I probably should be writing about Christmas and New Year and all the big news that we have (and I will do that soon) but I just want to get in the last movie and

Movie 9 – Avatar
This movie was very cool. Not life changing or anything but enjoyable. It was very beautiful and the 3D effects were very special I thought. This movie is about humans going to anpother planet to mine some valuable mineral. However there are some indigenous creatures on this planet whose homes are going to be destroyed in the process. Some humans get to know the indigenous creatures and one of course falls in love with one so they fight to protect them. The ending is predictable and while I was very pleased of course that all ended up ok part of me was hoping that perhaps it wouldn’t. Because in real life it has not been a happy ending for indigenous people, their land and meaning has been taken from them. Perhaps if this had happened in a fictional story such as this that had people so emotionally involved people may be more aware of what is going for indigenous communities around the world. Maybe not but you know what I am getting at.

Book 14 – “On Rage” by Germaine Greer.
This was a pretty small book, a long essay really about rage, specifically about the rage carried by indigenous men. It may be surprising to know that a book written by Germaine Greer was actually quite sympathetic to men and very well thought out. She basically made the point that indigenous men are drinking and being violent because they are filled with rage. While white men indigenous women have been able to hold on to some of their traditional roles and meanings through child birth and raising the men have almost totally lost their roles. She argues that alcohol restrictions and all other programs etc etc that are implemented are not going to work unless we create a space for this rage to be expressed (and maybe this won’t even work). She feels that the NT intervention actually creates a bigger tension between indigenous men and women and drives a wedge between them as it often portrayed as been about white people protecting indigenous women from their men. However she is quick to point out that white men have certainly not been portectors of indigenous women. The whole stolen generation basically amounts from the rape of indigenous women by white men. It is a bleak book but an important one I think.

So 14 books read and 9 movies seen in 2009. Not a bad effort really, especially as I managed to see more movies that Howie.