DISCONNECTED

Ituzaingó, April 13th 2015     

            

          Mr. President,

         We are MANCR, an independent television producer. We would like to introduce you “DISCONNECTED”, a fascinating and never seen before reality show starred by adolescents.

              The participants will be high school students who will compete for their end of the course trip. Teens will have to live together in a camp completely disconnected of technology during a whole month. They will have to overcome certain tests in order to win special commodities. They won’t be able to use technology; the only items they will be provided with are: tents, sleeping bags, food and water. Participants will be allowed to bring their own clothes.

            Cooperating and relaying on their partners, teens will learn how to live without internet, computers and cell phones.

            We hope you like the project and consider it.

            “DISCONNECTED they will connect.”

Yours faithfully,

MANCR

Evil isn´t born

by Camila Rico

Have you ever heard the saying “Evil isn´t born, it´s made”? It is said that we are born free to choose our way and that nobody can change our will without our consent; but in that case, would we ever choose to be evil? Megamind, the main character of the film that takes his name, reflects, “No matter how hard I tried. I was always the odd man out. (…) The bad boy.”

Produced by DreamWorks Animation in 2010, “Megamind” is a 3D computer-animated action and comedy film.  Set in the fictional Metro City, the film portrays the life-long rivalry between Megamind, the blue and big-headed supervillain and Metro Man, the defender of the city and beloved superhero. After never-ending battles where he always loses, Megamind finally finds his rival´s weakness, which seems to be copper, and surprisingly defeats him. But then, he loses his purpose in life because he has no rival to fight against anymore. While being evil is the only thing he thinks he is good at, Megamind astounds himself and Metro City citizens when he saves the city from a new villain menace.

The film suggests that the strong influence that society has in personal development may corrupt people´s construction of beliefs. Although having a sweet and lovable soul as a child, Megamind becomes a bad boy due to his own experiences in life. Being led to exclusion, he assumes that maybe his purpose in life is no other than being evil. In this respect, “Megamind” condemns society as responsible for human evilness.

When constructing identity, environment and people may shape the primary understanding of the world of any child. After landing on Earth in a Superman-like manner, the two innocent new-borns, both later known as Metro Man and Megamind, arrive at two very different environments. While Metro Man gets to a wealthy family mansion, Megamind ends up in prison. They are both taught the difference between good and evil but, obviously, from different perspectives.  Being raised by prisoners in an unfavourable environment, Megamind learns that police is wrong while thieves are right. Thereby, he conceives evilness as the natural way of being. The role of prisoners in “Megamind” is a clear example of how bad influences in childhood lead people to construct wrong ideas of the world and believe that evilness is the correct path while goodness is the wrong one.

Belonging or not to a social group may affect behaviour and relationship skills. Although he heartily wants to be accepted, Megamind is continuously rejected by his classmates. At school, teacher and children are delighted with Metro Man´s abilities. While seeking acceptance, Megamind tries to imitate him with witty inventions of his own; but it always turns into a disaster and he ends up being mocked by his classmates and punished by the teacher. Being excluded, he feels completely alone with only one faithful friend in the world, a fish called Minion, who accompanies him since he was born. Megamind assumes that there may be something wrong within him and reflects, “Was this my destiny? (…) Being bad is the one thing I'm good at.” He comes to the conclusion that he is destined to be a supervillain and he proposes himself that he would be “the baddest of them all.”  Since then, he begins being a bad boy on purpose. The film shows that children who are constantly excluded and rejected at school may believe that they are actually the rotten apple of society and that their destiny is no other than being evil.

Strongly fixed stereotypes of beauty and good behaviour may exclude those who are different and don´t possess these accepted characteristics. While Metro Man is the role model to follow, Megamind doesn´t fit the common personal standards of society. Cute and charming, Metro Man is the perfect superhero: he is the altruistic and well-built man with enchanting face and manners who protects Metro City and gains the heart of its citizens. Megamind, the skinny and big-headed blue alien, is feared and rejected just for being different and weird. Without taking into account his feelings, society makes him an outcast for his mere appearance. Excluded and neglected, Megamind confirms that he and Minion are both alone against the world; and consequently, he also rejects any type of approach towards people and sees them as if they were on the enemy side. Of course, he would give people back the same “courtesy” he always receives from them. In this case, the film portrays how stereotypes of beauty and good behaviour let people who don´t fit in completely outside society and condemns them to isolation, disregard and evilness.

