Even thought I hate all documentary films because they all have the monotonous voice that makes people want to sleep, "We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee" had become one of my favorite documentary films. It makes to a point that a person not only have to survive but to gain resistance. The Indian in the film are surviving, but they have no resistance at all. The Schooling makes Indians to be "Deindianlization" and to be "Americanization". The education is a good idea but it turns out to be a bad idea because what it does is Brain-Washing. Because of that, relation to their family and friends had lost. The ability to speak one's language had lost. They can't speak the language, they don't know their culture and religion. They all turn out to be "non-Indian". The movement they did is trying to reconnect the religon and culture, and to be "remain Indians". They use the media to let the world knows what happen to them. And they try to use media as a weapon toward government so no one would kill them all because all over the world is watching. And by that they also telling the world that they are existing. They done all these and willing to sacrifice themselves just to pass on the traditions, and teaching them from generation to generation.
Because of this film, I am thinking about the purpose of sitting in a NAS 5 classroom. It is not about to satisfied a major requirement or a GE requirement; it is about to learn those histories, and know about these people and their culture. That's why they are fighting for, to be exist and remain, to let us know about they are the real people, not just some past old history.
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Survival + Resistance.
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4 comments:
I definitely thought the Natives in the film showed resistance. They literally used violence to take a historical site. If there is anything that represents resistance to the white man, this is it. The question if is it good enough.
It is interesting to consider the way that survivance is being represented in this movie. There is a strong sense of resistance as they occupy the sight of past violence, using it to their own end and even rekindling past customs. The tribe feels that they don't have much time before they are stomped out and thus feel called into such action. This spirit of resistance is contrasted by the segment about Native American boarding schools. It appears that by attending these boarding schools they were being "deindianized" but we must consider that this was done beyond their will. The children continued to speak their language secretly and often felt that they were two different people. The act of holding onto that other self exemplifies survivance.
I'm glad you lied the movie even though you hate documentaries. :) The notion of survivance is strong throughout the film, and I think you are right about the purpose of taking an NAS class. I also think its interesting how the media was such a huge part of all of this. The one thing that seems to stand out is that Native people are not passive victims but active agents of resistance, and as you say, "they are the real people, not just some past old history."
I thought the film showed survivance strongly throughout the film. Literally bearing arms and not giving in to those threatening their way of life was survivance in it's most blunt definition. I could only imagine how the children in the boarding school were engaging in survivance or even what messages they were getting fromt he world as they grew up.
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