Just whining but input welcome

[kiwik]

My y9/G8 son who to my knowledge has had limited writing instruction except the 6 months homeschool last year has a holiday assignment analysing the colonialism and post colonialisation themes of Avatar and comparing the to the experience in NZ.  They watched the movie over several days in class but I have never seen it and don't wish to.  I am reading a bunch about it though but I don't think it is a good reflection of colonisation.  Are there bits that suggest the RDA settled Pandora prior to mining or had any intention of bringing settlers there for long term settlement?

ETA.  I think I might have to sign up for a trial with Disney Plus and watch the movie.  I can't see it any other way.

Edited July 17, 2020 by kiwik

[lewelma]

Boy that is some assignment for a kid that age!!  Sounds like a good university topic. 

[Ausmumof3]

That seems a bit intense.  Maybe ds 13 is further behind in writing than I thought.

[katilac]

That's year 9, right? 

[KathyBC]

I've seen it a couple times. I think your take on it could make an excellent topic for your son's assignment; i.e. does it reflect true colonialism?
Has colonialism ever just been resource extraction, or has the invading culture always diffused and overriden the pre-existing group?

The movie suffered from some lazy writing (Unobtanium, really?), but I actually kinda liked it. It's worth seeing, imo. My family members disagree, lol.

[KathyBC]

13 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

That seems a bit intense.  Maybe ds 13 is further behind in writing than I thought.

When mature topics are given to younger age groups, I don't think it follows that homeschoolers are behind. Given the critical thinking level of a good chunk of that age group, it would seem to be more a way of transmitting social viewpoints as outlined in government learning objectives. 

[City Mouse]

I have never watched the full movie, but I have seen bits of it. If it was my kid, I would “suggest” (he doesn’t always like my suggestions, but usually it is enough to get home started) that he think about the purposes of colonization as addressed in his class and find examples from the movie that fit. Then address the results/side effects of colonization the same way. Then he could compare or contrast that to your country. 

[kiwik]

3 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

I am not sure how old your son is. But mine is 13 and my native country was heavily colonized by the British. We have been having discussions about colonization because of what is happening around the world. 

We have been to England several times as we have family there, seen the Crown Jewels and I bought a book there a lot time ago which has helped us look at different jewels and where they came from. 

My family has a terrible history associated with Colonization and even conversion to Christianity, so my world view has and will always been colored with that. I will never view colonization as anything good, however we talk about how even good can come from bad things like food, culture, language, infrastructure. I am not a big Avatar fan, but perhaps you can bring your experiences if any and talk about it with him with respect to colonization itself.

He is 13 and yes NZ was also colonised by the British (my ancestors were early immigrants but of such low social.standing they didn't exactly colonise anything) which is why the topic is raised.  It is an extension class and I know other kids who are as bright as him who would thrive on such a question but is seems too much to me.  It will be intended to reinforce the colonisation is completely bad narrative (I would prefer he had more time to decide) and it may be complicated by having an Irish English teacher.  To me is is complicated by not having seen the film, not being told how much he hadn't done until the last day of the holidays and actually that it can only be 400 words which is barely enough to cover one aspect of the assignment

 

[kiwik]

4 hours ago, katilac said:

That's year 9, right? 

Yes.  Year 9.

[kiwik]

4 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

That seems a bit intense.  Maybe ds 13 is further behind in writing than I thought.

He probably won't do a great job.  It is an extension class and while he is gifted I didn't expect him to get in the English extension class as it is not his strength.  He can write but he is not really ready for this.

[Momto6inIN]

5 hours ago, kiwik said:

He is 13 and yes NZ was also colonised by the British (my ancestors were early immigrants but of such low social.standing they didn't exactly colonise anything) which is why the topic is raised.  It is an extension class and I know other kids who are as bright as him who would thrive on such a question but is seems too much to me.  It will be intended to reinforce the colonisation is completely bad narrative (I would prefer he had more time to decide) and it may be complicated by having an Irish English teacher.  To me is is complicated by not having seen the film, not being told how much he hadn't done until the last day of the holidays and actually that it can only be 400 words which is barely enough to cover one aspect of the assignment

 

I'm not sure how well anybody can analyze anything in 400 words??? 🤔🤷‍♀️

[PeterPan]

5 hours ago, kiwik said:

  It will be intended to reinforce the colonisation is completely bad narrative

Yes, it seems like the intent is to force a viewpoint onto kids who are not yet ready to think at that level.

5 hours ago, kiwik said:

He can write but he is not really ready for this.