“Megamind” depicts the active role of society in leading people to bad choices and evilness. Being aware of this may make us reflect about our own responsibility. What would we do to change it? After changing himself and saving Metro City, Megamind finally concludes, “I guess destiny is not the path given to us, but the path we choose for ourselves.”

Have you heard there’s a rumour in Anastasia?

By Amílcar Ferrero

Some weeks ago, my little nephew, me, and nothing to do. After a long debate (she was victorious), we ended up watching the film Anastasia. From the very beginning I couldn’t believe my eyes. The film is not much more than any princesses’ movie: a beautiful princess, a love story, an evil enemy, a happy ending, and a positive reception. But there is something in it that preoccupied me. Sadly, my nephew’s cry didn’t let me turn off the TV.

The peculiarity of this animated musical film, directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman and released in 1997, resides in the use of historical places, events and characters. It is set in imperial Russia in 1916 and the story focuses on the consequences of the Russian revolution for the royal family at that time. The bad thing is that Anastasia transmits a misleading view of history by distorting, manipulating and altering it.

Who was Anastasia? Talking about the real person, she was Tsar Nicholas II’s daughter, and she was killed in 1918 with all his family because of the outbreak of the Russian revolution. The film takes Anastasia as the main character but it makes her survive the revolution and builds a complete new life for her. While it is true that still in 1997 there was a rumour that stated that Anastasia had survived the revolution because her corpse hadn’t been discovered yet, I don’t think this rumour can give the film the power of using her name and changing her history.

Every princesses’ movie has an evil witch. In this case the scriptwriters decided to make Rasputin their “evil witch”. Rasputin, the real one, was a mystic and faith healer, and the adviser of the royal family in Russia. The film, however, shows Rasputin as the most dishonourable enemy of Nicholas II and his family; and, also, as a wizard with dark powers that helps to impulse the Russian revolution and destroy the monarchy. Let me tell the scriptwriters, in case they don’t know, that the real Rasputin had been killed two years before the Russian revolution, and that while he was alive he had nothing to do with the Bolsheviks (the people who actually carried out the revolution). About the dark powers, I leave it to your own judgment.

After the revolution the film jumps ten years later and shows life in St. Petersburg, the Russian capital at those years. By singing a song, the working class people show how grey, gloomy and bleak their lives are since the revolution. “Have you heard there's a rumour in St. Petersburg? Although the Czar did not survive, one daughter may be still alive!” goes the song. A rumour about Anastasia being alive gives the working class a hope to return to monarchy. Probably the food shortages, autocracy, misery and brutal suppression during tsarist Russia made the life of the lower class happy and colourful. I don’t want to discuss to what extent these things changed after the revolution, but showing a feeling of excitement among the common people because of the supposed return of Anastasia is an act of distorting history.

The positive reception the film received provoked on me some kind of indignation.  While it is true that the film uses history only as a starting point, that doesn’t give the scriptwriters the right to manipulate it. I might ask what the intention is behind this manipulation, if any. Dealing with history is something to be considered seriously. We should not let any film take history and mess it up.

Of Pretty Faces and Evil Hearts

by Mariana Figueredo

The essential is no longer invisible to the eyes. Run to your nearest mirror and check. Or run to the nearest Blockbuster, get Nanny McPhee and check. Second option will take a little longer, but you can do it with popcorns at hand.

Based on the books Nurse Matilda (no, not Mary Poppins) by Christianna Brand, Nanny McPhee is a British fantasy movie about seven mischievous motherless siblings with surprising skills in driving nannies mad. But their unruly world is about to end when a new nanny, Ms McPhee, appears with her magical secrets…and her hideous face. Played by British actress Emma Thompson, McPhee gradually loses her unibrow, hairy warts and scary traits, as the kids start to behave and love her. Likewise, Evangeline, the poor good and unnoticed young maid of the house is subtly turning into a lady in order to gain Cedric’s love, the children’s father. But that would only happen if he could run away from the grotesque and evil Mrs. Quickly, who can’t wait to marry him and send the kids away.

McPhee’s transformation from an ugly witch into an angel-like lady is what director Kirk Jones and producers claim as the movie’s most fascinating element. This magic change is supposed to teach children that one shouldn’t judge other people by their appearance. However, such a message falls short when the physical transformation is correlated by a change in her behaviour. McPhee, as other characters, have a fixed role according to their physical appearance. In this sense, Nanny McPhee supports standards of beauty as markers of people’s morality.

