Film Analysis: Precious Knowledge

Latinos are portrayed in media as having to fight a large variety of forces and this film attempts to document a couple of these through their characters. Guadalupe Molina, struggles to take care of her brothers and sisters while her parents work; Ana Delgado, is pressured to drop out of school to begin working in her family business; Claudia Camejo; is discouraged to pursue Calculus by her mother because “boys don’t like you if you’re too smart”; and Pancho is encouraged to drop out of school to work as a mechanic for what he believes is a reasonable wage. The AP Calculus gives the students hope to enter college, evidenced by a scene in which Angel brings his sick grandma to Mr. Escalante’s house on Christmas to ask him for another chance to be in the class. He tells Mr. Escalante, “I need Calculus to get me to a good career Johnny.” The film uses a variety of examples of adversity in attempt to make this story seem more “inspirational” but the characters in this film are not given more personal characteristics and simply identifiable by their struggles. The audience does not know about their likes or dislikes, or a lot about their personalities. They are a diverse Latino cast but their usage as people that just need to be “saved” does not give these

Precious Knowledge, is an incredible documentary detailing the events that occurred in Tucson High School. To encourage Mexican American students to attend school and graduate, the High School implemented a Mexican-American studies program that allowed students to learn more about their culture and origin. The program turned out to be highly successful and did indeed increase the attendance and graduation rate of the students, with many of them rekindling their love of learning. Unfortunately however, many people opposed the ethnic studies program - concluding that it was “anti-American” that installed anti-American values into the students; for example, Benjamin Franklin not being shown in the most positive light. This reached Tom Horne, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who was also against the ethnic studies program, and he proposed and succeeded in passing a bill that prohibited the program. The remainder of the documentary consists of the teachers and students protesting the bill and attempting to prevent the bill from being passed.

Immigration is a complex and multifaceted issue that faces the US. In his film, Sin Nombre (2009), director Cary Fukunaga aims to juxtaposition the issue of immigration with the issue of gang violence in Mexico, and show the difficulties immigrants face by giving his audience an insider’s perspective into the experience of immigrating to the United States from Honduras. He does this through a variety of characters; most notably Willie and Sayra. Fukunaga did extensive research on life in the Mara Salvatrucha gang and the process of immigrating to America, in order to make his film realistic and authentic. The result is a movie that not only shows immigration in a way that evokes empathy and enforces the humanity of immigrants in the viewer’s mind, but also gives the viewer a look into the realities of being in a gang. Through the use of strong characters, powerful dialogue and vivid imagery, Fukunaga uses pathos to put a human face to the issue of immigration, logos to inform and give his audience context about the issues the film addresses, and ethos to establish his credibility and make the film believable.

The movie Enough speaks to the audience regarding domestic violence. The main character’s name changes throughout the movie to maintain hidden from her ex-husband but she is called by the name Slim. The beginning of the movie shows how Slim met her husband Mitch. Mitch met Slim at a dinner where she was a waitress. Mitch made a bet with one of his friends that he could have a sexual encounter with Slim by the same afternoon that he met her. He successfully completed his bet, and continued dating Slim. Mitch and Slim get married after a short period of dating and have a baby girl together. Their daughter’s name is Gracie. Mitch was not faithful to Slim and seen another women after Gracie was born. One night, the mistress called Mitch’s phone

These children are trying to assimilate in a way that allows them to still be individuals of their culture, but other do not see it as such. In the movie the class is learning about racism one day and they are discussing the achievement gap. The statistics that are presented to them give them an even stronger drive to succeed and assimilate to beat the statistics. Still people, like Tom Horne, call the classes racist because they are not mixed with the american based way that he

They believe that the teachers in the program are teaching the students that America stole the land from the Mexicans. They also believe that they’re teaching the students to fight back and rebel against the United States. The supervisors think that this program is an “anti-white” program which is not true at all. In the video, the teachers specifically said that they did not teach the students that and they teach them what happened and everyone’s point of view, not just the United States. On the second video, it was more comical because when the teacher asked the supervisor if he had ever learned anything in the class, he said that he had not and that he did not want to hear what they were saying. It’s funny because he’s making all these assumptions about the program when he never learned about what they’re teaching the kids. It can be said that the supervisors are uneducated about the program and it is not right that just because they have a different opinion, and just because they have the power they can ban the

In this movie racism and discrimination is the cause of all kinds of trouble. The members of the school board, whether they knew it or not, looked at the Mexicans with a stereotype in mind. They didn’t take the time to understand Mexican culture or try to make contact with the Mexicans in their town. This exact

