Last Week Review (end Nov 26th)

Wow, it has been a long time since I've updated this- we'll put it down to H1N1 and marks being due and parent teacher interviews... I guess that's little excuse.  Anyway, we've had a couple of shorter weeks in which time we have been performing... some good some not so good- but all of you have been brave enough to go forward and let it "hang-out" without worry- that's shows good class dynamic!

Now down to business:
We have started our next over reaching unit that will probably take us to the end of the term (January...)
Here we will be learning Response, Research and Bibliography and reviewing the Literary Essay while looking at the theme of WAR.  Our guiding question is: How is War Portrayed?

At the moment we are looking at Recruitment- and How wars start.  We see this in "Tony and the Beetles" by Philip K. Dick, as the humans, who have been fighting the Beetles for years see the war shift against them and in favor of the Beetles.  How quickly the balances of power shift- and also the feelings of seperiority!  Were humans always supposed to be better?  Are we always meant to be winning?  Does Dick think that we, humans, were really right?

To compliment "Tony and the Beetles", we are watching "Starship Troopers" directed by Paul Vanhoeven.  This movie can be seen on many different levels; the straight-forward action film, as a war propaganda recruitment film, as a comment on societies that use violence and war to solve problems,  etc. 

"Starship Troopers" carries the same fell as "Tony..." where the humans are seen as being "RIGHT".  Yet it looks more directly at the "human side" and the dehumanizing of the enemy (Making them, the bugs, an "OTHER").  We are made to cheer for the humans, rather than the BUGS, because Vanhoeven has us follow three friends- characters whose lives we become attached to- but look more closely!  Look at the uniforms, listen to the "News Bullitens", and analyse the motivations of the main characters... all give a sardonic commentary of war. 

Coming Up:  We will be continueing "Starship Troopers" and the responses.  After "Recruitment" we will start to look at "War training", "The Horror of War", and then the "Casualties of War".