The Netsilik Eskimo - Essay Example

Lecturers The film starts when a man and his family takes a long trek from the coastal side of the Pelly Bay while walking on the tundra to the most remote locations of the fishing grounds on the shores of river Kugardjuk on Simpson Peninsula. The social set up of this family is clearly depicted when the man holds dog and the woman carries the child as they trek along the shores of the river. Dog is always associated with hunting and protection which is a man’s role in the traditional society just like this one in Eskimo and the woman holds the child a chore that is purely dedicated to women in any traditional societies. They eventually find a place where they connect with one of them and then start life over the place. The traditional life they leave is depicted when they carry their luggage in a skin that they later on use as the covering material for their houses (National Film Board of Canada, 1967). The cultural theme is set in a way that woman does chores that are quite different from those undertaken by men in any traditional society. As men keep themselves busy with construction of their Eskimos it is clearly shown that there is close relationship between the family members when their female counterparts assists them by carrying stones to put around the Eskimo. This film gives out the real picture of what happened in the Eskimo life and way of life before the days of the European acculturation. The cultural and the economic life majorly depended on the use of land and fishing. Life over the arctic regions was totally rigorous. Men and women of the Eskimos purely struggled to make the ends meet. (National Film Board of Canada, 1967) The traditional way of life is fully portrayed in a manner that it shows women doing their chores in a way that is totally different from the modern set ups where people use modern means of food preparation, storage, transportation and housing system; in this set up it is very traditional. The traditional chores that were particular distributed according to gender and this is clearly shown when men take most of their time to do heavy jobs associated with their masculinity nature and women take the chores that are associated with their feminine nature such as taking care of the children and food preparation. There is that kind of mutual agreement and respect that is shown amongst the family members where the child obeys the orders of the mother, the man and the woman show that close relationship of a wife and a husband. The use of gestures is widely used in the movie especially when giving instructions or when showing approval or disapproval. It is one of the communication means that forms part of the Eskimo life (Gilles, 2006). There is major use of facial expressions and fists movements when information is being passed from one person to the other. The kind of body position that is variedly used in this context is that which depicts a lot of due respect between the members of the Eskimo family. There is a clear link between the tradition and the way people interact. The gender roles in this set up is clearly shown in a way that women have taken the role of doing house chores that ranges from meal preparation to cleaning of the house. In the movie it is clearly shown when the woman prepares the meal of fish by thoroughly cleaning and removing the intestines and then drying them. It is the duty of the woman in this set up to fetch water as shown when the woman carries water in a gasoline can, she also use soapstone as the cooking pot when preparing meals (National Film Board of Canada, 1967). Again it is clearly evident that women played a very big role of taking good care of the family homes, this shown when the woman remains behind in the tent to undertake all the house chores when their male counter parts participate in other activities away from home. Women also take the role of taking good care of their children, this shown when the woman prepares food and gives it to her child as well as give the child water from the can, a good sense of motherhood. By slaughtering the duck using a metallic knife then prepares for the family members who are out to fish is a clear way of showing how women clearly undertake their roles in this Eskimo community. The love of the woman to her child is shown when she plucks the bladder from the duck and then uses it to make a balloon for her child. Men in this society take a role of erecting the tents in a close association with their women counterparts who helps them in transporting building materials. It is the role men in the Eskimo lifestyle to make sure that their families get food and protection always; they take time to go fishing by building weirs where they fish using three pronged spears. The fish is then put together in a rope and then dragged home for family consumption. They also make sure that their family food security is guaranteed when they build big hauls where they store the surplus of the fish caught (Wight, 2000). There is clear roles separation in this community, but there are instances when the roles overlap and sharing of knowledge guaranteed amongst the family member. Women help their husbands to erect the tents and there is a point where the woman take it herself to tie part of the tent on a stone, this shows clearly that women in this society can also participate in chores that are meant for men. The kind of interaction between the family members is that which shows respect amongst family members. The woman in this society has a lot of respect to her husband; she makes sure that everything that is instructed by the husband is done perfectly and on time. It also evident when the child recognizes the presence of his father when he imitates what the father does when fishing. He also practices some fishing activities at the shore of the lake and this is how the parents pass the knowledge and information from one generation to the other (Wight, 2000). The Eskimo family portrays a traditional way of life that extends back to the days before European acculturation period when things were done locally. This is purely shown by various occasions in this film. The kind of food that they eat is traditional prepared; there is a point where they eat raw meals. While in the modern society people use reliable source of fire, in the Eskimo family set up they used the traditional methods of using bow and dry firewood to generate fire for their cooking and warming activities. The kind of the housing is very traditional since they used skins to erect their houses as well as using the clothes that are generated from animal skins (Whitteker, 1992). This is one society that is very dependent on the traditional ways of life and it is presumed that none of them had knowledge of the existence of other people in the world. There are instances where the stereotypical nature of men is shown many a times they tended to stay in their own groups and never to intermingle with their women counterparts most of the times. This may show how they took women to be just helpers of inferior status in the society. They majorly took fishing as a sporting activity that they enjoyed most and again it was taken as a major source of livelihood for the entire family members. There are several tools used in this set up that makes the lives of these Eskimo people easier cheaper. Without these tools then the life in the arctic regions for these people could not have been easier, since this is part of the world that has no link with rest of the world. They used tools like metallic knives, pronged spears, wooden rods, ropes, stones for weir and tents construction, cooking pots and bows. The metallic knives helped them in undertaking various chores in their houses that includes food preparation. This is shown when the woman use the metallic knife to slaughter the duck and also to prepare the fish her husband brought from the river; men also use these knives to undertake their daily activities. The spears that they use for fishing is made of metallic prongs, without these kind of spears fishing could have been difficult owing to the fact that they never had improved fishing nets for doing this kind of work (Gilles, 2006). Another basic tool that they made from stone was a cooking pot that helped them in food preparation. They also used wooden rods for their traditional salons. This is clearly evident when the woman uses the wooden rod to roll her hair thus making her fashionable. Without the use of bows as the fire generating tool then it would have been difficult for them to have fire. These bows were made of wood and this is what they used to generate fire for their various activities such as cooking and warming of their tents. Stone played a very important role as a construction and fishing tool, it was used to erect tents and weirs for fishing. The basement of the skin tent is tied on the stones and the fishing weirs were purely made of stones. Lastly they used ropes as a major tool that they used to construct their houses for fastening purposes. Most of the ropes were used for tying the fish while in the fishing expedition (Field). The kind of the language used in this movie is not interpreted and it is rather difficult to understand what is going on. The moment I can get the opportunity to master this language then I may be in a position to ask various questions that ranges from their origin, the family set up, their major understanding on the current family set ups, other means of communication they used a part from their original language, the source of their clothing materials, how the marriage institution is managed, their understanding of the current world in term of economics and physical infrastructure and their cultural inheritance values. This will clearly be able to probe them on their basic knowledge of the current affairs of this world. It is really perplexing to understand how these people have been out of touch with the current world and what made them to opt for such kind of life in a place that is so much isolated like that (Wight, 2000) References Wight, Darlene. Art & expression of the Netsilik. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000. Field, Edward. Songs and stories of the Netsilik Eskimos: based on texts collected by Knud Rasmussen on the fifth Thule Expedition, 1921-24. Cambridge, Mass.: Education Development Center ;, 19681970. Gilles, Blais. The Netsilik Eskimo Today. National Film Board of Canada, 2006 National Film Board of Canada. Fishing at the Stone Weir: Part 1 and 2, 1967 Whitteker, Byng. The Eskimo. Ottawa: Canadian Broadcasting Corp., 1992. Print Read More