The Struggles of Maria Full of Grace
In the era of globalization, it might be hard to notice the life and struggles of common people as they are placed in the environment where the borders of private and public no longer exist, where one should make choices which could either give freedom or kill. In Maria Full of Grace, the audience is able to perceive one of many stories that happen with people trying to escape poverty at home and find a better life abroad. The film serves as a representation of complex life in the cities where everything is interconnected and defined in the perspective of an individual influenced by both local and global communities.
Cities are unique because they host so many lives in one place. However, this uniqueness might have a negative effect on the personal space of an individual. It is obvious that when there is a high concentration of people, it might become hard to avoid others and follow a chosen path. Generally, in the poor urban areas the main factor which influences the private space is the family. Although it is believed that the structure of families has changed from a joint to a nuclear family due to the urbanization, the joint ones prevail in Latin America, especially in the highly poor areas (Gore, 1990, 230). It means that in one house might live people from different generations together with other siblings, aunts, and uncles. If it happens, the youngest are forced to start working earlier without any chance to find their mission in life. Moreover, their income is often controlled by the other members of the family. It makes people feel uncomfortable as they cannot rely on their relatives and make own decisions. Maria Full of Grace shows how family turns from a supportive unit into a burden. Of course, the family bonds are highly important for the character, but she is not able to understand why she is supposed to sacrifice more than the other members. Maria represents a strong personality who learns to listen to own voice during the hard times with her family, boyfriend, and employers. To a certain extent, there are many people who resemble her in their attempts to find personal space by making own decisions. What characterizes her is that she also tries to keep her personality in the group of peers. Owing to this fact, it is evident that when people appear in the same condition, they usually live in certain patterns defined by the lives of their parents. The same could be seen in the relationships between Maria and her boyfriend. While she is willing to understand herself and find a way for a living, her boyfriend continues a circle of poor life. All the attempts that people make in order to survive in the city lead to the disappearance of a border between private and public.
Cities in the modern world convey the collaboration of different powers. It is believed that the principal one is the power of bureaucratic machine which works to satisfy basic human instincts (Zukin, 1995, 132). According to this, what bothers people most in the urban areas is the possibility of earning money in order to feed the family and survive. Unfortunately, this mechanism does not always function properly. Moreover, while observing the cities, it is clear that people spend most of their time and energy on the activities that threaten their personal dignity and make them risk their lives. In Maria Full of Grace, the hometown of the main character appears as one of this places. From its image, it is easy to understand that the majority of people in the urban areas of Colombia are doomed to struggle with poverty from an early age. They usually have two options to do it. The first one is to find a position in the local factory where one should work hard under extremely severe conditions. The second one is to find a way how to earn money on the street. What unites them is that in both cases human life is not regarded valuable. While working in the factory, people might have some illusion of stability. However, the attitude of the employer is unacceptable if to take into consideration how workers are treated there. For instance, this attitude makes Maria leave a factory in order to find another job. When she decides to go to Bogota, her first job offer as a drug mule symbolizes the second variant when people appear on the streets. As many Latin American “Street Children,” she accepts the offer of earning money quickly with the understanding of possible risk (Hutchison and Gottdiener, 2015, 281). Consequently, the poor urban areas challenge human beings to try different ways of making a living that in most cases ruin their personalities and lives. Without a shadow of a doubt, there might be other options for survival mechanism, but because of the quantity of people in one particular area, too many are not actually able to get away from poverty and misery (Hutchison and Gottdiener, 2015, 281).
In addition to the options for survival in the local community where human life is influenced by the family and power of money, people could also choose to become the part of a global community where it is harder to escape from others. In fact, while living in the modern world, no one can really say that he or she does not belong to the global community because its effects are felt every day. For instance, one can earn money from the needs or desires of the others who form the global community. It identifies that the economy of the global community is mostly based on the consumerist behavior. Though, it encourages humans to interconnect and share information about the possible solutions. In the movie, the global community consists of the small groups of people who have different roles. Understanding of their roles creates a social network where one could find what he or she needs. In Maria Full of Grace, it is clear that the main character is trying to establish the relationships with different groups according to the problems she should solve at the particular moment. For example, she comes to Lucy’s sister with the hope to find a shelter. Lucy’s family forms an immigrant group that feels responsible for the life of people from their Motherland. They are willing to help which proves that global community consists of various networks that are supportive. Naturally, the global community is a diverse notion. Nowadays, this notion might represent both positive and negative reactions of people on the same issues. While one is ready to help, another pretends not to notice. Unfortunately, in the most cases, people might refuse to interconnect in order to help others because they believe that problems should be solved without their personal support. This example could also be seen in the movie. However, according to Kristof, if one chooses to live in the community, we are supposed to interconnect in order to help one another. He believes that it makes a civilization (Kristoff, 2012). After watching a movie, one should admit that it is not so easy to achieve it because individuals are places in the conditions where they lack the opportunities to choose from.
One more aspect that is revealed in the film is the idea that life abroad is much easier. Countries like the USA are shown as one more way to get away from poverty at home. People leave their cities thinking that in the US they will be able to find a better life. This perception is also influenced by a global community, especially by the US government which creates an illusion of a highly prosperous country. According to Charles M. Blow, this is an exaggeration because a healthy infrastructure is still to be reached (Blow, 2011). In the film, there is one important statement which proves this fact about the life in the US when Lucy describes it as “too good, too be true” (Maria Full of Grace). Although the citizens might have more opportunities, they should also find how to survive because the bigger cities demand the bigger sacrifices. Only a small part of the US is represented in the film. However, it becomes clear that the expectations of abroad might not be real because the struggle for survival continues.
Maria Full of Grace depicts how local and global factors influence the life of an individual in the city. While cities are full of people who are trying to survive, it is important to understand that the private space could be dramatically affected by several factors, such as the family responsibilities, peer pressure, and need to earn money. Unfortunately, in the poor urban areas, the last factor is of great importance as people are supposed to support their joint families. However, some individuals refuse to follow a common pattern of earning money on the factories and decide to find the better ways that will not destroy their human dignity. Unfortunately, the poor neighbourhood has little to offer for people. They could either find work on the street or go to another country. It is vivid that humans are supposed to act according to the pressure they receive from others. However, what is the most important thing is that cities make people risk their lives in order to survive and make own choices.
Works Cited
Gore, M.S. Urbanization and Family Change. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 1990. Google books. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <https://goo.gl/8BbkoZ>.
Blow, Charles M. “Empire at the End of Decadence.” The New York Times. 18 Feb., 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/opinion/19blow.html?_r=2&emc=eta1>.
Hutchison, Ray and Gottdiener, Mark. The New Urban Sociology. New York: Perseus Books Group, 2015, 456.
Kristof, Nicholas. “Scott’s Story and the Election.” The New York Times. 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/opinion/kristof-scotts-story-and-the-election.html?_r=1>.
Maria Full of Grace. Dir. Joshua Marston. Perf. Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, John Álex Toro, Guilied Lopez, Patricia Rae. HBO Films, Journeyman Pictures, 2004. Film.
Zukin, Sharon. “Whose Culture? Whose City?” The Cultures of Cities. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 1995.