It may be he has deficits in executive function and organization. You might look at some of the structures for expository writing shown under Thememaker at this link https://mindwingconcepts.com/pages/methodology  It has graphics that show you explicitly how you go from narrative elements and convert them to expository. It also seems inescapable that you need to watch the movie if you want him to have a take other than the teacher's. 

colonization viewpoints avatar movie  If you google search with these terms, you'll term up several articles on avatar and postcolonial theory. I've only ridden the ride at Disney, haha, where they whitewash it, so I really have no opinion. Just saying you'll definitely find articles analyzing it. I'm with you that I haven't wanted to watch the movie, despite liking the ride, but it seems like getting ahead of the teacher will be necessary on this.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwin27HZm9TqAhWIX80KHUvOBVwQFjAUegQIBRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fceasefiremagazine.co.uk%2Fwhy-avatar-is-a-truly-dangerous-film%2F&usg=AOvVaw2q3wOHUlhknONoPCLKUWjS

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwin27HZm9TqAhWIX80KHUvOBVwQFjAVegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmuse.jhu.edu%2Farticle%2F483772&usg=AOvVaw3dGIgO-tWU4Dm6KWGbreNN

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwin27HZm9TqAhWIX80KHUvOBVwQFjAXegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fengl243.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F01%2F28%2Favatar-and-postcolonial-theory%2F&usg=AOvVaw1OqW25lLlWMFayqKhRDzRK

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Lots of places were colonized almost uniquely for raw materials exportation back to the mother land.  South America was mined for precious metals, America for timber, fish, skins, etc, the Caribbeans for sugar cane IIRC, etc.  Australia was somewhat exceptional, as were some of the colonies to the US who had goals of creating new societies.  But as far as English, Spanish, French, etc governments were concerned, colonies were about making money and providing resources to the mother country, not about building new societies.  That came later.  

Given the word constraint, I might build off a topic sentence like:

The establishment of a mining colony on Pandora to strip the planet of its rare Unobtanium is similar to the Spanish colonization of South America in order to strip the land of precious metals.  In both cases, the sovereignty and welfare of the native population were ignored in the pursuit of monetary gain.  

 

You could conclude with something pulling from what you are saying, "Although not all colonies were founded for the stripping of natural resources, many historical colonizations were similar to the situation portrayed in Avatar."

 

[PeterPan]

15 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I’m just going on record that if I had to watch Avatar again I’d whine too. 😋

Is it bad? Weird?

[kiwik]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I thought it was supremely corny and weird. But, then I also don’t think of it and James Cameron as the be all, end all of cinematic genius, which I think can put me in the minority. I’d rather watch Terminator or T2 any day of the week over Avatar. I honestly don’t think you could pay me enough to watch Avatar again. It’s on my list of worst movies ever. 

It sounds really contrived.  

From what I can tell there was a mining camp but not really a colony and since the atmosphere was poisoness full colonisation was unlikely. It was more like a the early seasonal fishing/whaling/fur seal clubbing camps.  But I guess they may have worked something out so maybe it was an aborted colonisation?  At the moment we are focusing on the assumption by a more technologically advanced civilisation feeling entitled to take resources from another culture on the grounds that "they are primative and don't use it".  And feeling they have a right to destroy anything in their way to do so.  Perhaps the mindset behind colonisation is more important than the details?

But 400 words is not enough to do much.  I must check that detail though as he had been known to misinterpret.

We are working on the executive function but I have always used procrastination to avoid perfectionism so my planning skills aren't always good.

[kiwik]

Please thank your husband for me.  My son said he thought their was something about schools and the woman scientist had been interested in the local but he wasn't sure.  He also couldn't tell me whether she was sent by the RDA to pave the way or whether she was independently funded - does your husband know.  It seems colonisation is explorers/missionaries who while often misguided usually have good intentions, then exploitation of resources, them settlement.  I think NZ the 2nd and 3rd were blurred a bit by the distance but there were dealing and whaling colonies before settlers came.  The main difference of course is there wasn't a species difference and a poisonous atmosphere to contend with.

The Savoir is a Hollywood construct.  I think also the problem is so much is contrived to give the Savoir a reason to be there that everything else has to be twisted to fit.  The RDA has to have a real hold over him -new legs, but he can't be part of the RDA - identical twin.  There have been local savoirs of course and there have I think been members of the colonisers who truly loved the people and their country but most stopped at political or charitable level.  I will keep thinking because there probably are some if you go back a few empires.

ETA.  Maybe it is social studies not English.  They probably have been but he has missed more than he should and then we had the Covid lockdown and we struggled a bit with schooling at home following someone else's timetable especially once I was back at work.

Edited July 17, 2020 by kiwik

[KathyBC]

3 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

But he cannot write a 400 word on colonization let alone look at a movie and infer from it. What a terrible assignment.  

