Analyzing Puerto Rican Film 'Casi'

The film Pelo Malo takes place in the city of Caracas, Venezuela and is about a young boy and obsession with straightening his hair. In the movie, the main characters Junior his single mother Marta and baby brother live with in an apartment complex with in the city of Caracas. This movie takes place in 2011, during the time that Hugo Chavez came down with cancer. The film’s primary themes were homophobia, and racism. The movie detailed a young boys struggle for acceptance and love from his mother and his struggle to obtain his desire of straight hair. Throughout the movie, the young child is seen living in an apartment complex that is located within a lower socioeconomic status area. When Marta, was not able to find a baby sitter to watch over her children when she worked she was forced to take the children with her on the bus through the city to her work. One of the places that she was shown to work was in a gated residence where she worked as a security guard for the area. The primary conflict in the movie revolved around the mothers fear that her son was “gay” due to his obsession with straightening his hair and his singing. Due to many of the things that the young boy does in the movie, the mother Marta fears that her child is homosexual and during one particular scene is worried that she was the cause of it. Since during the scene where she is speaking with a doctor about her son, she discussed how it was her fault because she did not ‘touch his thing’ and that she

Fruitvale Station depicts the real-life case of Oscar Grant III, a young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer on January 1, 2009 in Oakland. The movie begins with cell phone footage of Oscar Grant’s death recorded by bystanders. Grant’s life was tragically cut short due to a white man’s racism and stereotypical perception of a young black man. The BART police officer Johannes Mehserle abused his authority and shot Grant for no other reason but hatred and racism. At the time of the shooting, Grant was unarmed and pinned on the ground in handcuffs. The movie then walks you through the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s life. As you watch the movie and research the aftermath of Grant’s death you a forced to ask yourself a few questions; why does the media have the right to take away Oscar Grant’s humanity? Where do we draw the line between racism and holding others responsible and will the public’s perception of black men and women ever change? Lastly, we must focus on how this case and others impacts African American society and culture. We also must focus on the necessary changes African Americans must make in order to survive in a world that does not value black lives.

The film La Bamba showcases one of the most important historical moments in not only music history but also Latino music history. The star Lou Diamond, portrays Ritchie Valens originally Valenzuela. Ritchie was a boy who did not grow up in a normal childhood. In the film Valens played by Lou diamond is shown working hard alongside his mother Connie trying to make an honest living. His older brother Bob finds his way to his mother and young brother convincing them both to leave the fruit fields where they were working. While Ritchie should have been at school he was working. Once they moved to Los Angeles, Ritchie started attending high school like a normal teen should. His love for music grew strong as he became fond of a young girl named Donna. Donna was from a middle class white family, while Ritchie was from a poor Latino American family. Donna’s parents wanted to keep the two apart from each other as her father did not approve of the romance because Ritchie had nothing to offer his daughter. Ritchie had nothing to offer Donna but his music and hope of someday making a name for himself. One-day Ritchie and his band mates are having a show and a man by the name of Bob Keane stops by to see the performance, while there Keane shows a great interest in Ritchie and reaches out to him. Keane soon convinces Valens that he didn’t need his band mates, that Ritchie was all the talent. Bob Keane not only manages to get Ritchie to drop his band, but he also convinces him to change

The film Reel Injun, is a documentary of how Hollywood is portraying Native Americans as well as showing how it is distorting U.S. history. However, that is not the only concern that the movie brought out. The other concern was how Hollywood portrays Native Americans is negatively affecting Native American. Also, the film Reel Injun will be talking about how this view on Native American is changing as time pass by in our own time.

The film “American Tongues” documents a variety of English accents that are present across the United States and highlights a lot of the opinions people have about accents and people who speak these accents. A large majority of the people who express opinions about other peoples’ accents tend to express negative views, as they see their own accent as the superior one. The film focuses on showing the array of accents found in the U.S., but also how a lot of people who speak these “inferior” accents work to learn “Standard American English” to increase their chances of getting jobs and communicating in more official domains. Although the film was made in 1988, it expresses views still present in today’s society towards different accents, as people tend to continue judging others based not only on what they say, but also how they say it.

One of the symbolic representations in La Mission is where it takes place, in the mission district of San Francisco. It represents the traditional stance of Che the main character and compares it to the shift to a more hipster neighborhood with new people like Lena moving in who haven’t been in the neighborhood until recently. He also restores old cars into low riders which is historically Mexican American style of car. The music featured in this movie is a mix of traditional chorales, native drums and guitars mixed with newer more modern version that also show the transition that this community and culture are facing coming to terms with change and homosexuality that is culturally unacceptable.

