Hi Guys!

I wanted to first say that I agree on what Lesleigh and Stephanie said about shame. I believe that this movie and the reading that we have done has a huge impact because of the shame that the characters in the movie has and the other victims have.

The movie Once Were Warriors was definitely a movie that I had to absorb and I’m definitely appreciative that we had last class to talk about it. This movie had a greater impact on me then I thought it would. It has also made me realize that it definitely ties in with the readings that we have done. After the movie I was thinking about the reading I started thinking about what different types of violence was in the movie and compared those to the readings. The first major type of violence that I found tied into the movie and the readings was structural violence. In the reading, The Deadliest Form of Violence is Poverty, by James Gilligan states “The finding that structural violence causes far more deaths than behavioral violence does is not limited to this country.” This statement to me says that violence is everywhere, probably more then I tend to think it is. When I think of violence the first thing that comes to mind is there must be a reason why they are being violent.

As we see in the film, the family wasn’t ‘middle class’ but they were the ‘lower class’ and struggling with money issues. At first what seemed to be normal to me when Jake brought home the seafood Beth immediately wanted to know what happened. To me this would be a treat to me and not an ‘oh my gosh something must be going on.’ In fact that was true because Jake had lost his job so he spent that money on a luxury item for his family. Then I noticed that Beth wasn’t happy with Jake and that was when shame started to be a big factor in the movie. Shame is a big theme throughout the movie and the readings. It took me back because I never really noticed just how much shame played a role in violence. The class discussion that we had also had a big theme throughout which again was shame. After hearing the discussion and the movie I realized that if I was in a position that something happened to myself it is easier said then done to get help. I know we had talked about oh why can’t they just get the help and we had talked about resources available. It just made me realize that it must take a lot for someone to get up the courage to admit what happened to them and take the actions that will come with admitting it.

The reading Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrerweich came into my mind when I was thinking about the family’s shame and social class. Depending on what social class you are in means different opportunities. In the reading they talk about how the lower class doesn’t feel that they can get the better opportunities so they don’t try. If you compare other lower class families and the movie I tended to see that this is true. In the movie the scene where you see Grace cleaning up after the party her brother says you’ll get used to it. That to me just shows that since the eldest son thinks that since he is lower class that he can’t be anything higher and so he doesn’t try. I think that’s true with a lot of people in the world because they don’t feel that they are able to try to do better with their life and I honestly wish there was a way to change their thinking.

The class discussion was a great help to me to understand better about the different themes and help myself apply them to situations that I will have to deal with in my Experiential Learning site.

P.S. In fact I find myself every Tuesday and Thursday night going to bed earlier then I expect. I think that’s do to the nature of the subject we are dealing with that and that’s ok. I will add more to this but I wanted to get your feedback.