Avatar (2009)

Even without knowing what this film was about, knowing that it was James Cameron's new film and that he spent something like 10 years creating this was enough to know that this was going to be something of a hiccup within movie going society. so going into the film only knowing that the graphics would be 'groundbreaking', I of course thought it would suck. however, I was pleasantly surprised.

I've heard and spoken to people who were not very impressed by the plot and pass the film off as a 'Pocahontas in space' kind of story, and it's true, that's an accurate description. Something to keep in mind however is that all stories borrow from that which came before it, and most often the best stories are simply re-imaginings of earlier ideas. It could be said that pride and prejudice is nothing more than a glorified Cinderella story, but that doesn't make it bad. basically, even though this movie is a blockbuster, try to keep an open mind.

The film takes place in the future and focuses on this marine, Jake sully, who lost the use of his legs on the job. he gets called back to duty when his scientist twin brother dies, to take his place as an operator of an organic being grown from his brother's DNA and the DNA of the Na'vi, the people on the planet Pandora. Earth is running out of resources and humans want to farm an ore found on Pandora (which has become the equivalent of gold or diamonds). So the army recruited a team of scientists to create these beings that could be used to communicate with the natives and essentially move them out of their home so that they can mine the ore underneath the tree they live in. Of course the scientists only have a professional interest in Pandora, in the people and the land, but are funded by the government/ military and are therefore at the disposal of the source of the funding. On his first journey to Pandora, Jake gets separated from the other two scientists he's with and is forced to attempt to survive the night in this unknown and deadly jungle. Before an unfortunate 'death by jungle dog' incident, he is found by the chief's daughter, Neytiri, and she saves him. Before she can leave him to fend for himself, the holy being of the Na'vi signifies to her that he is important so she takes him home and he is ultimately given a trial period in the tribe to learn the ways of the people. As he learns more about the na'vi he comes to support their perspective. Pretty standard stuff, but the plot isn't what grabbed me most about this film.

One of the most obvious themes in the movie was the push for environmentalism, or preserving our planet. The reason humans were in Pandora was because their planet was dying, because the people on earth used and wasted almost all of their resources. This of course represents the perspective of mainstream north American society. It's pretty much an accepted philosophy that the economy rules nature, destroying nature in the name of money is logical even if it may rub some people the wrong way. it's logical. But people haven't thought this way forever, not all people and cultures think this way, and an alternative perspective is represented in the Na'vi. For them nature is the economy. to harm or destroy whatever is alive is akin to harming yourself. This of course is reminiscent of a sort of aboriginal ideology that takes time to respect the living aspect of nature and the symbiotic relationship they share with it. This connection to nature is presented in a very literal sense in the movie. the Na'vi literally connect to their environment. They all have a long pony tail hairstyle, and at the end of their hair are these tentacle- like feelers that can wrap around certain things and allow them to 'plug in' to that thing. this allows them to create a bond with animals they ride and with the tree that represents their deity and holds the memories of their people. This was a lot like the way people today are constantly 'plugged in'. Whether it's cellphones, iPods, computers, TV, radio, we are rarely without our technological network to connect us to our world, or the part of our world we care about. It might be harder for the average post-colonial North American to truly appreciate a connection to nature as did pre-colonial societies, so M think the way this was presented helped get that message across.

my favourite scene in the movie, and the reason I enjoyed the movie as much as I did was the scene when Neytiri and the general were fighting near the end of the movie. I loved it because symbolically they were both 'plugged in' to the technology of their own worlds and were using that connection to fight each other. Neytiri was connected to a this wild, jaguar/ jungle dog animal through the 'bond' and the general was sitting in this robot, gundam wing/ escaflowne kind of idea. the two of them had to use where they came from as a means to fight the other, they couldn't just face each other person to person. They were kind of like Jake's Na'vi body, Jake was sitting in some lab somewhere while his intentions were lived out through a body not his own. Basically their ideals and I guess you could say worlds were fighting against each other with the help of the intentions of the people behind the wheel.

It was not the most ground breaking film I've ever seen, nor the best told story, but overall I'd say it was a good movie and worth the watch.

Where the Spirit Lives (1991)

This is a movie about residential schools in early North America. Residential schools are essentially schools set up by christian churches in early North America with the sole purpose of purging Native Americans of their language/ heritage/ pride/ what have you. Children were taken from their families and forced to attend these schools wherein they were forced to conform to the European way of life. Many children were severely abused and sadly the last residential school was closed down only 10 or 20 years ago, so this is by no means an issue from the distant past.

I first saw this movie in late elementary school early/ high school (on my own time) and it really opened my eyes. Up until that point I'd enjoyed a much happier view of Native American people, relying more on fiction than anything else. And while fiction is based on fact and there are some very good aboriginal fiction books out there, the one's I read were set in the past and painted a proud, concrete glorification of the culture and didn't really mention the current state of Aboriginals in North America. And in school we don't learn too too much about this aspect of history (history as told by the conquerors I suppose) just that Nunavut was created as a territory solely for the use of the aboriginal people, which is nice, but in elementary school they don't tell you why that step was necessary, or not in much detail anyway.

