to show the Younger family wasn't welcome. as racism is a major theme in the secret river i thought this also would relate to it.

2009-07-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

The movie Signs (2002) staring Mel Gibson follows an average family whose life changes dramatically when they discover they must defend their home from a hostile Alien invasion.

I feel this movie really relates to the encountering conflict context and to the Secret River as it demonstrates how any race, if threatened, will violently protect its home, whether it is Human vs. Alien, or ‘white’ men vs. ‘black’ men as we see within the Secret River. Signs also relates directly to the Secret River as it follows an invasion of earth, similarly to the way the English invaded Australia and the way in which both the aboriginals and English react to such threats over what they believe to be rightfully theirs.

2009-07-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

The 1997 movie Men in Black revolves around the conflict between the men in black and an alien species who has invaded earth. Both sides are in battle to gain control of the universe which is concealed in a miniature galaxy which has found its way to earth . This strikes a cord with the Secret Rivers most prominent conflict which is the conflict between the blacks and the whites over who is to control the land.

The aliens disturb the earths way of living very much like the Europeans disturbed and destroyed the blacks way of life and the sequel Men in Black 2 coincides with the idea that these battles over power and supremacy are virtually everlasting.

2009-07-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

The 2006 movie Apocalypto, directed by Mel Gibson is similar to what’s going on in The Secret River. Apocalypto shows the culture and lives of the Mayan people, we are shown how the live and how they going about their everyday, similar to how the Aboriginals would have had their own culture and way of living.
At the end of Apocalypto we observe the first stages of the colonization of the ‘new world.’ The Spanish arrive on their ships to take over the land, the movie ends at this point but we know that the Spanish came and decimated the population, destroyed the land and eventually left little of the Mayan culture.

The Secret River tells of how the British came in their ships and took over the land, came into conflict with the natives and would eventually go on to leave little of the Aboriginal culture.

Don't forget about your S/N task

2009-07-06T01:37:00.001-07:00

Hope the study break is going well for all of you. Remember, I will be checking to see if you have made your 4 'The Secret River' posts asap after the break. Alert notices will go home if the task is not completed. You need to complete a post for the Picture Panic, Text Tremors, Film Flogging and Music Matters areas of the blog.

The posts will discuss articles of your choice. Your discussion should consider the article in relation to the context of Encountering Conflict and highlight any connections between The Secret River and the article. Also, include an idea for a piece of writing you think the material would inspire noting the form and audience for the piece.

So, have a go. Don't panic about doing it right or wrong, in this case it's about the discussion we can generate and the ideas that will put us in a strong position from which to tackle the exam. If you see something put up by someone else that gets you thinking leave them a comment. If you come across something that inspires you in regards to The Line put a post up about that too. Good Luck.

Q&A

2009-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Q&A is an excellent show that uses a panel to field questions that are drawn from an audience and online forums. It is interactive television. The latest show was titled Racism, politics and more , it was shown on Thursday 27/05/09 at 9.30pm on the ABC and featured the following panellists: Kate Ellis, Minister for Youth and Sport; Brendan Nelson, Former Liberal leader; William McInnes, actor and author; Peter Holmes a Court, businessman; Miriam Lyons, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development.

The discussion in this show aligns itself with our Context and resonates with themes and ideas that can be linked to The Secret River. Check it out and let everyone know what you think. I could think of ideas for expository, persuasve and imaginative pieces when I viewed this show.

'Wanted' Dir: Timur Bekmambetov

2009-04-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

When I viewed the movie Wanted, starring Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie, I never expected to see links between it and the Flanagans' The Line. The main idea in Wanted, that of being able to go back in time to stop someone before they murder someone or commit an atrocity to humanity, is an intriguing one. It was when Jolie discussed the idea in terms of going back in time to murder Hitler that I made a connection as to how I might possibly create and present a piece of writing that would fulfill the criteria for the Creating and Presenting area of study. The Line is set during World War 2 and Martin Flanagan recalls a poem by soldier Billy Lyall that is 'written in the voice of the pub. You can feel the sunshine ... through the ... window, hear ... the wireless on the bar as ... the next race is announced. The pub reminds him why he's fighting Hitler.' Thinking about these different ideas makes me think one could write an interesting imaginative piece whereby a character, in some way, finds they can go back in time to encounter Hitler. There are many levels of complexity upon which one could explore the idea of encountering conflict in such a scenario. There would also be lots of opportunities to incorporate literary devices that would allow the piece to show the writer has used The Line to inform their piece.