Inside-Out Book Club and Avitar

Katie D.

November 14, 2010 - 7:25 PM

We had the most amazing book club meeting on Friday. Aside from discussing the reading from Calvin and Hobbes (including a discussion of the idea of nostalgia, and a report back on our favorite strips from the week), we discussed the movie Avitar.

The Inside-Out book club ( see http://www.isupportuoregon.org/my_duckstory/blog/katie_d/insideout_alumni_and_the_serbu_book_club_take_two ) has been meeting since July. Again and again, I have been surprised and inspired by the thoughtfulness and intelligence of the youth we are working with. The twelve girls and boys we have read with over the past fall term have demonstrated the ability to pull complicated ideas from a simple comic strip, and to bring open minds and personal experiences into the conversation.

So I have come to expect profound discussions from our Friday afternoon meetings.

Our discussion of Avitar was on a similar level to my upper-division classes in English and Comparative Literature. We not only discussed the important aspects of the film, but employed literary theory, used the film as a lens for historical and contemporary social criticism, and discussed the racial and gendered aspects of the film.

Avitar is obviously a beautiful movie. It brought out a strong admiration from the youth, and we discussed the feeling of freedom in the movie, and how beautiful the imagined world was. We also discussed technology, and how this movie represents a true innovation in film techniques and movie technology.

Then we started talking about the more complicated and troubling aspects of the film. Together, we wondered about the villain of the film, and the way that militarism is explained as a combination of irrational violence and economic greed. This led us to a conversation about the mineral being extracted from the world, and what that might relate to in our contemporary world. The youth made the jump to modern resources, and to an interpretation of the movie as reflecting the wars in the Middle East, and the exploitation of the world's resources.

We also talked about technology, which has been an ongoing theme in this group. A couple of the youth feel very strongly that we would all be happier if we had less technology--that modern inventions create many of the situations that lead to crime. But we also discussed the positive aspects of technology, and what it might mean to live in a less materialistic society.

I asked the group if they had seen the Disney movie Pocahontas. Everyone in the group had seen it, even if it was long ago. When I asked why they thought I had asked, they were off. Without further prompting, they walked me through a comparison of the two movies, and explored where the plots were similar and different, and if it mattered. So, if this was a retelling of the old story of European and North American Indian contact, then are we the good guys in this story? Is the colonial power of Avitar the analogue of a contemporary and historical America? And (my favorite question for this story) what does it mean that the main character is white, and that his leadership is essential for the "good guys" to win?

What I loved most about this discussion was the range of voices and opinions heard. Some of the UO participants had very strong opinions, as did the youth. Several youth contributed passionate and profound ideas about social structures and the construction of narrative. Others were active in generating ideas about parallels between what they understand about political and social affairs.

I am still flying from this discussion. The Inside-Out Book Club has been a continuous source of energy and inspiration for me this term. On Friday, I was reminded why the group is so important: everyone needs an avenue for creative discussion, even of mundane things. This group of youth was absolutely ready to take the discussion to an amazingly high level. But they need to be prompted, supported, and challenged to do so. If our work in the book club accomplishes nothing else, I hope that we will enable at least a couple of kids to take a look at their lives and examine where their truths are coming from.

You can't always take the story at face value. Dig deeper. Discuss.

Repeat each Friday.