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Movies and Literature for political and cultural geography...


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I know this was discussed before, but I can't find the thread. What are your favorite books and movies for cultural or political geography. I am hoping to find things more on the modern side...also, and other resources would be nice. This is for my 11th grade ds...and he loves to read and is actually really excited about this course!

Faithe

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In random order, off the top of my head....

 

We followed up reading Around the World in 80 Days by watching Michael Palin's 1980s tv series where he tries to also get around the world in 80 days.

 

Bill Bryson's book on Australia, In a Sunburned Country, is one of my son's favorite books of all time. I love it too. We've both now explored that country via Google Earth, trying to find some of the places he went to (such as the giant lobster outside of Melbourne...)

 

Maybe Rosie or Peela can jump in with recommendations on films set in Australia. I remember people recommending Walk About, and there is the recent Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman movie (wasn't that cleverly called Australia?)

 

Bill Bryson has other travel books which are a kick. His humor occasionally can get a little crude, especially when he has his friend Katz joining him.

 

Paul Theroux is my favorite travel writer. I've enjoyed exploring the world with him over the years. My caveat in recommending him is that he often talks about the, ahem, adult entertainment industry in the countries he visits, and not every family would be comfortable with their teen reading it. Nothing graphic, just factual descriptions of working women and various shops. It is a small part of the writing -- my ds just rolled his eyes over it. Two of his recent books are amazing: Dark Star Safari on Africa and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star where he retraces a journey he took 30 years earlier from London through India and Japan and home on the Siberian Express.

 

A terrific recent book on China is Country Driving by Peter Hessler. You get culture, geography and history all in one!! And I don't think I have to give a single "adult content" warning, either! The author lived in China for the last 10-20 years, got a driver's license and drove around the entire northern part of the country. The driving test and instructions, and the transactions at the car rental agency are hysterical. He bought a house in the countryside and chronicles how the area changed with the changes in the economy. The book finishes in a small industrial town on the Southeastern coast.

 

I'm not coming up with many movies off the top of my head...

 

Ghandi is terrific. My ds really enjoyed it.

Kon Tiki -- a 1950s or early 60s film about the voyage of the Kon Tiki

Out of Africa is beautiful.

Red Cliff is a historical action drama from China, but I love the recreation of traditional China, and all the panoramic scenes from the country. Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon also has some terrific scenes of the Chinese countryside and recreations of traditional China.

 

There have been so many interesting PBS and Discovery channel documentaries we've seen over the years. Search your library and Netflix.

 

The most random but interesting travel show we saw last year was a Top Gear episode where they drive motorcycles through Vietnam. (Top Gear is a BBC car show.)

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Jenn, somewhere to the north of you, a woman is attempting to jump up and down while holding a coffee cup. She is yelling, "Yes! Yes! Brilliant!" After cleaning up the mess, she is wistfully muttering, "I want to go to school at Jenn's house." I've been reading travel books for years. It's one of my favorite ways to unwind. What an incredible elective. As if I didn't have enough to think about.:tongue_smilie:

 

Imo, Walk About is very good from a content and artistic viewpoint. It will not be everyone's cup of tea. It was filmed in the '70s, I believe, complete with nudity. It's an art film. We opted to not show it to Swimmer Dude when we studied Australia in 5th grade, but I wouldn't hesitate to show it to my dd (17). It would provide for a rich discussion. Rabbit-Proof Fence is an actual story about the Stolen Generation in Australia and is a good option as well.

 

Be sure to look at some of Rick Steve's shows as well. We had the good fortune to hear Rick talk about his trip to Iran. It was eye-opening and we wished we had brought the kids with us.

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In random order, off the top of my head....

 

We followed up reading Around the World in 80 Days by watching Michael Palin's 1980s tv series where he tries to also get around the world in 80 days.

 

Bill Bryson's book on Australia, In a Sunburned Country, is one of my son's favorite books of all time. I love it too. We've both now explored that country via Google Earth, trying to find some of the places he went to (such as the giant lobster outside of Melbourne...)

 

Maybe Rosie or Peela can jump in with recommendations on films set in Australia. I remember people recommending Walk About, and there is the recent Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman movie (wasn't that cleverly called Australia?)

 

Bill Bryson has other travel books which are a kick. His humor occasionally can get a little crude, especially when he has his friend Katz joining him.

 

Paul Theroux is my favorite travel writer. I've enjoyed exploring the world with him over the years. My caveat in recommending him is that he often talks about the, ahem, adult entertainment industry in the countries he visits, and not every family would be comfortable with their teen reading it. Nothing graphic, just factual descriptions of working women and various shops. It is a small part of the writing -- my ds just rolled his eyes over it. Two of his recent books are amazing: Dark Star Safari on Africa and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star where he retraces a journey he took 30 years earlier from London through India and Japan and home on the Siberian Express.