The story here is about an aboriginal girl who, along with her younger brother, were kidnapped by a white pilot and brought them to a residential school to live. We are given the pg version of the story and more of the abuse is suggested rather than shown, but several reviewers of this movie stated that it is an accurate depiction of residential school life, speaking from their supposed personal experiences. The girl in the movie does end up escaping from the school, but not many children were as lucky as this, and keeping movies like this around is an important step in remembering the wrongs of the past to ensure they never happen again.

The heroine of this film was very strong and resilient and she didn't loose her culture to the one being forced upon her in the residential school. Overall this was very well done.

First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac

 This is the legend of how the first strawberries came into being, and it's kind of nice because it's a love story. I'm going to summarize it so if you don't want to know skip over.
 
One day a husband comes home from hunting to find his wife picking flowers instead of cooking. He angrily reprimands her for this and she indignantly walks off. The husband immediately feels sorry for getting so angry and tries to catch up to his wife to apologize but she's too fast for him so he asks the sun to slow her down. The sun shines itself on various berries but the wife is too angry to see them so the sun makes strawberries right on the ground so the wife would see them, and voila the first strawberries. The wife sees them and thinks to herself that it would be nice to share these with her husband so stops to pick some. The husband catches up to her and they live happily ever after.
 
It was a nice story. I enjoyed it.

The Sacrifice by Diane Matcheck

This was an amazing story about the development of inner strength and the overcoming of inner demons. The heroine of this story was very strong, the reader could track her development as the novel progressed. I won't go through the whole plot as that would probably take some time, but suffice it to say that the heroine approached all of her problems head on and gave the reader the impression that she was sure of her actions (though maybe not the driving motivation in the beginning). She resolves to do something and then carries it out to the best of her ability. as the story progresses she becomes less obsessed with the past and gains a more... present (for lack of a better word) grasp on herself. In the beginning she sets out on this journey to prove herself, and by the end of the book she reaches a place within herself, where the most important things in life are not society's perception of her or her material possessions or status. The most important thing is not that she is the great one (never in the story does she doubt this, but at the end it is not her focus any more), the most important thing is that she live her life as best she can.
 
I think that this story was told well for the level it was targeting. There wasn't really any gore in it, though it was implied that the characters partook of such activities, and it portrayed the heroine's overcoming of obstacles effectively. It doesn't present the most detailed methodology, but the concepts will be understood by those who read it. The story provides a decent, though again not very detailed, look at earlier native american lifestyle and society. It is more a story about inner struggle than about Native American culture, so it doesn't really focus on that aspect too much.
 
The heroine of this story was a great character to follow. She was strong and smart and passionate. I recommend this book to pretty much anyone with the capability of reading it, no matter your age you'll definitely get something out of it.

People of the Earth by Kathleen O’neil Gear

 I've read a few books in this series and I'd have to say that this one's my favourites. I liked the perspectives from which the authors presented their characters. It was a kind of pensive, but not seriously so... meaning that there are little tidbits to think over every now and again but these tidbits are by no means the focus of the book, more a backdrop to the story, and they don't really inspire any intense thought, just more of a lazy sunday afternoon pondering kind of thought. If that makes sense.
 
I thought the story was well put together. There are several plot lines going on at once, which I enjoy because it gets the mind going a bit, but they all tie in to the overall story which is always nice. I liked the character Bad Belly. He was a reserved kind of guy, not for timidity but kind of for oddness. I thought him and whatever her name was made an ok couple. She could've been stronger, which bugged me at times. I read this a while back so I can't give any examples but I do recall that I wanted her to be stronger at times. Though this is so, she wasn't exactly weak. She had an inner strength, it just wasn't as powerful when confronting other people. This was a minor detail though. The plot and characters were well done and the story had a nice flow to it. Overall, worth picking up I'd say.

Dreamkeeper (2003)

It's really hard to find a movie on native legends that isn't completely cheesy, but this one is pretty good. I was drawn into all of the legends and got to see present native peoples with the dignity I associate with their past. I like how they ended the movie with hope and the acting was pretty good.

Agouhanna by Claude Aubry

This is a great story about the life of a young native American boy who is the the chief's son, but is very timid. He then goes through warrior training at age 13 (I think) and then finally goes off into the forest to find his animal spirit guide. It's a story about growth and culture, and there is a girl in the story that I really related with (tomboy). I first came across this story when my grade 6 teacher read it to my class. I have always been fascinated with aboriginal culture and I found this story to be very accurate and well told. Worth the read and I recommend it to both children and adults, all who wish to read a good story.