therefore I have to say that Intringulus and Maria Full of Grace were the two works that affected me the most in this unit, but for different, although somewhat similar, reasons. Both works appealed to me on an emotional level: Intringulus because of personal experiences, and Maria Full of Grace because of my sense of sympathy.
As I already discussed at length in my vlog, I connected on a personal level with Carlo’s story because of my personal experiences of immigration to America. Beyond that though, I think Carlo effectively told his story with the use of singing, instruments, and one-man acting. There is no doubt that his creative usage of these elements displays his incredible theatrical talent. Even for people who did not have relatable stories to his, the piece was effective as it arose human emotions of sympathy and understanding, and furthermore informed them of much they did not know about the immigration situation in the United States. As a young, charismatic actor, Carlo is passionate about his topic and this passion gets across to the audience, and I think that’s a big part of what made (makes) his piece very effective.
Maria Full of Grace also emotionally affected me, but was not as much a connection on a personal level (phew). While watching the movie I felt sad, scared..and naive.
So.
Incredibly.
Naive.
For one thing, I looked up the word “mule” on urbandictionary. And even after looking it up, I still wasn’t sure as to what the girls were doing. When it finally hit me, I was nearly in tears. I turned to my mom and said, “Ima (mom in Hebrew), I’m watching this movie about…” and explained it to her. “I can’t believe things like this actually happen…people actually do this,” I continued. “Don’t you watch the news?” she replied gently.
Honestly, I’ve heard of drug dealers and smugglers, but never anything like this. I couldn’t even imagine that such things could exist. Because I was hit with the naivety bomb, my feelings of sympathy were aroused tenfold and I was left sitting in front of my laptop watching the movie, almost in tears. How the hell did I not know that things like this existed? How could I be so stupid and naive? Unmistakably, Maria’s story affected me so much more than I expected. Seeing someone else face such troubles brought out the sympathetic side of me, and the grateful side too. The difficult scenes in the movie still play back in my head nowadays and I think to myself, “Don’t you ever complain about your troubles in life when other people are going through things like this.”
