Native American Movies

This article was full of information. I didn't know half the stuff it says about the Native American film industry. One thing I found rather funny is when they said that the guy who played Geronimo had to put on make-up so he would look more like a white man, and less like a Native American.

It is evident that Smoke Signals is a historical breakthrough in Native cinema. I found it interesting how the whole movie was directed, written, and everything else by Natives. And it's a good movie so far. The article mentioned the acting roles being a little thin and not up to par, but I don't see why they should be, or why they should be like any roles played by any other ethnicities. I think that the actors/characters acting roles are up to interpretation and judgement by the person watching the film. Since every viewer is different, they may like great actors, they may like people who aren't the greatest actors.

With the release of the movie I think people who see the movie won't view Natives with war paint and feather headresses. They see the real aspect of Native life on the reservation and beyond it's borders.

Phoenix, Arizona/ Sherman Alexie

This story has been my favorite story we've read for this class so far. The story kept me interested, and it was so easy to read that I sort of wish there was more to it. I like how Alexie put in brief instances from these guys past in between the guys journey to Phoenix.

The story has a somewhat sad tone, but throughout there is alot of satire, and it adds a comical sense to the story. I found it sad how in the end the guys acted like they couldn't be comrades anymore, like they were when they were younger. Overall, it was a really good story, and I look forward to seeing more stories like this from Alexie.

Fleur

The story about the woman Fleur was somewhat confusing at parts, but still a good story. I like how in the beginning and throughout the story there is a sense of mysticism related to this girl. In the beginning people who associate with her mysteriously die and there is a sense of superstition. I think it is sort of ludicrous, but people in the story kept their distance. The question of her baby's daddy is interesting. The story doesn't give you closure, but you can somewhat assume what happened, but it is still open for interepretation.

The story is very detailed, and I'm glad it is. If the story contained less detail I wouldn't want to read. The imagery helps you get a vivid sense of the story and these details help you create the scenarios in your mind when reading. After reading the end of the story you are left with the same amount of mystery about Fleur as you are presented with in the beginning, and that is what I liked about the story.

Wendy Rose

These poems were fairly decent. The first and second really stood out. I would say they sort of had some traits in both of them that could be seen in the other. The feeling you get from reading these poems is really wretched. They flow brilliantly, and the point is clear. You get a sense of angst and animosity from her poetry and when you're done reading them they leave you feeling bad. Or at least thats the way it affected me.

Truganinny

This poem was interesting. The woman is dying and her last wishes are for her friends to take her and hide her after she dies so the "people" can't find her. It said that her husband was stuffed and mounted. Thats pretty ridiculous. She wanted to be hidden under the mountain or put in the ocean, but in the end she was stuffed and put on display just like her husband. She was the last full-blooded Aborigine.

Crimes

So I think that this reading is fairly interesting. I found it sort of ridiculous. It seemed like it could possibly be a rant. I don't think that someone should get worked up about a mascot or anything of that nature. They are just names of teams and stuff. I think that if you get mad about something as little as that you need to find something else to get mad about. Its just nonsense.

I thought this pic was pretty funny, especially in the relevance to the subject. This guy was my room mate last semester when I lived in Statesboro. I think his High-School were the warriors or something like that. He is a really white guy, he has no Indian in his blood.

Note to a Culture Vulture, How to write the Great American Indian Novel

I thought the Culture Vulture poem was pretty interesting. Louis talked about the theft of the Native American identity. It was pretty funny in the end where he was hating on the so called "indian" author being successful. You can def. see a tension and underlying feeling of anger in the writing.

How to write the Great American Indian Novel was quite interesting too. It was like How to Play Indian that we read a few weeks ago. Alexie is defining how the white man is slowly trying to become more like the indians, and the Indian culture is somewhat dying because of the invasion of the white man into their culture. The last line is great, "In the Great American Indian novel...all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts." I think that line puts a real backbone in the idea that the white man is slowly turning himself into an Indian, and that the real Indians are dying because of this.

Cowboy

This story was very interesting. I enjoyed getting a sense of the guy's everyday life, instead of him going on some long drawn out journey and overcoming his fate or something. It is a fairly simple story, and thats what I like about it.

I found it funny when he was talking about the calves and heifers and how the whole point in a cow is to turn itself into meat as fast as it can so somebody can eat it.

When he was talking about how he got hit in the face with a rock from the manure spreader and he ran the rig into the irrigation system. All that was rather funny.

I think its interesting how the guy never calls the old man by his name, he just calls him the "old sumbitch"

Overall, the story was really good. I think it was interesting how in the end the guy just rode off instead of stickin around. It was what you would imagine a cowboy doing.

"Gun's goin off"

Well, Brokeback Mountain was exactly what you would think it was. I never saw the movie, and don't plan to. The story was slow and then all of a sudden it is ridiculous. I didn't find the story that interesting, or really fun to read. One thing I found interesting was after the first night in the tent when Ennis said, "I'm not no queer." That statement is so hypocritical. He obviously participated in gay sex with another man. I would say thats not only queer, but really queer.

I also think that Jack and Ennis being "cowboys", well sheep-herders with Stetson's, and them being homosexual is something not often expected of the cowboy culture. Cowboy's usually aren't affiliated with that, and it was a bold move on the writer's part, so I guess she gets an award for originality.

The story isn't bad, the general plot and how the story unfolds is somewhat sad. If Ennis would've been a young cowgirl it would just be another mushy romance that would be on the cheap book rack at the Wal-Mart. It is a sad story because Jack is supposedly killed for the way he was, and Ennis couldn't get his ashes.

I could definitely see why it was a popular, and un-popular story to many people. Many things in the world you have to read or interpret with an open mind.