By the beginning of the movie, McPhee’s physical appearance and actions resemble those of a “traditional witch” from Disney movies. Her snaggletooth, warts, unibrow and twisted nose are the perfect companions for her severe treats. When she arrives to The Brown’s lives, they feel intimidated by her facial features. Still, it takes more than an unusual face to discipline the kids. The five lessons Nanny McPhee wants them to learn (to go to bed, get up, get dressed, do and listen when they are told) are not accomplished by the kids own will, but by the nanny’s scary magic tricks. For example, the first morning she spends in the house, the children refuse to get up and pretend to be ill. McPhee uses her powers to bind them to the beds and makes them feel actually sick, forcing into their mouths a horrible medicine. When the siblings don’t stop playing in the kitchen, she uses her magic cane and makes them lose control of their own bodies, nearly provoking that the littlest of the Browns jumps out the window. The
kids have to apologize before a tragedy takes place. In this way, her ungracious physical appearance corresponds with the stereotypical concept of ugliness as synonym of evilness.

But McPhee’s aspect is not the only thing to be afraid of. Characters such as Lady Adelaide Stitch, the children’s rich aunt, and Mrs. Quickly, Cedric’s future wife, represent the antagonists every fairy tale needs. Since the moment both women are presented, the feeling they are up to no good appears. This is made by portraying their lack of fashion sense and grotesque facial expressions, like twitching the nose too much or atrocious smiles escorted by yellow teeth. The children’s aunt dresses in grey and kind of resembles a raven. Mrs. Quickly wears eccentric dresses of bright unpleasant colours, and a wig that matches her dirty teeth. Such impression I mentioned before is later confirmed, for Lady Adelaide forces penniless Cedric to marry soon, or she will stop economically supporting the family. She doesn’t care about the kids’ safety or happiness, but about what people would think if their father doesn’t get marry soon. The same happens with Mrs. Quickly. She is a vile, children-hater, thrice widow. Adelaide’s wealth is the only thing that motivates her to tolerate the Brown family. Hence, the movie foreshadows the characters’ morality by the use of clothes and manners conventionally considered unattractive or unpleasant.

Let’s now go to the other side of the coin. When the kids reluctantly start to behave and McPhee loses her awful appearance, curiously, she also loses her harsh traits and violent methods. Now the nanny is a beautiful slender fairy godmother who sweetly advices children and rescues fathers in distress. One of the final scenes of the movie shows how she helps the kids to get rid of their aunt and their father’s fiancée, to fulfil their wish of getting their father married to the maid. Likewise, Evangeline has also been transformed. She abandons the ragged clothes and poor manners for uptight dresses and refined gestures. And she is finally noticed by Cedric. Evangeline is pretty and in fashion, she would be a good mother, right?  Or at least that’s what Cedric believes, for he immediately changes his mind and marries her. It is true that she has always cared for the seven children, but her good actions were overshadowed by her clothes and manners. It is only when she is seen dressed and acting as a sophisticated high-class lady, that everyone, including the kids, qualifies her as “beautiful”.  In this sense, the movie backs up the idea that conventional beauty equals goodness.

My main concern about this movie is the way its moral is exemplified, as if there is no other way of portraying goodness and evilness than through beauty and ugliness. My concern goes beyond, for the world is not divided into good people and bad people, pretty people and ugly people. But coming back to my previous point, what do those simplifications of people’s morality say about our society? My answer is that the so currently “repudiated” superficiality of human beings strongly remains in our society. What we see is what we get. Then there is little doubt why McPhee couldn’t remain ugly till the end, because she becomes a good person and such a combination would confuse anyone…

Freaky just got fabulous!

by Jessica L. Vega

"Be yourself, be unique, be a monster!" or "Where Screams Come True!" are just some of the typical slogans of Monster High. This is the newest Mattel product. Five supernatural girls who are daughters of horror icons such as Dracula, Frankenstein and The Werewolf. These girls go to an abnormal high school, have eccentric pets and possess a dark and horror-themed fashion which nowadays is highly appeling for little girls.

Monster High products go from fashion dolls, sticker albums and magazines to a web series, special TV episodes and DVD films. This variety of mechandising surrounds little girls who are fascinated by these “new” dark likeable girls that day by day become more and more consumed.

