El Viaje de Carol

How does she fight against the conventionalism found in this new culture?

               Carol refuses throughout the film to act like a normal teenage girl. She strives to be her own person and is comfortable hanging around the boys and doing the activities that the boys like to do. Also, Carol is from a high class society, and rather than living up to this high class lifestyle, she hangs around lower class children, because she enjoys the things that they do, rather than what her family expects her to do. Also, when those in the community write their distaste for Carol on her house, she shows her grandfather that she does not find this acceptable, and that in her mind and opinion it is not something she is willing to let go and ignore.

How does her American background interfere with her efforts to adapt to the new culture in Spain?

               Carols American background interferes with her fitting in the Spanish culture because even though she attempts to associate with those in this new culture, she is harassed with the fact that she is from America. At times, she uses this to her advantage, and is able to stay out of trouble when she and the boys get caught by the soldiers. Carol tells these soldiers just who she is, and who her family is to make sure that she and the others don’t get into trouble for being somewhere they are not supposed to be. However, Carol is shown how much she is not welcome in this new culture when someone puts graffiti on her house, stating that they are not happy with her presence. Although, still Carol shows her American spirit and strength, that she will not allow this to get her down, and that she does not find it acceptable to leave these harsh words on her home, and her grandfather paints over the graffiti.

Jamie Thomas

Entre Nos

When Marianna’s husband abandons the family and leaves them in a new city, they are forced to start completely over. The family has only been in America for two weeks and they know no one and have absolutely no connections to help them. If they were still in Colombia or somewhere close to it, they would at least be able to rely on family and friends to get through these hard times. However when the family being left for themselves in America, Marianna has to try anything to find money or work. She does not even speak the language, so she often has to rely on her son’s knowledge of English to help communicate with others.  For this to happen the family’s first summer in America, it at first gives Marianna a negative view on the country, because she is from the outside and she cannot find anyone to help her. However, as the film goes on I feel that for the family’s first summer in America it begins to show Marianna that things will possibly work out for her here, and it is possible for her to do it. I don’t feel that this is a typical problem for Americans in similar situations. Single mother in America may face some of the same problems that Marianna’s family does, but there are ways that these mothers are able to get help. More resources are available to single American mothers that are living in poverty, like welfare, mother centers, and soup kitchens that would be able to help support the families. However, Marianna’s family either is not eligible for these benefits, or has no idea that they exist, because she is not from this country. In my opinion, the struggles that Marianna goes through being left by her husband with two small children, in a new country is a much harder and bigger struggle than American single mothers.

Jamie Thomas

The Official Story

Do you think Alicia is able to reconcile her personal thoughts about her suspicions that her daughter is the child of a murdered political prisoner at one point in her life? Explain your reason and discuss in detail your inferred and factual (based on the film) ideas.

               I don’t think Alicia is able to reconcile her thoughts about her daughter’s potential past. As soon as she is visited by her long lost friends, and she relives her experience while being held captive by telling Alicia about the pregnant women that were taken away and returned childless. After Alicia hears these stories it seems to be the only thing that she can think about and she tries desperately throughout the movie to find answers. Unfortunately for Alicia she also realizes that there is a possibility that if her adopted daughter did come from one of these woman that there was a point in which her newborn daughter was in this political prison for a point of time, and I think she has just as hard of a time dealing with that. In the scene of Gaby’s birthday party, I felt that one of the saddest scenes between Alicia and Roberto when they discuss that they don’t even celebrate Gaby’s actual birthday, rather they celebrate the day that Roberto brought Gaby home. I felt this was a hard scene to watch because it shows how little they know about their daughter and how Alicia is helpless to find the answers to these questions, and how Roberto doesn’t want to be involved in Alicia’s hunt to figure out Gaby’s past. I think this struggle between Alicia and Roberto is another reason that Alicia is unable to let go of the idea that Gaby’s mother could have been murdered in a political prison. Alicia knows so little about how Gaby came to them, and Roberto has the information but refuses to tell her everything, and it is so apparent that he doesn’t want to discuss it. Even in the very beginning of the film when the two are at dinner with friends and Roberto’s friends poke fun of how they received Gaby by asking if they were present at the birth, Roberto not only doesn’t stick up for Alicia, but he doesn’t say anything about it on the way home either. It is apparent throughout the film that Alicia longs to have this information and piece the story of her daughter’s life back together and Roberto has no interest in figuring out the story, rather he wants to forget it and move on, but Alicia can’t deal with this.

Jamie Thomas