Dominican LTS
DB WEEK 13
Due 04/24
Do Parts 1 & 2after reading the attachment and watching the following video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbNLqk_IhGA&feature=emb_title
Part 1
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FIVE QUESTIONS
Share insights about both genres, the story and film, and also compare them. Please, feel free to add more questions to the discussion.
- How close was the film to the original story?
- Which scene caught your attention?
- What kind of music do you identify in the film?
- What does the mask represent beyond protecting Ysrael?
In “Ysrael” three locations are interconnected: Santo Domingo, New York, Ocoa.
- How do you see these connections? Explain.
PART 2
Comment onBothof the following passages
Passage 1
BY: Jeritza Sanchez
The film “Ysrael” is about two young brothers who live in the Dominican Republic. Yunior is nine years old and Rafa is twelve. Their father lives in the united states and is trying to provide a better life for them. He doesn’t make a lot of money because he works at a chocolate factor getting paid minimum wage. Yunior and Rafa meet this by named Ysrael who wears a mask on his face. All of the other kids are always teasing Ysrael and calling him names. They say his face was eaten off by a pig. One day, Yunior and rafa take off his mask and see his disfigured face. The film illustrated the main concept of the original story but it didn’t give much explanations because it was so short. The scene that caught my attention the most was when Rafa pushes Ysrael to the floor and forced his mask off. That scene was very emotional for me and it was sad to watch because that is bullying. There is a reason why Ysrael wears his mark, obviously he does not want people to see his disfigured face because it is embarrassing and shameful and he is just a little kid. The music identified in the film is old school Bachata. I am familiar with this music because I listen to it with my mother. When Ysrael is flying his kite, right before they take his mask off, they ask him where did he get his kite. He says his father sent it to him from NY. So that’s something that he has in common with Yunior and Rafa. Their fathers are both in NY working to help them out as much as they can.
Passage 2
By: Tevon Montgomery
Junot Diaz’s short story “Ysrael” and Leticia Tono’s short film Ysrael are closely related in subject matter. The original story written by Diaz gives more insight to the thoughts and feelings of young Junior. It also offers more detailed descriptions about the boys’ journey to where the town in Ocoa where Ysrael lives. The film, however, does make the story noticeably Dominican in that audiences can hear bachata, a Dominican form of music, being played as the boys travel to Ysrael’s camp. In the short film differs from the written work in that Junior does not steal empty soda bottles to buy new soda or pastelitos. He is never sexually assaulted on the bus, nor does he and Rafa meet a cobrador. And the means by which Rafa gets the mask off Ysrael’s face is not the same. In the short story, Rafa weakens Ysrael, who is said to be much larger and faster than the other boys, by smashing a glass bottle over his head. In the film, Rafa simply overpowers Ysrael and pulls his mask off.
The scene in the film that caught my attention most was the scene where Rafa pulls the mask off Ysrael’s face. The scene is hurtful, because Ysrael is tormented and is made to feel embarrassed. He is clearly ashamed of his face due to the permanent injuries he sustained from an attack by a pig during infancy. As Ysrael lies on the ground defeated, the boys look on discover the damage that has been done to the young, innocent boy. The shock and utter coldness of Rafa is off-putting. The look of sadness on Junior’s face shows that he is regret and knows that he has made a mistake. Sadly, in the written story, readers cannot see the expression on Junior’s face. However, it is then that he knows that his aunt was right about the sadness one would experience when seeing the damage that had been done to Ysrael’s face.
The mask that Ysrael wears represents protection. He is made to wear the mask, because it shields him from judgment. It conceals the permanent scars he was forced to live with. The mask also represent New York, Santo Domingo, and Ocoa. Ysrael directly suffered an attack from living in the campo in close proximity with animals. Junior and Rafa are amazed by Ysrael’s deformities as they are city kids and had never encountered a person with such scarring or a person who has been in a situation such as an attack by a pig. Lastly, the mask represents New York in that Ysrael claims that he will see a doctor in New York who will fix his scars and will repair his face to the way it ought to have been. All of the boys’ fathers live in New York, a place that seems like a promise land with riches and opportunities. If Ysrael is reunited with his father, he will have a life without shame and his face could be restored to normalcy. If Rafa and Junior were able to be reunited with their father in New York, they would not have to go to the countryside during the summer months when school is out and they would have the American clothing that Rafa cherishes. Ultimately, none of the boys get to reunite with their dads. All of their fathers moved to New York and moved on without them rendering all of the boys fatherless.