The Film Colonia

The movie Avalon presents both sides of American Dream. In the beginning, Sam Krichinsky is ecstatic to tell the story about his arrival to America in 1914. He talks about the 4th of July celebration and his first job as a wallpaper hanger with his brothers. The Krichinsky brothers do the same work; therefore, they have same amount of income. They also live together and save money to bring more relatives to America to prosper. This shows that they have strong family circle and support each other. Times change and Sam Krichinsky and his family moves to suburbs. Sam’s son Jules with his cousin open discount appliances store. That is upside of American Dream shown in the movie. One can work hard, go on his own and achieve success and happiness. At the same time, that creates discontent with Sam’s brothers Gabriel and Nathan. Sam allows his family to cut turkey on thanksgiving before Gabriel’s arrival which makes Gabriel extremely upset. He blames this on Jules getting rich and Sam’s family not having respect for his brothers anymore. He also says that it is a tradition and sign of respect to wait for a family member before starting a dinner. This is a negative side of American Dream. Some of the relatives get ahead, some stay behind and it becomes a reason for quarrel. Also, Sam and his wife Eva move out from Jules house to live on their own. It is a good thing, because their families will be separate and have more space. The wife does not have to live with in-laws anymore. All

A common phrase is “History is written by the victors”. Perhaps that is the reason why King George III of England is remembered as being the mad king who lost the American colonies. However, there is more to the king than what the rebel colonists made him out to be. King George’s reign of nearly 60 years was full of hardships and setbacks, yet he was a hard worker who was kind and looked out for the welfare of his empire.

The Colonies are in turmoil with Britain. They feel as if they are treated unfairly. Just like Isabel. The novel demonstrated the risks taken to achieve freedom to a point of equality and personal value. This shown both by the story of Isabel, the Revolution and the people of the colonies.

In her book, Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching, Crystal N. Feimster discusses how race, gender and politics shaped the post-civil war south from reconstruction into the 20th century through the use of historical statistics, narratives and recorded court cases. Through the juxtaposition of Rebecca Latimer Felton and Ida B. Wells, born a generation apart as a plantation mistress and the other into racism, Feimster explores the differences in the treatment of and the reactions to a white woman and an African American woman fighting against rape and for women’s rights. The author, discusses how institutionalized racism, patriarchy and mob violence helped and hurt these women on their quest for equal rights.

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

Serpico” is a film that based on the of New York City Police Officer named Frank Serpico and the difficult obstacles he had to face working for the NYPD. Serpico is a “cops cop” that had to deal with persuasive organized corruption, police crime, and ethical dilemmas etc. All these obstacles were hard for Serpico to work with on a daily basis. He refused to take bribes and his co-workers begin distrust him. Serpico informed his superiors about the corruption but they did nothing about it. The superior’s just transferred him from the Bronx. Brooklyn, and Harlem. The higher ups in the police department were more concerned if Serpico spoke to any outside private organizations about the police misconduct.

Women’s issues during slavery and even into the Reconstruction Era were not held as top priorities within the social structure of life during those times. The main political and social issues were within the male spectrum, and therefore left women’s rights and values in second place, behind men. Within the nineteenth century, there were four specific characteristics that society deemed should be associated with a woman; piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. However, this was not the case when it came to black women. They were not able to exemplify the expected worldview of womanhood due to their circumstances.

During the 1900’s, women, specifically black women, were considered to be property of men in the United States, especially down south, in states such as Florida and Georgia. Legally, women had no voice. For example, if a woman was abused by her husband, the court system would not acknowledge it even if it did really happen. In the article “Sexism in the Early 1900’s”, Becca Woltemath states that “…a woman’s job is to take care of the house and to bear children. She’s no good for anything else. She’s just a simple thinker.” Women were forced into submission and there was nothing they could do about it. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston shows the

“Some women fear the fire, some women simply become it.” - R.H. Sin. During Colonial America, women weren’t as valued as in current day. In Colonial times, women worked around the house, didn’t have legals rights, some were wealthy and others were slaves and others lived in the city.

The movie ‘Her’ is the story about Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an intelligent computer operating system personified through a female voice. At the beginning of the film, Theodore is completely inept when it comes to how to make relationship with person, specifically women. However, after he gets to know Samantha, an OS program, a feeling of true love develops inside of Theodore’s mind. Then he realizes how he was fatuous in his past. Throughout the film, the director (Spike Jonze) uses five distinct color schemes to correspond Theodore’s feeling and situation.

In a time period when women were considered inferior, as were blacks, it was unimaginable the horrors a black woman in the south had to endure during this period. African women were slaves and subject to the many horrors that come along with being in bondage, but because they were also women, they were subject to the cruelties of men who look down on women as inferior simply because of their sex. The sexual exploitation of these females often lead to the women fathering children of their white masters. Black women were also prohibited from defending themselves against any type of abuse, including sexual, at the hands of white men. If a slave attempted to defend herself she was often subjected to further beatings from the master. The black female was forced into sexual relationships for the slave master’s pleasure and profit. By doing this it was the slave owner ways of helping his slave population grow.

The systematic, oppressive dehumanization of black womanhood was not a mere consequence of racism. It was a calculated method of social control, manipulation, and misogyny. With capitalism on the forefront of the American society during the Reconstruction years, and a booming manufacturing economy was on the rise, white supremacy capitalism patriarchy needed a group to be at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, a scapegoat. That scapegoat was black women. Manumitted black women showed that when given the same opportunities to live their lives like humans, they surpassed and excelled in all areas. Their success was a direct challenge to the racist ideologies that darker races were inherently inferior. Racist

During the 19th century, black women faced a plethora of hardships culminating from hundreds of years of oppression and denigration while simultaneously fighting for equal rights with all other women. One of the biggest obstacles that was necessary to overcome was one of the most common ideologies of the West, the Cult of True Womanhood. This Victorian ideal of womanhood defined women within a domestic sphere and required them to be subservient to their husbands (Broude). These women gave up much more than their rights outside of the home, they were taken advantage of physically, mentally and sexually. The majority of women during this time did not meet this standard of true womanhood and never could hope to. This ideal and the common stereotypes of the time were questioned by an African-American woman named Sojourner Truth.

They thought that her father's request that her tax debt be covered by his donation was something only a woman would believe. This shows that there was even some inequality towards the southern white women.

The film Amelie provides multiple examples of individuals sacrificing, and applying Campbell 's moral objective to their own lives. One of the people from the film that follow the objective is Dominique Bretodeau. When he was a young boy, he lost his treasure box. Directly after it was returned to him from a stranger, he began to tear up over the lost memories that the box contained. He then confides in people at the bar that he has not spoken to his daughter in years, and because of this does not know his grandson. This simple act of kindness was enough to make Bretodeau sacrifice his pride enough to reconcile with his daughter and grandson. He had no idea if his family was going to open their arms, or push him away for being away for so long. This failed to stop Bretodeau. This journey of becoming a hero was a spiritual one. Most of the conflict happened within his own heart. A small act of thoughtfulness helped a man choose to create a better life for him, and his estranged family.