Global challenges

“In your course you have studied global challenges through English-language literature and films. Write a text in which you reflect on how effective a literary text and a film have been in raising your awareness about one or two global challenges. Use examples from each work.”

We learn every day, at school or at work. However, there is other ways to learn, for example to read a book or watch a movie. As we grow, our knowledge about the world grows too. The famous philosopher Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power”, and that is very correct. Think about all the things we can do and everything we can change, if we have much knowledge. I have always been intrigued by the different global challenges, and I think it is fascinating when you read a book, a text or watch a movie, etc. where there is a conflict about global challenges.

There is many types of global challenges, like the nature, and the resources in the nature are being used, or how humans are being treated. These two are the ones I have been noticing lately, and I remembered a movie I watched six years ago, called Avatar, and I watched it again only to realise how much I did not understand the first time I saw it. This movie really opened my mind.

Avatar is a sci-fi/action movie from 2009, directed by James Cameron. James Cameron takes us on a journey to another planet called Pandora. The humans has set out to explore the planet and there they found resources they could take back to earth. The problem was that to get the unobtanium, which is a type of mineral, they had to go through the native people, the Na’vi. The humans, wants to exploit their resources and if they did not get it by cooperation, they would take it by force. This movie also has a sub message about finding ourselves and find out what we are willing to fight for and what we call home. The main character in the movie, Jake Sully finds himself protecting the native people because he sees that taking their resources, and leaving them with nothing, is inhuman.

Even though the action happens on a different planet, the same is happening on our planet. Cameron took a serious theme and made it into a thrilling movie. Anyhow, forcing humans away from their homes, only to take advantages of natural resources, happens here on earth. There has been many occasions where the “white man” takes over the land of native people, only to build more plants or to recover natural resources.

When I saw this movie, and other movies, about global challenges and how important the nature is, I started to realise how many places this is happening.

Another global challenge is shown in the text Robert and the Dog by Ken Saro-Wiwa, where Robert helps at a hospital and gets a new boss. The boss brings along his wife as the story goes on, and she has a dog whose name is Bingo, and Robert noticed how well the wife treated the dog. This was unnatural to him, the dogs where he is from is not well fed or does not get much attention. This dog on the other hand, was very well fed and was given much love. Robert, who is a good man, only wants the best for his wife and their six children. He has an inner conflict with himself because of the dog. One day, his boss and the boss’s wife is going on a trip, so they ask Robert to take care of Bingo. Robert, as the fine man he is, says of course yes, this gives him the perfect opportunity to handle the dog. The two first days he feeds the dog but then he decides that he would rather feed his children then the dog, so he takes the food, who was meant to the dog, and gives it to the children. The story ends with four words that goes like this: “then the dog died.”

At first I was I was a bit shocked and felt sorry for the dog, but then I sat things in perspective, Robert was a poor man who felt how unfair the world is. Imagine a dog being treated better than you are, that does not seem right. We should treat the animals well, but should we not treat the humans well too, is it not our right to live a good life? This text really made me think, not everyone has the same living situation as we in Norway do.

Both the movie and the text made me think. Think about what we can do and how to help. Global challenges is not easy, that is why they are called challenges. Nevertheless, we have to give our best, and fight for the good of the people.