MazalA

         The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" shows the differences between the Greek culture and the American culture.  The main character, Toula, is a thirty year old Greek woman who tries to break out from her father's old traditions.  Toula has been working in her father's restaurant since she was not married. As a result, she did not socialize and could not pursue her dreams. Later on, she found a brochure of a college that deals with her area of study. She knew that she would not be able to go there because at her age a Greek woman should have been married and have a few children. However, Toula did not give up and fought for her right to go to school. Consequently, she started to attend college and she found a better job. After working in her aunt's office for a while she met Ian. Ian is a white American high school teacher who fell in love with Toula. Even though, she also fell in love with him, she could not have any relationships with him because he was not Greek.  Yet, she did not care and kept on with her  feelings. Thus, her father could not do anything so he let her marry him. As a result, Ian has to get baptized and marry in the Greek Orthodox Church. Throughout the movie, many aspects of Greek and American culture and traditions were compared. For instance, wedding ceremonies, cultural behaviors, foods, etc.

        I could relate to this movie because it is portraying my family and how it is today.  The Jewish culture and the Greek culture have many similarities. For instance, in Jewish traditions a girl should marry when she is young or otherwise she would be considered old.  Moreover, every Jewish person has big families. As a result, whenever there are small family gatherings, it looks like a huge party.  In addition to that, every Jewish girl has to marry a Jewish guy, and there are no exceptions.   In my family though, it is slightly different. I, as a young woman, do not have to marry that early. My parents want me to get a higher education and then marry. However, the tradition to marry a Jewish guy did not change. I still have to marry a Jew. Toula did not follow her tradition and married a non-Greek guy. On the contrary, I will have to do so because I really believe that a couple from the same traditions and culture will understand each other better than inter-marrying.  

           In the movie "Under The Same Moon "the main character, Rosario, faced many internal and external difficulties by coming to the United States of America illegally. When Rosario crossed the border, she knew that she will have to face two main conflicts. The emotional conflict was, leaving her ill mother and her nine year old child by themselves. The other exterior conflict was to try not to get caught by the I.R.S. The reason for her crossing the American/Mexican border was to make her son, Carlitos, happier by getting a better job in a richer country. However, to get all of her and his dreams to come true she had to hide and work in low paying jobs. As a result, she lived in fear and in guilt feeling for leaving her son alone.   However, in my opinion her decision to leave Carlitos with her mother and coming to the United States was the right decision.  The reason for that is, because she would not be able to run away and hide from the I.R.S with a little child like Carlitos

           In order to deal with her conflicts, Rosario sent money back to Mexico and talked to her son every Sunday to calm herself and little Carlitos down. While working in those low paying jobs that Rosario found, she could manage to send $300 to her son. That money helped them a little with their everyday needs. Although, she did not earn much she sent what ever she could to support them.  In addition to that, when she spoke to Carlitos on the phone every Sunday, it reminded her the reason why she still stayed in the United States.   In my opinion, her resolution was accurate because she managed to help her family in Mexico and to stay in the United States with out getting caught. Moreover, another resolution was to marry Paco, Rosario's friend that feel in love with her. Even thought she did not like him she had to marry him because he had the rights to transport her son to the United States.    

          At the end of the movie Rosario decided not to marry Paco. In my opinion she chose not to marry him because of two reasons. The first reason is because she did not like him as much as he expected her to. The other reason might be because she did not want Carlitos to have another father, with out knowing his biological father.  As a result to not marrying Paco, Rosario decided to go back to Mexico and be with her son.  Nonetheless, when she realized that she had to call her son because it was a Sunday, it saved her from making the wrong decision. When she came to the telephone booth she realized that her son waited for her there.  Therefore, both of them reunited at that spot. In my opinion she did the right thing by not marrying Paco, because it could harm Carlitos mentally and herself because she would marry someone not out of love but because she needed his help.  

         At the end of the movie Carlitos found his mother and they could live together now. I think that all of Rosario's decisions and resolutions were the right ones. Since she decided not to marry Paco she found Carlitos. I also believe that Rosario was a really brave to cross the border by her self with no help from anybody. Many people would think that what Rosario did was a silly thing because she would have get caught, tortured and then sent back to Mexico.  Nevertheless, she took the chance and did it her way. At the end she got all she wanted; Carlitos was with her again and I'm sure that she would have married Paco later on.

