This is England

Last class we watched another film that's called This is England. It’s about some teens in England who lives in the punk-rock era. They wear weird clothes and swear a lot. There are a lot of drama involved in their environment and some racism because of all the new immigrants from the different colonies. The group of teens we follow in the film calls themselves skinheads so they do some vandalism and get into fights from time to time. It’s supposed to be from the early 80’s from the working class and right after the Falkland war so there’s a lot of bitterness going on. The main character is a young boy called Shaun who one day meets an older guy and joins their friendly skinhead pack. He changes his whole look and starts partying and gets a much older girlfriend.

I think the film was a little bit weird, but I think it’s a good portrayal of the actual time period and environment it’s supposed to be. 

The Falkland War

The Falkland Islands has been in the middle of sovereignty dispute ever since it first were settled in 1764. They been thrown around between France, Spain, United Kingdom and Argentina and they never seemed to get any peace. In 1862 the British settled there and got protection from the British government. In 1833 the US came and tried to invade the Falkland Islands, they didn't but they opened up an area that Argentina tried to re-establish, but the British forced them to leave. 

 

In the period 1976-1983 Argentina had a period of dictatorship which lead to a devastating economic crisis and oppression of the people. Many people just "disappeared" so they had a coup which gave them a new president. But they still had a bad economy so they wanted the Falkland Islands. So they gave subtle hints to the UN about a possible invasion. The British either didn't get this or they chose not to care so the Argentines thought they didn't really care. So they invaded the Islands. 

 

Who lived there? 

The majority are of British descent (approximately 70%), as a result of primarily Scottish and Welsh immigration to the islands. The native-born inhabitants call themselves "Islanders". Outsiders often call Islanders "Kelpers", from the kelp which grows profusely around the islands, but the name is no longer used in the Islands. Those people from the United Kingdom who have obtained Falkland Island status became what are known locally as 'belongers'. A few Islanders are of Frensh and Gibraltarian (such as the Pitalaugas), Portugese and Scandinavan descent. Some are the descendants of whalers who reached the Islands during the last two centuries. Furthermore there is a small minority of South Americans, mainly Chilean origin, and in more recent times many people from Saint Helena have also come to work and live in the Islands. The Falkland Islands have been a centre of English language learning for South Americans.

 

Why was it important for the UK to keep control of the Islands? 

They wanted to defend their own people that lived there. 

 

Why did Argentina want the Islands?

Argentina was in a terrible economical crisis at the time because of a long period of dictatorship.

 

How did it end?

Argentina surrenderd June 14th 1982. 

 

How many died?

The war lasted 74 days, with 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders killed.

 

What did the people in the UK think about the war?

The British media reported the war in a neutral fashion and referred to "the British troops" and "the Argentinian troops". The two main tabloid papers presentetd opposing viewpoints: The Daily Mirror was decidedly anti-war, whilst The Sun became notorious for its jingoistic and xenophobic headlines, including the 20 April headline "Stick It Up Your Junta!",and was condemned for the "Gotcha" headline following the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano.

 

Google Earth

Last Tuesday we were supposed to make a tour from Norway on google earth. First we had some troubles finding out how to make a tour, and when we did we didn't know how to write down the places we wanted to visit so it could have moved by itself. We tried just to record and then type the places we wanted to go, but that went to slow so the tour looked really stupid. 

I tried to make one at home later, and i managed to make it to move and when I  came to the place I wanted I clicked on the pictures so it could be more interesting to watch. So when I just replayed the clips just after I recorded them it looked pretty good. But when I saved it and then watched it, all the pictures dissapeard so it just looked like it just stopped at places that weren't interesting at all. So I would say the whole thing was pointless, and without a good result. I did make a last one at the end where I stopped at the biggest cities and just zoomed in. It didn't look so good either because you just see a big mess of houses spread around.