1. The film Rocks with Wings opens with an image of Shiprock on the Navajo Nation Reservation. This geographical formation holds a huge importance in the culture of the Navajo, as it is told that the first Navajo people were carried on a large bird that landed on that site, with the people jumping off and the bird’s wings forming the rock (Rocks with Wings). The site has two different names, with Shiprock being the name that Anglos gave it, while the Navajo called it Tsé Bitʼaʼí, literally translated to Rock with Wings (Rocks with Wings). This difference between the naming of a sacred site for the Navajo people is a signal of a different struggle that they face, the one between preserving their native Navajo culture and accepting more of the white American culture. This battle plays itself out when it comes to basketball being played on the Reservation. 2. …show more content…
The Navajo concept of time, where it is in a circular fashion compared to a linear one, is important when it comes to the telling and understanding of the story. In the film, it is described that the Navajo people regard time is more like a circle, with events happening hundreds of years in the past effecting them in the present day (Rocks with Wings). While they are taught by the white American culture is leave the past in the past, they cannot based off their tradition, because their past influences their present (Rocks with Wings). This is important for the telling of this story because it gives the viewer an insight to the culture of the Navajo and how they review events in the past in relation with events in the present. Also for the Navajo, they cannot simply forget the past, as the interactions between them and white American society hundreds of years ago is still reflected at Shiprock, especially when it comes to the living conditions of the Navajo
It is evident from this myth that geography was an important concept to the Pueblo. They are currently balanced in the center of the land, and each direction around them is mentioned, as well as all of the mountains surrounding them. This part of the myth in particular seems to be highlighting some of the most important aspects of multiple Native American cultures.
In the beginning, Kristofic was moving from Pittsburgh to the Navajo Reservation with his little brother Darren, and their pets. Their mother, got a job working as a nurse in the Navajo Nation Health Foundation. When Kristofic family, reached their destination, Kristofic was expecting to see tipis, horses, arrows and Indians. His mother said, “Navajos don’t live in tipis” and gave a short history lesson of the Navajos, Apaches, and Indians (Kristofic, 2011, p.4). Kristofic met his “first Indian
Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 music drama film. Mo' Better Blues follows a jazz musician named Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) who is obsessed with his art, but because he begins a path that separates him from the person closest to him. Another band member encountered a problem in another quintet named Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes), which led to everyone in the band. Their manager Giant (Spike Lee) is Bleek's best friend because he is a child, but as a manager, he is absolutely horrible, deep gambling debt. In addition, Blake (Bleek) balance the two women indigo (Joie Lee) between the love of life, another name is Clark (Cynda Williams) is a lady of the upcoming singer The His film has a strong message about causality, a bit about fate
The book starts out with Ned, a young boy, who is unable to speak any English, living in a Navajo village with his parents. He is sent to a white man’s school with his uncle to learn English and later become a communicator between his tribe and the American people. At the elementary school, where Ned attends, all Navajo children are prohibited to speak their native language. They must speak English or remain silent. Life is extremely unpleasant for the Navajo children
In the short story, Compatriots, one would read about Lucy and Hilda - two women who vastly differ from each other. Lucy has grown up on the reserve her whole life, where Hilda had just arrived from Germany and is seeking to observe “real Indian culture”. In comparison, David Goes to the Reserve also features two fairly diverse people of opposite cultures: the Aboriginal narrator of the story, and her Caucasian friend David.Within the story, David travels to a reserve to observe the culture of the First Nations people. Both stories contain wonder and excitement, but also presents a sense of culture that the First Nations have; it is this culture that the main characters struggle to grasp.
The Apache Indian tribe was originally called nde, or ndee-meaning “The People”. The writing is based around the Lakota story “The Medicine Bag”, and “Apache girl’s rite of passage”. In the story “The Medicine Bag” The main character is named Martin, he is embarrassed about his great grandpa. When he comes to their house to give him something that will lead him on his path of life and keep him safe, he then has a different feeling towards his grandpa. In the video “Apache Girl,” Dachina’s mother is giving her a ceremony that is one of the apache’s most important and sacred traditions, and this is going to help her on the path of womanhood. My analysis of the text and video reveal that there are many similarities and differences between these two main ideas, in addition to the advantages and disadvantages of how they were presented in the text versus the video.
