Under the Same Moon by Patricia Riggen

*Sources & Citations*

*Compare & Contrast*

*www.imdb.com

*www.youtube.com

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Same_Moon

*http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/movies/19moon.html

The biggest comparison made in Sandstorm, Wadjda and Under the Same Moon is that family is the core for all the main characters in each film. All the mothers in the films try to do their best for their children.

*Discussion Questions*

*The one comparison that stands out to me the most is all of the strong women you see throughout all of these films: Sandstorm, Wadjda, and Under the Same Moon. Women who are not just content with what society says they should be happy with. They reach for more and want to question what their culture tells them to do.

*Class Reading Comparison*

“living outside the borders of the ‘homeland’ and inside the borders of ‘another

country’ often entails a border journey into the memory and imagination

that negotiates between old and new, past and present, self and other,

safety and danger”

- In, Out and Beyond:

Studies on Border Confrontations,

Resolutions and Encounters

"Cities today are bounded mainly by invisible laws, but the social institutions we live within were born and incubated safe from the entropy of continuous warfare-inside thick lordly walls...Civic pride was built upon a sphere, a tube, and a border". -Meta patterns pg. 53

*This paragraph I feel conveys our current issues with the physical borders we have right now in today's society as well as within the film, and how they affect those on both sides. We build physical walls because we think that it will insulate us from whatever is outside of them. Borders create the feeling that whatever is outside of them cant be good because if it was it would already be inside our own borders and a part of our every day society.

*Border Issues & Dilemmas*

United States/ Mexico Border

Borders of Self

• Enrique
• Rosario

Gender Barriers

- Men and Women do different types of work

Under the Same Moon by Patricia Riggen

Presented by: Naomi Gonzalez & Isaac Duran

We definitely see physical border issues, borders of class, borders of self, and gender borders in this movie.

*For example, the actual physical border that Carlitos is trying to cross in the van with David and Martha.

*We also see borders of class with Rosario and her employer. Rosario is talked down to and treated with such disrespect from a woman that feels she is her superior.

* We see borders of self with Rosario and how she tries to keep Paco at a distance but eventually as she sees how much he is trying to help her and cares for her she begins to let her guard down.

* You also see gender borders with the jobs that the men and woman do throughout the film. The women cook, clean, and run the stores. While the men pick in the fields, are police officers, run the restaurants. These are very traditional roles for both the men and the woman.

*The Cast, Character Arcs & Themes*

The Players:

Adrián Alonso (Carlitos)

Kate del Castillo (Rosario)

Eugenio Derbez (Enrique)

Maya Zapata (Alicia)

Carmen Salinas (Doña Carmen)

María Rojo (Reyna)

Mario Almada (Padrino)

Jesse Garcia (David)

America Ferrera (Martha).

Themes of

Abandonment, Sacrifice, Hope, Family

*Its All About Love & Family*

UNDER THE SAME MOON (LA MISMA LUNA) tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt to reunite. Along the way, mother and son face challenges and obstacles but never lose hope that they will one day be together again.

Character Arcs for Carlitos, Rosario & Enrique

*Carlitos goes through a very challenging character arc throughout the movie. He goes from depending on his grandmother to take care of him, to finding David and Martha to smuggle him across the border, to then getting a job to pay for the bus ticket to get to Los Angeles to find his mother. He goes through so much in such a short period of time and has to grow up very quickly.

*Rosario I felt had a real struggle within herself trying to decide if the decision she made 4 years ago was the right one, and we see her question this throughout the entirety of the film.

* Enrique I feel had one of the most noticeable character arcs. You start off with a man who is thinking of nothing and no one but himself and end up seeing a man who risks his own freedom to help someone else who he wants to give a chance to. It's very touching to see the relationship grow and change between Enrique and Carlitos.