Musings: Storytelling
Woo. Another day gone.
So I can't wait for school to start again. I need to put my creativity to use. I'm starting to get bored without a project to work on.
One of the reasons I love movies is because it's storytelling. Storytelling in itself is an art, not just the technical/aesthetic art of filmmaking. Film is storytelling in pretty lights. I told my son that "photography is great art for people who can't draw worth a crap". Now before any photographers take offense to this, let me clarify. I love photography and I can't draw worth a crap. I'm sure there are some who can do both, but I've always been jealous of artists. I always felt so creative, but growing up I couldn't draw, paint, sculpt, play any musical instruments, or sing. I could dance and write a little, but I hadn't found a way to really channel my creativity into something.
Storytelling is also a tradition in my culture. One reason why I want to make films is because I feel that there is a point of view that you don't see very often in mainstream entertainment. That is mine, being an aboriginal woman who has had some of the life experiences I've had. I feel there are so many stories to be told that don't have a voice right now. I'd like to faciliate those voices.
I was adopted when I was a baby by a white family. I grew up in rural southwestern Saskatchewan, where it's all white farmers. I didn't grow up around any of my people. When we moved into the city, we lived in white neighborhoods and went to white schools. So I grew up isolated from my culture. I don't blame my parents for that at all because they didn't know about my culture either, and I couldn't have asked for better parents. My mother encouraged me by showing me newspaper articles about successful native women and saying you could do that, too. She also encouraged me to attend University through the Indian Federated College. I'm so glad I did. The cool thing is that it's not just other native students, anybody can register through the college. The even cooler thing is that you can take English classes and read literature, plays and poetry from other native writers instead of the dead, white European dudes. Not that there's anything wrong with the dead, white European dudes, but generally people grow up saturated with that. I took Cree as my second language instead of French or German like my friends who went through the U of R. But the coolest thing, was that I got to know other Indian people. And what I found out was, I was not the only one who felt disconnected from my culture. Some other friends I met through school had grown up in native families and felt like they didn't know much about their own culture, either. I was not alone!
In my interview to get into the film program with the committee of film profs, I told them that I wanted to show a perspective that I don't see in entertainment today. Mine. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of movies and tv shows that are out there today, but I feel that it's important to get a voice out there. For one thing, because it's important to educate people on what we are really like. For those of you who aren't familiar with my neck of the woods, or the situation in Canada, unfortunately there is a lot of racism towards Native Americans. This is something I'd like to change. Growing up around mainly white people, I've heard all the nasty stereotypes and misconceptions and they are so deeply ingrained. Another reason is to show people that they are ok the way they are. Nothing is wrong with you because you don't look like anybody on Friends. It's ok that you have trouble paying your bills and it's ok that you're a single mother and you sometimes have crappy taste in men. There are other people like you!
We can be proud of who we are even if it's not up there on the silver screen or the small screen, but it helps to see other people doing what you're doing. It keeps you going.
Til next time......
So I can't wait for school to start again. I need to put my creativity to use. I'm starting to get bored without a project to work on.
One of the reasons I love movies is because it's storytelling. Storytelling in itself is an art, not just the technical/aesthetic art of filmmaking. Film is storytelling in pretty lights. I told my son that "photography is great art for people who can't draw worth a crap". Now before any photographers take offense to this, let me clarify. I love photography and I can't draw worth a crap. I'm sure there are some who can do both, but I've always been jealous of artists. I always felt so creative, but growing up I couldn't draw, paint, sculpt, play any musical instruments, or sing. I could dance and write a little, but I hadn't found a way to really channel my creativity into something.
Storytelling is also a tradition in my culture. One reason why I want to make films is because I feel that there is a point of view that you don't see very often in mainstream entertainment. That is mine, being an aboriginal woman who has had some of the life experiences I've had. I feel there are so many stories to be told that don't have a voice right now. I'd like to faciliate those voices.
I was adopted when I was a baby by a white family. I grew up in rural southwestern Saskatchewan, where it's all white farmers. I didn't grow up around any of my people. When we moved into the city, we lived in white neighborhoods and went to white schools. So I grew up isolated from my culture. I don't blame my parents for that at all because they didn't know about my culture either, and I couldn't have asked for better parents. My mother encouraged me by showing me newspaper articles about successful native women and saying you could do that, too. She also encouraged me to attend University through the Indian Federated College. I'm so glad I did. The cool thing is that it's not just other native students, anybody can register through the college. The even cooler thing is that you can take English classes and read literature, plays and poetry from other native writers instead of the dead, white European dudes. Not that there's anything wrong with the dead, white European dudes, but generally people grow up saturated with that. I took Cree as my second language instead of French or German like my friends who went through the U of R. But the coolest thing, was that I got to know other Indian people. And what I found out was, I was not the only one who felt disconnected from my culture. Some other friends I met through school had grown up in native families and felt like they didn't know much about their own culture, either. I was not alone!
In my interview to get into the film program with the committee of film profs, I told them that I wanted to show a perspective that I don't see in entertainment today. Mine. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of movies and tv shows that are out there today, but I feel that it's important to get a voice out there. For one thing, because it's important to educate people on what we are really like. For those of you who aren't familiar with my neck of the woods, or the situation in Canada, unfortunately there is a lot of racism towards Native Americans. This is something I'd like to change. Growing up around mainly white people, I've heard all the nasty stereotypes and misconceptions and they are so deeply ingrained. Another reason is to show people that they are ok the way they are. Nothing is wrong with you because you don't look like anybody on Friends. It's ok that you have trouble paying your bills and it's ok that you're a single mother and you sometimes have crappy taste in men. There are other people like you!
We can be proud of who we are even if it's not up there on the silver screen or the small screen, but it helps to see other people doing what you're doing. It keeps you going.
Til next time......
posted by trudyrox at 1:10 AM
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