Trobriand Cricket
Submitted by gindi456 on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: History Other
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Trobriand Cricket
Trobriand Cricket, was a movie made in 1974 by Jerry Leach and Will Kildea that focused on the Trobriand Islander's response to colonialism through the sport of cricket. The Trobriand Islands are located off the coast of New Guinea, where the missionaries led by Rev. Gilmore introduced cricket at the beginning of the century as a substitute for warfare. The directors used the game of cricket to show the viewers how the Trobrianders created their own game that they considered indigenous to their island. This film gives the viewers an idea of the changes that were made to the game of cricket by the Trobriand Islanders that can still be seen as mimesis that was further developed in comparison and contrast to the traditional British game.
The directors started the movie by showing a scene of Trobriand players playing some kind of game, which was assumed to be cricket, but seemed more like some traditional ritual and typical stereotypes of their bush nature. The directors then go to show the way it is played in the British Colonies by having a short, black and white clip of early English players while describing the general rules and object of the game. The Trobriand Islanders have altered this British sport to fit their local environment and customs. Leach used two men to serve as the narrators for the Trobriand people in the beginning to explain their game.
The directors then focused on the rule changes and a young man stated to describe the game, while an older man of the Trobriand Islanders gave justifications for why they made the changes. One example of this was the changing of the over the shoulder throw to a more comfortable spear throw of the ball. Even though this can be seen as a change, it is not far from what they were taught by the missionaries because it was a substitute for war as mentioned before. Another good portrayal of this was the number of players they allowed. The British had 11 players with one reserve while the islanders...
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