Faces of America Review

   

The video we watched in class, Faces of America, was actually very interesting and informative. Even with the interviewer's blank face and lack of personality, I found the entire documentary very intriguing. The different celebrity ancestry was just a plus, but I thoroughly  enjoyed learning about how their lives could have changed so drastically if their ancestors did not make the courageous decision to leave their homeland to join the American melting pot. It fascinates me how easily these people could have been living the same lives as the generations before them and be just as miserable. But now they were given the opportunity to thrive as an individual, and show their ancestors that they made the right decision to take that risk. I also thought it was kind of interesting that some of the ancestors to these celebrities, were also very successful for the time, or well known and accounted for their greatness (Such as Christina Yamaguchi's grandfather,Eva Longoria's rich family history in Texas, or Yo-Yo Ma's large family).
      I think a "Nation of Immigrants" is something America really takes in pride. I feel like without all the outside help and information, we would never be the thriving community we are today. Immigrants truly have shaped America, and allowed it to grow industrially, economically, and intellectually. America is now more open-minded than it once was to such foreign things and people. There is still definitely some issues that need to be cleared, but for the most part we are growing as a group to accepting the different. Immigrants have helped America, but America has also obviously helped the immigrants. My family is from Iran, and I am a first generation American. I am constantly being told how difficult it was living there as a child, and that I should be grateful for everything that I have, which is so extremely true. I often think about how different and terrifying my life would be if I was a woman in Iran. I am so blessed to be in America, and am so thankful that my parents decided to change their lives and the lives of their children for the better.