This dark wave had a great impact not only in the market but also in the media. Monster High got to many girls’ houses fastly and powerfully not only because of its huge quantity of products but also because of its sympathetic unnatural web episodes which are seen several times a day by spellbound young girls. These episodes seem to contain a new kind of girls: modern girls who have different interests, different appearance and a different life from those traditional ones. But not all the dark tone and innovation of the world could cover the real message: even though its supernatural and horror style, Monster High web series does not get rid of traditional beauty stereotypes.

One of the most obvious points to the eye is the girls’ body. Despite they have unlike and unusual colours in their skins, they still have the typical “dream girl” shape. This means that their bodies are extremely skinny but their breasts and back sides have a considerable size. When little girls are exposed to this, they get a wrong message since they believe this is the ideal body to achieve. What is more, little girls may be not able to realize that it is not a real image, it is not a real body but it is just a stereotyped body.

There is a stronger and even more visible point in this web series, the supernatural girls’ fashion and appearance. Even though these girls are supposed to break the standard boundaries of beauty by their unique dark style, they simply do not break it. It is true that their clothes have dark and deep colours and also unusual patterned such as skulls, crosses and blood drops. But it is also true that these monsters wear very short skirts, tight t-shirts and high heel shoes; and they possess hundreds of purses, watches and odd sinister jewellery which mark a clear passion for fashion and at the same time, they stereotype this passion as a typical feature of an ideal girl to be.

This passion for fashion is accompanied by the constant worry about appearance. The girls in the web series show an incessant obsession for making up perfectly, that is to say, in their freaky world, keeping blood red lips all the time, having their eyes deeply delineated and walking with a delicate style. Once again, the show is centred on girls’ physical appearance and in the beauty standard. This transmits an incorrect message of how a beautiful girl would be to the series’ young female audience.

Eventually, Monster High series has nothing new to offer to its young audience since behind its supernatural characters, freaky clothes and fancy fashion, there are no more than simple and fake beauty stereotypes.  Beauty stereotypes that little girls acquire as a pattern to follow are what have to be stopped. This generation of girls must be saved from ruining their minds with this absurd beauty standard of girl to be.

Let´s stop Lockwoods of the world!

by Nahir Penelas

Have you ever seen a piece of cheese falling from the sky? Or even better, a delicious hamburger coming from the sky into your hand? Well, if you haven’t, you can find this amazing phenomenon in the film “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”. This film, produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Columbia Pictures in 2009, was based upon the book with the same name, written by Judi Barrett and published in 1978.

Flint Lockwood, a crazy young scientist, lives in Swallow Fall, the dark and boring city, producer of sardines, where the story is set. Tired of living in a city crammed with sardines, Flint creates the “FLDSMDFR”, a machine that produces food by a genetic alteration of hydrogen molecules. At the beginning everything seems perfect, but then, food over mutates and the citizens has to evacuate the city escaping from the attack of hot sauce waves and big corns, as Chernobyl citizens have escaped from dangerous radioactive particles.

Scientists tend to take decisions without being able to oversee the consequences they might bring. This human behavior towards nature will have fatal repercussions in the future. Describing a crazy and absurd situation, “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”, criticizes the manipulation scientists make over nature.

The “FLDSMDFR” turns water, the most pure substance that exists on earth, into toxic fatty food. The mayor of the city represents the worst consequence that implies an abusive consumption of junk food: obesity. We know that in the last decade junk food has invaded all our cities, contributing to the increase of people suffering obesity in the world. Companies, with the cooperation of scientist, have discovered that the combination of sugar, fat and salt have the same effect as drugs in the human brain. In order to raise the amount of sales, they have started making products with these ingredients. That is how hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, candies and sodas have become a legal drug that kills millions of people annually. The same science that might save humans lives is the one that creates the conditions for their death. Instead of a solution, Flint has created a problem: a machine that produces artificial, toxic and addictive food that does not feed but intoxicates his neighbors.

Spray on shoes and Rat birds are some of the failed inventions Flint has created before the “FLDSMDFR”, both with everlasting consequences. Once he wears the Spray on shoes, hoping to solve the epidemic of untied shoes, he realizes that he would never be able to take them out; now shoes are part of his skin. Rat birds, a crossbreed between rats and birds, an absurd and useless creation, turns into a plague that bothers the whole city. Scientist like Flint should reflect upon the consequences their actions might have, because some results are permanent, and there is no way back.