Although I’ve only watched two episodes, I feel like I’m connected to Kunta Kinte. His story is so sad, inspiring, and exciting. It left me wondering what is going to happen next. It makes me question if Kunta will survive and escape. Also it makes me question if he’ll ever be united with Fanta and his family again. This movie is very deep and difficult to watch because it forces me reflect on how badly Africans and African Americans have been treated, but it also makes me proud that things are better. I believe that this movie is historically accurate because the portrayal of the conditions on the ship was as badly as they were during slavery. I feel this movie accurately depicts life as an African slave and how hard it is to let go of everything someone has learned and conform to a new identity. I believe the movie explains all points of perception from the slaves’ point of view to the slave owners’ to the capturers’ and even the captain of the ship’s experience. Although the movie is dramatized, it is very believable. I would rate this movie an 8.5 so far because I haven’t had the chance to see the whole thing. I am intrigued to see what more there is in store for Kunta Kinte and his

The purpose of this essay is to analyse the original drama text with a newer film version, while comparing the

Sabina Berman is a notable and critically acclaimed Mexican playwright. Berman’s notable work includes her first published play, Yankee (1979). In Adam Versényi’s translation of Yankee, Berman explores the relationship between the individual and identity. Through the three main characters—Bill, Alberto, and Rosa—we see the continual conflict they face as they aspire to achieve their respective objectives: to feel nurtured and loved, to have peace and quiet, and to feel loved and acknowledged. But it is Berman’s interjection of juxtapositions that forces us to analyze the relationship between the main characters. More specifically, Berman focuses on the impact Bill has as an intruder, and how he highlights the national identity incompatibilities between North American and Mexican cultures, to expose the serious social and political problems between the nations.

New Year’s Day, 2009, a man is brutally shot by the BART Police of Oakland, California. Fruitvale Station, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, took audiences by surprise as it resonated with twenty-two year old Oscar Grant, a man who was shot down by the BART Police. This movie takes viewers on an emotional expedition as it takes a peek into the life and death of Oscar Grant and his family. The struggles of originating from an African-American background become apparent as Oscar Grant struggles with steering away from racial stereotypes and the misunderstandings of racial profiling.

Fruitvale station, is a story about the real life Oscar Grant, a black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland. This film follows Grant and his last days before the shooting on New Year’s Day. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale station was his first feature film. Coogler expressed that he was interested in making this film because he wanted people to get to know Grant, get attached, so that when a situation like this occurs again, people will care more about that human life (Wikipedia). In addition, the cast includes Michael B. Jordan (Grant), Octavia Spencer (Wanda Johnson), and Melonie Diaz (Sophina Mesa), amongst a few others. However, there is an underlying concept in this film. This film relates back to Double Consciousness and the internal conflict and struggles within African American men.

Film director David Redmon, created the documentary Mardi Gras: Made in China, following the trail of beads from a factory in China to Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, emotionally exposing the imbalances of globalization. Redmond skillfully illuminates the clash of cultures by comparing American excess and consumer ignorance against the harsh life of the Chinese factory worker. The film began with the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans where people gathered to party, drink alcohol, and expose themselves in exchange for brightly colored plastic bead necklaces. The stories follows four teenage women workers, providing insights

The ideas of what a utopian society should look like changes when talking to different people in different parts of the world. More often than not most people would say that violence is not a part of this utopian ideal and that man has found a way to work past that and find a better solution to the violent issues we have seen in the past. Films in a sense are a way for artists to explore these utopian and dystopia ideals and present them to the public as a looking glass into what the world could look like. For many of us we live in a capitalistic society or a society with at least some forms of capitalistic ruling. Film makers in Latin America have used their position to critique and analyze the different forms of capitalism and how the

Paradise Now is a 2-hour film released in 2005, it depicts a perspective alternative in a highly controversial topic of suicide bombers or also known as a ‘martyr’. The movie takes place in Palestine during the Israeli occupation and illustrates the mundane life and frustration felt by the main characters Said and Khaled due to the oppression experienced during the conflict. A key feature that is also portrayed is the reasoning, and almost justification of an attack on that level. However, the perpatrators can be seen showing feelings of hesitance and even inquisitiveness in relation to the afterlife that they are promised and whether violent resistance is the last option. This paper, will discuss how “Paradise Now” provoked my views and

Can film help promote peace? I believe it can. We live in a visual age where the role of a filmmaker can influence our views and actions. Terrorism, war and natural catastrophes are sad realities in many parts of the world and seem to be the main topic in many movies we see today. We see so much violence in today’s movies but is it because it’s the only thing that seems to attract us? Are we only interested in seeing gunfire, explosions, violence and conflict? After seeing Buena Vista Social Club I’m convinced not. More interests us than violence and war, and in my opinion, this film captures exactly what peace looks like. It captured in me emotions of peace and happiness without there being any sort of conflict.