In Sherman Alexie’s novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows the struggles of daily Native American life, which is shown through the point of view of male character. All though out the book the following three questions appear: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? and What does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’ Alexie uses literary devices such as point of view, imagery, characterization to make his point that the conflict of being an Indian in the U.S. in these short stories using the following short stories “An Indian Education” and “Amusement”. “An Indian Education” uses both imagery and characterization to show us what the narrator is
A red Camaro sits somewhere rusting in a police lot, a tree having grown up in the middle of it, yet still oblivious as to the grief it has caused. Sometimes it’s something as little as a car to make people do things as atrocious as taking another life. In his film, Into the Abyss, Werner Herzog does more than just explore the murder case against two boys, Michael Perry and Justin Burkett, but rather take into account the complexity and reasoning behind the murders, along with the morality behind the death penalty. The film refuses to use any graphic images or over-the-top scenes to drive its point across, but rather creeps along with its own unique imagery, complex subject matter, and Werner’s ethical compassion about how people and their motivations.
The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.
An emphasis on family is one of the central facets of Native American culture. There is a sense of community between Native American. Louise Erdrich, a Chippewa Indian herself, writes a gripping bildungsroman about a thirteen year old boy named Joe who experiences all forms of family on the Native American Reserve where he lives. He learns to deal with the challenges of a blood family, witnesses toxic family relationships, and experiences a family-like love from the members of the community. In her book, The Round House, Louise Erdrich depicts three definitions of the word family and shows how these relationships affect Joe’s development into an adult.
While watching the movie "Paper Planes" it is rather obvious the director of the movie, Robert Connelly, has some very strong views about certain issues. He has strong views about winning or losing, and it is clear that he thinks it is more about having fun than winning. Connelly has views on other issues as well, such as problems between fathers and sons. There are also some themes in the movie about moving on with past and focusing on the present and the future. He uses various techniques to prove his points to the viewers. One of these is to have two characters, one that has the same concerns as him, and is likeable, and the other who is the exact opposite, and is dislikeable. These make it clear to the viewer that he has strong views.
The movie Before Night Falls directed by Julian Schnabel offers viewers a glimpse of how the homosexual community in Cuba was being mistreated under Fidel Castro’s regime. The true story is told in the eyes of Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. The film depicts Arenas life in Cuba and all of the awful experiences that he had to deal with as a homosexual. Eventually he was arrested for false accusations of being a molester, however, he was actually under arrest for being a homosexual. Between the 1930s and 1990s, the Communist Cuba was abusive to the LGBT community as shown in their actions of harassment towards homosexuals, imprisoning the homosexuals, or sending them to re-education camps.
In the movie Birdman directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture, it is about a former superhero actor who is performing a Broadway play in hopes that it will rejuvenate his dying career. The main character Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) struggles with being relevant in the world today where so many want relevance. Thomas starts to realize that the production he is putting on is an exact representation of his life. In Birdman the camera angle and performance on stage, play a vital role in the movie and allows the audience to see Riggan Thomson’s personal life and struggles.
The Black Balloon directed by first time feature film director, Elissa Down, is a clever combination of two types of story, the coming of age romantic comedy, and a family drama with disability. The film was released in Australian cinemas on 6 March 2008. The Black Balloon is a movie about Thomas Mollison whom is about to turn 16. His family have just moved into a new home in New South Wales in the early 1990s. It begins with Charlie, his autistic brother, banging a wooden spoon on the grass with their new neighbours staring and pointing. His dad 's in the army, his mother is pregnant, and Charlie his brother is autistic as well as suffering from an attention deficit disorder. Thomas is anxious because he has to start at a new school, and all he wants is to do is fit in and be considered in the same way as everyone else. Thomas is devoted to his brother and shows affection, but often feels isolated, as it seems as if his mother gives his brother more attention. Thomas finds Charlie an embarrassment in public, so when Thomas is attracted to Jackie, a girl in his swim class things become complicated. The purpose of the movie, The Black Balloon is a movie about a family struggling to cope with autism and learning to accept autism and people for who they are.
Tapahonso’s novel is filled with poems and short stories that encompass her Native American tribe the Navajos. As you follow along the journey she takes you, you are able to learn about the importance of a child’s first laugh, the creation of her people, and even how in “Tune Up” children have to come home in order to feel at peace with themselves, their lives, and their culture. “The port presents her memories— ‘long time ago stories,’ as she calls them—as explanations of the Dine way of life to her grandchildren (Vasquez).” This novel is written more for her family and tribe then it is for an outsider. However, as a reader you feel that you are invited into a private world that rarely gets seen.