Like Water for Chocolate

This movie brought to my attention the the tradition of having the youngest daughter not marry until the mother dies so she can take care of her. That seems to be like a very old and outrageous tradition. Something like this would never happen this day and age nor would it happen in America. I also think that they way the family handled the situation would be totally different then how it would be handled now. Tita hid her feelings as her sister married the love of her life, as she had no other option. I know that in my family, that would not happen and we learn to speak our feelings. They didn't open up to each other until the end of the film.
I can tell you that, I have an older sister and I got married before her. When I told her I was engaged she wasn't happy, actually she was crying to me about it. In my head I was thinking, what an old tradition. Who cares who gets married first, if I'm in love I am not going to wait around. Unlike the movie, my sister and I talked about this situation right away until we were both happy and understood each other. I feel like families weren't as close about personal topics back then and in that culture.
This movie also showed a lot of magic realism. In one instance, Tita was able to make food that would change things in people, like crying, vomiting, and sexual feelings. Another couple of scenes showed Tita's dead mother coming back as a ghost and was talking to her and fighting with her. In the movie this seemed very real, but knowing that this is not possible in real life.

El Mariachi

It is easily able to identify common Mexican stereotypes in this movie. For instance, "macho" gang members (bandido-violence), dark skinned men driving around piled in old beat up trucks, having long dark haired women around them, smoking frequently, drinking the beer "corona", and having dark hair and mustaches. This is a great movie to discuss Mexican traditions and a common day to day life of a Mexican.
I think that yes, bandido-violence is commonly associated with the Mexican culture, but it is different from what I think about when I think of the Mexican culture. I think of hard working manual labor, working in a field, building houses, sweating outside or a bunch of them crammed in a truck, not going around with machine guns shooting random people. I might not have known that about Mexican's though, but that is not one of the first things that pops into my head.
The "Mariachi" was the main character in the movie, going from bar to bar in a new city to try and get a job singing and playing his guitar. His purpose in life was to take after his father, grandfather and all of his ancestors to be a great singer and guitar player known as a Mariachi. That's what it means when he says "All he wants to be is a Mariachi.

I believe the role of music in a movie is very important. It is a way to let the audience know when something big will happen or when a scene or theme is changing. It can make or break a movie.

Machuca

The interaction between Pedro and Gonzalo is pretty amazing. These two boys come from complete opposite family styles and were able to meet in class when the were forced to sit next to one another. I feel that they really needed each other and had similar likes and personalities. Even though Gonzalo was wealthy, he lacked the loving family that Pedro had, his father was mostly worried about his job and money, while is mother was having a love affair. Pedro lacked the nice things Gonzalo had, but lived with many family members. This made them a great match. There were many distinctions between the two social classes. Pedro came from an unfortunate family without many things, he wore the same sweater a lot with a hole in it, and lived in a small community in a beaten up shack. Gonzalo was rich, had many clothes, "adidas" shoes, wore a nice uniform to school and lived in a nice house. However, the boys ended up loving to hang out, ride bikes, share milk, and read.

We were easily able to see the differences between the social classes of the rich and poor in Chile. Just by looking at the two different neighborhoods each boy lived in, the cars they drove, clothes they wore and the outrage in church once they combined the classes into one school. The different opinions by a rich mother and poor mother. One saying, "We shouldn't mix pears and apples," and the other stating, " When will things change, can't we get along and just be different." This movie made the two different classes very clear to see the difference.

The main message of this film was to show us how tough it was in the 70's in Hispanic culture. The government was outrageous and there was no consistency. I can't imagine not only being an adult during this time, but for a child it had to be even more difficult. Especially while trying to go to school just to learn. Pedro and Gonzalo tried very hard to keep their friendship, but with the military government, it was impossible. It was very interesting watching this movie, because we could see first hand what it was like during this time, just hearing about it does not do a justice. Today when the government is going through changes, we can read and watch it, but never actually experience this hardship. There are poor and rich families today in our society, but it does not effect us to that extent. It really makes you appreciate Pedro and Gonzalo's friendship, knowing it was very hard for them to defend themselves.