After a recent Fuerza showing, someone (we’ll call
them Pat) came up to tell me that they mostly enjoyed it, but one part
bothered them. It was the part where we showed the video of the mother
in Mexico to her son in Indiana.
“It went on too long,” Pat said. I explained that we cut out over half of the scene as it was. Pat
thought it was showing the emotional side too much. “Do we need to just
look at the issues, separate from emotions?” Pat asked me.
Socially Aware Media means that the whole story is told. Emotions are
an enormous part of immigration, and to separate the personal aspect
from the rest would really be detrimental to the story, to the people
involved, and to the understanding of all.
As I was leaving, Pat told me that the scene made him uncomfortable. Is
this really a bad thing? I don’t think so. I’ll be honest, I HATE being
uncomfortable (I have to leave at certain points in Zoolander and The
Office). But when used properly, it can really spur deeper thinking.
This is the scene from Fuerza that I’ve gotten the most comments on, and many
of them are about how we handled the situation. Some people have told
me that it was perfect, and others have seen it as manipulative and too
drawn out. I, however, and content with how it is, and think we handled
it respectfully and honestly.
Related links-
My Kid Could Film That
Why church is loud
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