Even though Lockwood has suffered many failures, he insists on making a marvelous invention that would change the world, as many other scientists dream. When he creates the food replicator, he commits the same mistake he had done with the previous inventions: not to think in the consequences it might bring. “What happens if food over mutates” asked Sam, the weather broadcaster, “I don’t know. It´ll never happen” answered Flint.  But it happened: food over mutates and the city was under a big danger. Like many other disasters that have occurred in our world as a result of lack of prevention (as the Chernobyl disaster I have previously mentioned), the film shows the background that involves an episode like this one. There is a combination of an unconscious society, unscrupulous politicians and risky scientists, which allow manipulation of nature.

Through a funny and fantasy plot, “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” not only entertains us, but also helps us to notice the high number of artificial products we daily consume,  result of the manipulation that scientist make toward natural substance. Reflecting upon this reality, we might became conscious citizens, try to stop the over manipulation and mutation of organisms, and enjoy the world the way it is.

“The rape of the wings”

by Daniela Uriona

740 million dollars collected and ranked second in the list of films with highest earnings in 2014 is not a surprise when talking about a Disney creation. Maleficent is one of the most popular and well-received releases for children in the current year. It is an adaptation of the extraordinary and acclaimed classic of Disney of all time: ´The sleepy beauty´. The successful film exceeded all expectations in the world of cinema. Directed by Robert Stromberg, and counting with outstanding actors and actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley and Lesley Manville, the high-grossing film was the favourite entertainment chosen by children at box–offices around the world.

The film let us find out the reason why Maleficent goes from an innocent fairy to a villain. Certainly, her change Iet us Iearn that she is not born wicked but turns into an evildoer due to betrayals, insincerities and deceits that she, unfortunately, experiences throughout her life. This teaching seems not to be the only one that the film portrays. Maleficent is a pure-hearted young fairy who spends her days pleasantly in a nonviolent forest kingdom. Everything is calm and placid. She is deeply in love with Stefan, a boy who belongs to the humans´ kingdom and really desires to be the king. Due to his greed and ambition, he cuts away Maleficent´s adored wings, Ieaving her devastated and forceless. As we can appreciate, he not only steals her heart but also something extremely valuable of her. This allegoric episode chosen to depict the change in Maleficent´s behaviour is by no means innocent at all. Undoubtedly, Maleficent symbolizes women´s rape in order to raise awareness in our society.

Three women are raped every minute in the world. Definitely, to be a victim of a rape is a very atrocious episode that, in most cases, needs psychological treatment. Shame, hatred, guilt, depression, low self-esteem, fear and isolation are some of the feelings that women experience after the rape. These change of attitude is clearly easy to find in Maleficent. After having Iost her wings, her pure heart becomes stone. This happened because of the brutal betrayal she experienced. After the tremendous episode, she finds hard to be the same natural fairy that she used to be. She is shocked and something certainly changes in her mind. She becomes the queen of revenge and obscurity. Without doubts, Maleficent´s personality is altered as many victims´s attitude because of rape, in our society.

As if MaIeficent´s change in her behaviour isn´t enough, another coincidence between women´s rape and the scene brought into analysis, is the use of drugs.  Flunitracepan, rohypnol and XTC are common tools rapists use to carry out their objective and to reach their hideous goaIs. In most of the cases they put the drug into a drink. It can cause amnesia, tiredness or sleep. Having the victims completely sedated and in a state of unconsciousness, the abusers take advantage of the situation to attack their preys. As we can clearly appreciate in the story, the winged fairy is tricked. Stefan offers her a sleeping and unknown potion that she accepts without hesitating even for a second. Later while she reposes on the ground, Stefan executes the wings´ rape. When she wakes up the next morning, she notices what has happened to her and shrills in pain and horror.

It is no surprising that Angelina JoIie, the actress who performs Maleficent, is always present in events that deal with sexual violence and helps society focus on this subject that worries everybody. Being a well-known celebrity, her participation is really useful in those meetings which prevent and inform about the issue around the worId. One of them is “The gIobaI summit to end sexual violence in conflict” which took pIace in London on June, 13 th.  As she really cares about this humanistic matter, she is totally passionate about the controversial point. Certainly, this can be seen as a fact that encouraged her to perform the main character in the story and, through the film, to urge end to rape.  

The most relevant point when watching this movie is that a real daily fact that takes pIace in our society is being showed to children as many others means do. They only have to switch on the television or the radio to soak themselves with announcements of rapes.  Although they are aIways surrounded by examples of this problem, the film contributes in creating consciousness about the topic.   All of us agree with the fact that women´ rape has to be eradicated in our society and, clearly, Maleficent works as a tool to raise awareness about this increasing issue.