 

A terrific recent book on China is Country Driving by Peter Hessler. You get culture, geography and history all in one!! And I don't think I have to give a single "adult content" warning, either! The author lived in China for the last 10-20 years, got a driver's license and drove around the entire northern part of the country. The driving test and instructions, and the transactions at the car rental agency are hysterical. He bought a house in the countryside and chronicles how the area changed with the changes in the economy. The book finishes in a small industrial town on the Southeastern coast.

 

I'm not coming up with many movies off the top of my head...

 

Ghandi is terrific. My ds really enjoyed it.

Kon Tiki -- a 1950s or early 60s film about the voyage of the Kon Tiki

Out of Africa is beautiful.

Red Cliff is a historical action drama from China, but I love the recreation of traditional China, and all the panoramic scenes from the country. Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon also has some terrific scenes of the Chinese countryside and recreations of traditional China.

 

There have been so many interesting PBS and Discovery channel documentaries we've seen over the years. Search your library and Netflix.

 

The most random but interesting travel show we saw last year was a Top Gear episode where they drive motorcycles through Vietnam. (Top Gear is a BBC car show.)

 

This is exactly what I was looking for....The reason I am doing Human/ Cultural & Political geography is because my son read Bill Bryson's Sunburnt Country and LOVED it. It got him interested in travel books....and since we needed a social studies elective...and he didn't want to do Ancients AGAIN....I did some digging and searching for some other credit....I saw AP offers Human Geography as an exam and so I went hmmmmmmmm....sounds up our alley...Sooooooo....

I pulled out my old A Beka Geography and will use it as a spine for the physical part...then I plan on adding documentaries and good travel books, fiction etc....to spice it up and then we are adding a cooking component, because my son loves to cook...and the rest of us love to eat.

 

My plan is to study one continent every 5 weeks.....Each continent will then be broken down into peoples and cultures .....I will have my ds research and report on one major people group per continent...including physical, cultural & political geographies and how the people group developed, how they have been effected by their religion, politics, geographical features and maybe predict what their futures look like....

 

Most of this is somewhat open ended leaving room for research and tying things together by himself. We will be doing maps, looking up flags, anthems, cultural and popular music both past and current, art, architecture etc.

 

Right now, I plan on using a lot of documentaries, books like Halliburton's Book of Marvels, Bill Bryson's works etc.

 

AP Central has lots of resources on their site, I plan on checking out netflix and the library. I am also looking at Lightning Literature's World lit choices etc.

 

As I plan, I will probably blog about it...

 

I am planning on starting school up in 2 weeks....so I need to get busy with my planning...Nothing like leaving everything for the last minute....LOL:lol:

 

Faithe

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watch "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles". The countryside of China is absolutely amazing, and you get to see bits of Japan (that aren't the city) as well.

 

Kundun is another favorite of mine.

 

Thank you for this suggestion. Dh and I were primarily in Bejing a couple of years ago and found the countryside to be beautiful. I would love to see more of it.

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Rabbit-Proof Fence is an actual story about the Stolen Generation in Australia and is a good option as well.

 

We just watched that this week. We thought it was excellent, and one of those stranger-than-fiction stories.

 

I love the book Road from Coorain, but I haven't seen the movie yet.

 

Another Australian movie we like is The Dish.

 

Why am I obsessing on thinking of Australia movies only? :tongue_smilie: I guess because we just watched Rabbit-Proof Fence.

Julie

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We used nearly all of the books recommended in Lightning Lit's World Lit 1&2. I bought the actual guides as well and was glad I did. There is some terrific info in there about cultural differences/values, history of lit. in various countries, additional reading suggestions (with comments on questionable material), suggested projects (lots of these....), plus the typical comprehension questions, lit. analysis points, vocabulary notes, writing assignments. I wouldn't/couldn't have tackled modern world lit without the guides....

 

Other books well received that haven't been mentioned yet:

 

The Material World

The Hungry Planet

Women in the Material World

These are big, coffee-table style books that look at how families all over the world eat, sleep, work. We live in Europe and have traveled some and the photo shoots were spot on for the countries that I'm familiar with....

 

We also read, as a family read-aloud, 360 Longitude which is one family's chronicle of their 52 weeks circling the globe @ 2004. This does not tread deeply into any one country, but was (again) very accurate in its protrayal of what you'd experience as a visitor in each of the places visited. A good way to get a whole-world survey....

 

If you have any interest in having your son learn actual locations of countries, we had great success with the geography games at http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

 

There are many levels, from click-and-point to a given country all the way up to having to take a particular unnamed country, resize and rotate it, and put it correctly on an unlabeled map. Talk about challenging. My teens loved it. (Much better than the geography coloring books I bought them...)

 

HTH,

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