The IVC Borderline Literary Journal

Selena Quintanilla: A Cultural Legacy - Film History Research Paper Excerpt with Mind Map - by Michael Avalos - English 110

Early on in my teaching career, I learned Spanish and began teaching bilingual education in San Diego City Schools. Now that I think about it, this has to be around the same time the movie Selena came out.  It’s the music form this soundtrack, I remember coming out of the houses, shops, and cars. You couldn’t escape the beat.  “Como la Flor” was huge.  “El chico de apartamento 512” was funny.  Every time I heard “Bidi bidi bom bom,” I just had to smile.  I mean everyone else dis.  In English 110 Michael recaptures the event of Selena’s murder in his  research paper.  His  writing reflects the  inspiration for a young woman who followed her dreams.  Michael  believes Selena is, and always will be, a true historical icon – someone we can all learn from in life and death.

 

 

Selena Quintanilla: A Cultural Legacy - by Michael Avalos - English 110

 

        When Selena was younger she would want to just be a kid. When she discovered she had a singing talent her father would often talk to her about songs in Spanish. She didn't know Spanish too well when she was young but she loved to sing. Her father would tell her singing is a beautiful, impactful thing. Her father would then tell her stories of when he was in a band and when things went wrong for him and his band. He would tell them how the audience threw beer bottles at them at some point and that it was scary for him. He then says you have to remember "to be who you are and you can't change it" (Nava). Being that he thought of this when he was in a deal of controversy could mean that people should try to be someone else. This could show her the idea of not giving in to pressure from others. You are someone who is unique and you should keep that and not be like others. This was being told to Selena when she was young so when things would eventually go wrong for her and when she is in a similar situation she can remember the advice that her father gave her.

 

       The beginning of her singing and performing career was shaky and uncertain. There were many highs and lows that happened throughout her singing career and eventually ended with her death. She went through what many would call an "American Dream" at the time being someone who changed culture at the time with not only music but her sense of fashion as well. Even though her music career was shaky at the start, she created for herself a popular and cultural legacy that still remains strong today.

 

        In her article, "How Selena Quintanilla Left Her Legacy, " Alyssa Guevara explains the legacy that Selena left behind. Selena started off with humble beginnings, growing up in Lake Jackson Texas and grew up with two Mexican parents and her two other siblings. Selena was the youngest of her siblings and she grew up for the most part like many others. However, when she was young her dad had discovered she had a talent for singing and it was caught at a fairly young age. Upon this he would go on to make a band with his children, when Selena's father was younger he also had a band. He would go on to make Selena y Los Dinos. Tejano music, which is a Mexican-American style of music popular in Southern Texas, was mostly male dominated, and her talents stood out from the rest. While she wasn't a fluent Spanish speaker when she was young she learned a touch of Spanish before her band's first album was created. While producing music she caught an audience of many, namely she caught the attention of some music producers who would eventually offer her to record an album. While it wasn't completely her music that influenced her legacy it was her fashion as well, Selena had fashion lines and wore clothes that were very popular at the peak of her career. Having merchandise lines and museums that display her sense of fashion shows and illustrates to everyone that she had tastes that sparked popularity.   She was iconic for many, the Hispanic community for her music and hope for dreams. Today her music is still listened to and gains plenty of attraction, her influence and personality made the Tejano genre grow for everyone to love.

 

* To read Michael's complete Film History Research Paper, please click on the following link: Selena

The Pianist: The State-Sponsored Killing of Six Million Jewish Men, Women, and Children - Film History Research Paper Excerpt with Mind Map - by Jorge Manzano - English 110

Jorge focuses his research paper on the systematic murder of  nearly six million European Jews during World War II. Today, we refer to Hitler’s elaborate plan as The Holocaust.  According to Jorge, not only were innocent Jews and other victims killed out of hatred and discrimination, but they were also used as scapegoats for every misfortune Germany experienced at the time.

The Pianist: The State-Sponsored Killing of Six Million Jewish Men, Women, and Children

    The year is 1920. After the First World War, Germany was in chaos. Once the German emperor had gone, rebellions erupted everywhere. Left-wing and Right-wing groups tried to seize power in many places, which in turn resulted in bloodshed. The nation needed order, and coming to the rescue is Adolf Hitler, executing an evil plan that will unite the country. See, many Right-wing circles had a hard time accepting Germany’s loss in World War I. Because of this, they created a rumor that “Germany did not lose the war on the battlefield, but through betrayal at the home front” (Anne Frank House). They believed they had been betrayed, and the Jews were the culprits. Hitler used this myth to his advantage and based his political campaign on this “treachery.” He began comparing the Jews to germs, saying that their influence on society was contaminating and needed to be rid of. However, continuing the germ analogy, he stated that the disease must be eliminated from its source, the Jews themselves. Everyone bought it, especially those wounded by the war. Along with Hitler, many citizens believed that the Jews were to blame for everything that was wrong with the world, justifying their extermination. A Jew was no longer someone with a fishy background, but a public enemy to the nation. 