Both SWB and Bravewriter's Julie Bogart have addressed this type of writing assignment better than I could. I hope the OP can find something to salvage from churning out 400 words with her son: an introduction to deeper topics, brainstorming to find connections between your values, actual history, the movie, and the given intent.
Learning to power through this stuff is probably a life skill (?), I just don't know why they have to practice it so much - you would think actual age-appropriate writing and analysis could easily fill 18 years. 😂😂

[kiwik]

We have come up with something and had some discussion on colonisation.  He also managed a viewpoint.  It is 2 long paragraphs and a short intro and conclusion.  He needs to add one topic sentence then cut about 40 words which since since once he gets going his writing is quite flowery shouldn't be too hard.  It could be quite a good topic in 3 years time with a word limit in the thousands.  

Ds11 has written 2 paragraphs about trampolines which I found a lot easier to help with by asking questions to lead him a bit.  He is homeschooled though and it has taken 3 years to get to this point.

[lewelma]

OK, I asked my 16 year old what he thought, and here are his ideas:

Avatar shows indigenous people as a single group with single goals. Maori were infighting tribes who each had their own goals, and used European settlers to their advantage to gain mana over other tribes. 

Avatar showcases indigenous people as unable to form an effective resistance until they received help from the white male. Maori chiefs were astute and capable of managing and manipulating the European settlers until they were greatly outnumbered. 

Avatar shows colonizers as looking to only displace the indigenous people. NZ was colonized mostly for population displacement out of England. It was too far away to mine the country for resources to send back to England. 

Maori gained muskets early and had the capability of fighting back. In Avatar, the indigenous people are mostly at the mercy of the colonizers. Maori were also tactically quite capable. In Avatar the indigenous people are portrayed as "in tune with nature" and thus not very warlike which makes them seem more vulnerable.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by lewelma

[lewelma]

Oh, goodness. We were writing at the same time!

[Tanaqui]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:08 AM, PeterPan said:

Is it bad? Weird?

 

I would go with boring. Although the setting was very pretty and the 3-D was top-notch. You actually wanted to swat the dratted bugs away!

Also, it was filled with Noble Savage and White Savior garbage, not to mention a hefty dose of "Their spiritual beliefs are valid because they can be empirically proven". Blech. If the script writing is going to rely on hackneyed cliches, do they have to be so racist? (Edit: Won't reply to people who tell me that it's not racist because the Pandorans aren't real. Obvs they're stand-ins for Native Americans in this story, or other victims of colonization.)

Quote

In Avatar the indigenous people are portrayed as in tune nature and thus not very war like which makes them seem more vulnerable.

 

Yeah, that sort of garbage. You can simultaneously be "in tune with nature" and also be "warlike". It's not an either/or.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Tanaqui

[katilac]

I don't actually remember the movie very well, but Pandora at Animal Kingdom in Disney World is lovely 😄

[mathnerd]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

I don't actually remember the movie very well, but Pandora at Animal Kingdom in Disney World is lovely 😄

I actually thought that they were talking about Avatar The Last Airbender, which has colonization themes as well 🙂

 

[kiwik]

2 hours ago, mathnerd said:

I actually thought that they were talking about Avatar The Last Airbender, which has colonization themes as well 🙂

 

That he likes and would probably do better at.  My kids tend young when it comes to viewing material I am happy for it to remain that way.

[kiwik]

8 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

 

I would go with boring. Although the setting was very pretty and the 3-D was top-notch. You actually wanted to swat the dratted bugs away!

Also, it was filled with Noble Savage and White Savior garbage, not to mention a hefty dose of "Their spiritual beliefs are valid because they can be empirically proven". Blech. If the script writing is going to rely on hackneyed cliches, do they have to be so racist? (Edit: Won't reply to people who tell me that it's not racist because the Pandorans aren't real. Obvs they're stand-ins for Native Americans in this story, or other victims of colonization.)

 

Yeah, that sort of garbage. You can simultaneously be "in tune with nature" and also be "warlike". It's not an either/or.

I would argue the movie is am act of colonisation in itself.

I am not sure if my response to you got eaten Lewelma or it will turn up as well.

Thank your son - if Ds was a few years older and had 3000 words that would be the sort of direction I would expect.  But 400 words all you can do is mention and compare a few things.  It is supposed to have more about the characters than he has but with the word limit it was impossible.  Besides they seem pretty contrived and clichéd.

[lewelma]

2 hours ago, kiwik said:

 

Thank your son - if Ds was a few years older and had 3000 words that would be the sort of direction I would expect. 

Well ds had a lot of fun thinking about it, so thanks for giving him something to do during his school holidays.  🙂