The film “Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary” is about the impact on Hoover Elementary after Proposition 187 was approved which denied public education and health care to undocumented immigrants. A teacher from the school decided to make a film about the impact the law had created at the school. The teacher filmed teacher meetings after the law was passed. The film maker also included teacher’s response to the passing of the law and if they voted for or against the passing of the law. The teacher included a little girl named Myra about how life was for her at Hoover Elementary. The film maker included where the school was located and how it was already harmful to those kids who live by the school. My reaction to the film was I felt angry

I started this essay off with a quote one of the characters mention in the book because it basically gives us the main idea the author is trying to get readers to understand throughout the book. By looking at the title of this novel, “The Book of Unknown Americans” and by looking at the author’s name- Cristina Henriquez, we can already get an idea of what this novel is going to be about. When someone first takes a look at the title and author of this book they would assume that it is going to be about immigrants who moved to the United States and struggled to fit in. After reading this novel, I now understand how difficult it was for these Latino immigrants to leave everything they have in hope for better lives here in the United States. Each person has their own meaning of what it means to be an American and their own reason of what most immigrants come here for. The Rivera family came here in hope for better resources to help treat Maribel because they didn 't have the resources they needed back in their country.

This book helped me to see one of the underlying reason why immigrants would at all cost come to the U.S. in order to pursue a better life, whether it’s for themselves or for their families. For example, in the beginning of the story, we were told that all the Rivera family wanted was “the simplest things: to eat good food, to sleep at night , to smile, to laugh, to be well” (3). By moving to the U.S., the Riveras believe their daughter would have a promising future under special education program offered in the states. The example of Arturo truly depicted one’s desire to pursue a better future for their young one, he left his successful construction business in Mexico and became a mushroom picker, all for his daughter’s betterment of education (25). From his example, we truly see only a loving parent would made these sacrifices in order to immigrate to the U.S., bringin back the theme of American Dream once again.

The ethnicities of Latinos American have gone through journeys, with useful leaders to the promise land of the Southwest of the United States. Particularly, Latinos American, have gone through several barriers as building their identity still today in the Southwest society. Latinos have been fighters and survivors in keeping their lands along with becoming American Citizens close to extinction when in reality this land was really there to beginning to later be described as dangerous criminals, dirty, and so many other negative terms. The Anglos as called in the video wanted Latinos to be the foreigners in the South West when in reality the Anglos were the intruders. I will be describing my reaction to the video, secondly if I learned anything new I did not already knew, and finally if the video reminded me of any of the topics given to the class to read or discuss.

Gregory Nava is a Mexican filmmaker who was born on April 10, 1949, in San Diego California. As a former UCLA alumni, Nava has produced several racially and culturally charged films that often break new grounds such as, El Norte, Mi Familia, and Bordertown. Thus, Nava dedicates his filmmaking career to give his audience a distinct point of view which is the central thread of his films and that which encompasses the Latino culture, experience, and their unjust treatment in America as oppressed minorities; with the hope of counteracting false stereotypes, misconceptions, promoting education, compassion, and acceptance of minorities. Nava does this by redefining the traditional labels of who the “insiders” and “outsiders” of society are, he also puts Latinos in the position of subjects through whose eyes the audience, experience plots, and who speak for themselves instead of being perceived voyeuristically by characters from outside the Latino community, and by incorporating what Nava describes as “dream realism” aspects to his films (Johnson, 2009).

Also what I found more interesting of this movie because to me personally was educational. I know every day its prejudice and stereotype all over the world. These stereotypes were developing in the past and present circumstances. It was concentrating on different ethnic groups and was based real life of typical everyday life for those people.

The raucous conversations of excited children and peaceful murmuring of parents fill the theater, accompanied by the familiar scent of popcorn. Young and old alike rush to get the best seats available as the lights begin to dim. The giant screen illuminates wide-eyed faces prepared to be swept away within a story. As the film unfolds, a young African-American girl in the audience beams at a confident female lead who looks just like her. A Latino boy grasps his father’s arm, pointing eagerly at the screen to immigrants just like him, and a lesbian couple hold hands as they watch a romance unfold between two of the female characters. A caucasian boy is caught up in the tale, feeling as connected to the characters’ struggles

I heard a couple of students cheering others were smiling. That felt like a punch to the gut. Suddenly the struggle of two 20-year-olds crossing the border for the kids to grow up and go to university meant nothing. I felt like I worth nothing. I can’t tell if it’s guilt or rage that I didn’t win the genetic lottery of having little melanin. I wasn’t apart of this union called America anymore. I was no longer a Latina teenage girl who was fighting for the right to go to university and make a life for myself. I was no longer the American dream. Friends hugged me while I sobbed but hugs can’t cure corruption. As I felt the warm embrace of them, telling me I would be okay, I wondered if this really meant freedom our fallen ancestors so desperately fought