We have left our past

To find a better future

We have arrived to a religious land

Without knowing what will come our way

We have tried to find a place

To live peacefully

But still it did not satisfy us fully

We have played the game of luck

To get the key to a better tomorrow

We have packed our stuff

To head on to the improved land

We have landed on American soil

With the dream of success

Today we are still waiting for the dream to come true

             The media is a very popular aspect of our lives today. On one side it is a good thing, because people get to understand what is happening in our world today. However, there are many features that are harmed by the media; for instance, couples' relationships are getting more violent. Today every source of media shows violence on a daily litany. It also promotes men to act violently with their ladies.

            The media illustrates women as the weaker side of a relationship. As a result, the men feels like they can do whatever he wants with her in order to fulfill his desires. Thus, the male audience that watches the commercial or the movie believes that whatever is shown on TV is the same as real life. Thus, causing males to exhort in sexual abuse. As Kilbourne stated in the book Rereading America:

Indeed the very worst kind of man for a woman to be in an intimate relationship with, often a truly dangerous man is the one considered most sexy and desirable in the popular culture. And the men capable of real intimacy... constantly have their very masculinity impugned. Advertising often encourages women to be attracted to hostile and indifferent men while encouraging boys to become these men (420).

Many ads objectify women showing that it is ok to hurt them or treat them as objects. Men always appear aggressive while the women appear helpless, in other words, men have the oppression over women. This gives the impression that all women are weak and cannot protect themselves. 

            I have the same opinion as Kilbourne, because women are the ones that feel the oppression in the relationship. For example, I have seen a movie that showed a relationship between a husband and a wife. The man used battery against his wife. The wife could not do anything about it, because she knew that if she tries to escape, her husband will find her and kill her. Thus, the poor woman had to suffer for 15 years without complaining. At the end, while she gave birth to their first child, she told the police about her abusive relationship with her husband. The police took him and put him in prison. This movie may have a happy ending but not all cases are like that in real life. Some women that experience this kind of violence choose to die. In my opinion, our media should show and teach us stuff that could help us in the future to make our world a better place to live in, in stead of ruin our mentality.    

                "I came from Puerto Rico, thinking myself a pretty girl, and found that the hierarchy for popularity was as follows: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Puerto Rican girl, pretty black girl. Drop the last two categories; teachers were too busy to have more than one favorite per class, and it was simply understood that if there was a big part in the school play, or any competition where the main qualification was ‘presentability' ... the classroom's public address speaker would be requesting the pretty and/or nice looking white boy or girl" (Cofer 399). That indicates that thorough out time people's priorities did not change. They still believe that white people are prettier and more talented than people of color.

               Unfortunately, I agree with Ortiz Cofer's statement, because that is the reality in the United States today. Most of the commercials on TV show us white women posing to the camera. Although, everyone tries to convince us that all Americans are equal in this country, there is still a separation between whites and people of color. That fact disturbs American's life because we, as a nation, suppose to support each other, but we are putting people down with our way of judging them. That makes our country look bad in front of others, because we can not take care of our own people but we are always helping others to settle their problems.   

                Although I could not relate this situation to myself, I have seen a lot of girls getting hurt by this situation. I had a black friend in Israel. This girl was very talented, she sang like a grown professional singer. At that time our school tried to gather the best dancers and singers to a school play. My friend went to the audition. A couple of days after the audition, the principle announced who got chosen for the play. However, her name was not announced. All of my classmates and I were shocked because we expected her name to be the first one. Later on that day, she went to the principle and asked him why she wasn't selected. The principle told her that most of the characters in the play are white and that she would not fit in there. After that incidence, my friend never sang again although we all tried to convince her that that play does not worth it.         

              The video clip Vision Test illustrates how people judge others because of the way they look. The person that was interviewed preferred the white male to be his life controller than another African American male or a white female. It also demonstrates the way Americans see the country they live in. For instance, American people created this big bubble by the name "the American dream" although it does not exist.

             The message that the director, Wes Kim, tried to deliver was to show us how we critic others by physical appearance. Usually a person listens and believes to rumors and then characterizes the other people. In addition to that Americans see this country as the perfect country for pure white Americans, however if they would just turns around and look all over they will realize that it would never happened and there "American dream" bubble will explode.

            That video clip helped me understand how do I look at people and how do I characterize them. It also made me realize that the people that surround me could think the wrong things about me without knowing me. In my opinion this video is accurate even about my ways of seeing people, because I judge people by what others say. This way of characterization is the way people used to, are and will judge others.