    Among anyone and everyone, why were the Jews persecuted? For centuries, the state and Church held antisemitic practices against Jews, often depicting them as devils and the cause of many world tragedies, such as the black plague (Holocaust Memorial Museum). This reputation perdured for ages until history reaches the 1920s. The devastation of World War I, the demeaning peace of Versailles, the hyperinflation of the 1920s, and the depression of 1929 fueled mass discontent. The presence of Jews in German cultural, economic, and political life made them convenient scapegoats for Germany’s misfortunes. Although the prejudices were unfair and untrue, they made a perfect scapegoat for Nazi Germany's struggles, after all, who's best to blame than someone already perceived as the devil's pawn.

    With the start of the Nazi regime came the start of many laws that attacked the rights of Jews in Germany. With the start of the Nazi regime came the start of many laws that attacked the rights of Jews in Germany. Some of the decrees were small, such as preventing Jews from waving the German flag or another issued in February 1942 barring Jews from keeping dogs. Others restricted Jews' voting rights, educational opportunities, and ability to own businesses or occupy specific positions (Llewellyn and Thompson). Eventually, the anti-Jewish laws came to such an extent that they were moved to an overcrowded area excluded from the outside world. The 2002 film The Pianist gives the viewer an inside look at the escalating restrictions the nation put on Jewish people, displaying on a personal note their decaying lives. And decaying they were, many people died within this segregated area. Around 400,000 Jews died imprisoned behind the walls that they had to build themselves (Dowell). This lifestyle continued for most of the early 1940s until they were slowly shipped off to concentration camps to meet their doom. On May 8th, 1945 the reign of the Nazis came to an end. As the liberation army arrived in Germany, they were shocked at the horrific things they had been up to. Although the nightmare was over, it seems like it never did end, even as many continue to share the liberators' emotions of disturbance.

• To read Jorge's complete Film History Research Paper, please click on the following link:  The Pianist.
• To learn of "A Day in a Warsaw Ghetto," please watch the following video:

 

 

Monuments Men and Women: The Search for Stolen Art - Research Paper Excerpt - Perla de la Cruz - English 110

Perla has chosen to focus her English 110 historical research paper on a group of fairly anonymous historians, architects, museum curators and professors who helped defeat the Nazis.  During World War II, Adolph Hitler had called for the confiscation – plunder – of tens of thousands of priceless works of art that would have been lost to the world forever. The Monuments Men and Women brought them home safely.

 

    Monuments Men and Women: The Search for Stolen Art    

  In the movie, The Monuments Men, Frank Stokes, the leader of one of the groups from Roberts Commission (also known as Monuments Men) is having a conversation with Colonel Wegner.  Wegner is a German who is accused of running a Jewish concentration camp. Frank Stokes asks the colonel if the rumor is true, and he denies it. Frank then lights a smoke and tells Colonel Wegner it's "my first cigarette."   Afterwards he tells him when he returns home he'll see his picture on the paper with his name and how his crimes got him    hanged. Only then, he will think about his first cigarette and Colonels "stupid look" on his face  and never think of him again. I think the cigarette has a deeper symbolic meaning. The cigarette stands for power. At this point in the film, Frank Stokes and his men have one-upped Hitler and the Nazis who were ordered to destroyed and steal art and the war is almost over. Colonel Wegner thinks he is in a higher position to Frank Stokes and tries to talk down to him. He is instantly brought down and looks weak and terrified at the end of the conversation.  Throughout history of WWll, every Nazi, every colonel, lieutenant, etc. has thought they were powerful and unstoppable until a force fought against them.  For Hitler, the historical oppression he caused was about power, and in the end he lost it all.

    Why would anyone risk their lives to save materialistic art pieces? During WW2, Hitler ordered his men to rob Jewish homes and destroy their memories. He also demanded they steal paintings, statues, sculptures, etc. from famous or local museums for his own personal museum, Führermuseum. Hundreds of men and women joined the cause and have risked their lives for these collections and to this day are returning each item back to its home. These men and women joined the war to rescue, restore, and return the stolen art from museums and Jewish homes for the preservation of Jewish culture in Germany and the history of art in Europe.

    David D'Arcy's  article "True Story Behind 'The Monuments Men' and Nazi Art Looting" presens factual information on the Monuments Men and the art that was stolen. D'Arcy  talks about Robert Edsel who wrote books and a documentary about these men and their honorable work. The action takes place during WW2 between 1933 and 1945 and after the Nazis surrendered. The location of the Monuments Men work was Germany. The men were distributed through Europe:Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. The details important to the setting are that about 5 million objects were returned to their countries and owners." This was happening between 1933 to 1945. The biggest and most famous art recovery was about 12,000 art pieces found in one apartment belonging to the son of an art dealer. The article detail  the amount of military these men had. Some had been in previous wars, for others WW2 was their first war, and other Monuments Men only joined for the recovery of art and just barely passed basic training.

• To see Perla's complete Film History Research Paper, please click on the following link: The Monuments Men.
• To find out who were the real "Monuments Men," please click on the following video: