" Living with the Ortizes — a family I knew long before filming ever began — underscored for me how much you never really know people until you have to walk in their shoes. I've made documentary films before, but never had I followed subjects with the intensity and duration that I did in making My American Girls. You learn so much about people just by sitting around, being patient and waiting for scenes to unfold. And when Aida says "our house is like a hotel for the Dominican Republic," she's not kidding."
This quote was said by Aaron Matthews, director of My American Girls. Even though the video did not work in class I still wanted to do some research into behind the scenes of the movie and the background of the family. Matthews conducted an interview with POV http://www.pbs.org/pov/myamericangirls/interview.php which I encourage everyone to read.
My American Girls: A Dominican Story captures the joys and struggles over a year in the lives of the Ortiz family. They are first generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic, showing how the others from the outside are trying to fit into the American dream.
In class we are always discussing breaking down the barriers of "whiteness" this speaks to both Oscar and the movie. The down played struggles that immigrants must face to fit in, how the crime or action of one person associated with that race can define and catergorize race, class, and gender.
I think to truly accept the hardships that immigrants go through you need to realize where they are coming from. When we think of jobs that Latinos occupy in the US. They are hardworking and do the jobs that us lazy Americans don't want to do. They know how to provide and hustle for their family. Family is very important in the Latin American culture.
I am curious to know if the American-born children of Latino families know and appreciate the strive their ancestors have made or are they unaware of the history before them. I feel as though they themselves are a class of their own.
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