Belonging Essay

Belonging is the finest thing in the world that knows how to belong to oneself. You have to belong to yourself before you belong to society. Belonging is a quite a hard concept, as you can argue that people who don’t want to belong actually â€Å"belong† to a group of people who don’t want to belong. But what is belonging? One idea is that you belong when you feel comfortable with people who have similar objectives, goals, and aims as you. But, as i realised while analysing a film in fact it’s for this unit, if you don’t feel comfortable with the group you believe you belong to, then even if you have the same goals for example cricket. Even though everyone’s goal is to win, should the team not befriend you, make you feel like you are excluded from the team, then you don’t really feel that you belong to the team so it’s basically what belonging is about. My first text is about a song by my island home by Christina Anu and how the singer portrays aspects of belonging through her song lyrics. Firstly she explores the idea that belonging to people or places shapes our identity and then she explores how the barriers which prevent belonging can create a need to belong. The song Island Home shares her perception that belonging to certain people or place creates our ideology of life and where we rightfully belong. We live by the sea and My home is Australia this use of language shows pride and belonging to Australia. This creates and brings belong into place where our perspective of belonging to be one of happiness. Belonging is evident in the song in the boat on the sea again, and I holding that long turtle spear, and I feel close to where it must be. The composer emphasises the point that her home must be by the sea because that’s where she is from and where she feels that she belongs, the pride of her belonging. We create our own identity from the feelings and affections we have with belonging to certain societies and their way of life. Inclusion and isolation demonstrates our personal identity which portrays who we are. Our perspectives and views are changed depending upon what we belong to. My home is Australia; we are a land bound by sea to show that Australia is a part of her which will never be lost is also shown as her the composer is from a native background (aboriginal). She emphasises on how her and land are one, and it is this affection that had shaped her identity. Belonging in the song My Island Home? which I find is people who had experienced belonging to a place or community. But the song conveys the composer as; these glimpses are obviously not enough to make you feel the same way real belonging makes others feel. The composer shows the barriers she has to overcome like modernisation, family and living far away from the place she belongs to and this belonging is felt by her. The composer shows the importance of belonging by using a reflection question to compare her life in the present time and when she belonged. Will this place ever satisfy me this shows how much she wants to belong again, which portrays her strong love for her place of belonging. The composer only reveals through her dreams how she feels towards belonging. Six years I have lived in the desert, every night i dreamt of the sea shows the identity of the composer since Australia is covered in desert lands ad this shows the connection she has with Australia through her. Ahhh already it has taken so long to type this up for you to read , hope you are bored because you have a lot more to read so stay awake and read it ahah. My second text is on Edward scissor hand by Tim Burton, I was actually going to Life of Pie by Ang Lee but it was quite tough to relate to belong so I went with Edward scissor hands plus I got a bit help my English teacher for this movie so it make my life a bit easier. At the beginning of the film we see that Edward lives alone in a gothic castle. He has been isolated in the castle for an indeterminate time. Below the castle is a small town a close knit community and barely visits the castle, not knowing that Edward lives there. Peg feels sorry for him and decides to take him back to live with her in the town. At first Edward is being treated well because he is a great novelty. No one has ever seen someone like him before and he quickly becomes a celebrity. He is embraced by the townspeople; they think he is very useful with his scissors (haircutting, gardening etc. ) one of the town women thinks he is sexy and tries to seduce him. He refuses and runs away. This incident becomes the catalyst for Edwards’s rejection and alienation from the community. Edwards’s personality consists of innocent, naive, limited social skills, very gentle and very experienced at relationships with people, no idea of sex, manners etc. Other than what his creator taught him from books. He is very trusting until he finds himself he victim of a setup. After things become worse, Edward finds he is a victim and cannot remain in the community. Techniques used to convey the context relevant to belonging is that Edwards’s clothes and appearance is a complete contrast to town’s people. When he first arrives Peg him clothes to wear which he puts on over his own costume. This helps him develop a sense of belonging to the family and the community and reduces his difference to the townspeople. However the fact that he doesn’t remove his clothes indicates that he wants to maintain his identity. Later in the film he becomes angry and feelings of rejection and alienation by the town cause him to rip off. Music is used in a number of ways to show Edwards innocence and purity. His character is linked to Kims in the way music and lighting are used, the haunting they’re music, together with soft/bright lighting plus show plus the slow motion of the camera reinforces the innocence and the nature of their love for each other. At the end of the film, when it becomes impossible for Kim and Edward to belong to each other in a proper relationship. He goes back into the castle and she to the town. All though they cannot belong together physically they will always belong together emotionally. This is shown at the end of the film as Edward continues to make snow from the ice and flashback to the narrator at the child’s bedside. Alright you only got a bit more reading for go so sit back and read the rest and tell me how I went. For my third text I have chosen the picture the island by Armin greder. The picture book, The Island portrays belonging as impossible if there is an ignorant and fearful dominant culture. The book portrays to the responder into almost alienation and new comer into a strongly built and well organized society. The alien is portrayed as thin and white-white and unclothed showing that the new comer is an empty canvas to be painted opinions onto. The new comer is also thin and innocent looking showing how the character is reliant on acceptance to survive. Whilst the dominant society is given the appearance of large, over bearing, they are always portrayed as a collective group portraying their dominance. They are in black clothing, they all appear to look the same- again representing there collectiveness, and they are holding pitch forks portraying their feelings towards the new comer unwelcomed. The dominant society belong together they appear to look the same, and have much of the same views, they have collectively created a community that are dependent on each other and there likeness. The society is well established and fearful of anything that will imbalance its structure and that is different from their social, cultural and historical similarities. The new being does not offer any change, it does not do anything to radicalize the community but just its presence of being different offers physiological fear to the dominant society. The book demonstrates the effect of fear, what it does to a community and the object being feared. Through fear of this unknown the community alienated the unknown, trying to forget its existence when this did not work the community they contemplated integrating the being. But the overbearing fear of the effect the being would have on their system led them to cast out the different being. The being that was submitted to the dominant cultures fear was treated as inferior, become the dominant society did not want the unknown to belong they create a barrier around themselves in fear of the unknown and it defining themselves as exclusive. Because the dominant society was afraid of the unknown they showed ignorance and a lack of open thinking which creates difficulties to them from acceptance and understanding of anything other than their own people. Therefore Belonging is a way of life which characterises us humans and creates our individuality. Due to the complex and abstract nature of the concept of belonging, a true sense of belonging can be found in different circumstances for different people. As each individual has their own desires, needs and values, they find their place in the world and a genuine sense of belonging in various avenues. Many individuals find the strongest sense of belonging through relationships, due to the fact that by nature these connections fulfil the human need for social interaction and enrich the lives of the persons involved.