Freak!

1. Freak! Starring: John Leguizamo Presented by : Carlos A. Restrepo & Emily M. Van Buren

2. The man himself! • Born July 22, 1964 in Bogotá, Colombia • Colombian and Puerto Rican descent • At age 4 migrated with family to Queens, NYC (Jackson Heights) • Started out as a stand-up comic within the New York nightclub circuit • Received the Rita Moreno Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) in 2008 • He was a recipient of the 2011 Made in NY award from the City of New York

3. The Hard Knock Life • Jackson Heights was a rough neighborhood he grew up in • Parents spent much of their time either working or bickering, and they eventually divorced when he was 14 • His turbulent home life is the basis of Leguizamo’smost popular creative work (FREAK) • Due to rough childhood, he began experimenting with the milder forms of delinquency and had a penchant for mischief. • He was arrested twice, once for hopping a subway turnstyle and another time for truancy. • One time he and his friend commandeered a subway public address system and performed an impromptu comedy routine.

4. A common struggle • Like Leguizamo, many Latin immigrants overcame and endure many struggles throughout their journey and residency in the United States • This holds especially true for immigrants within huge metropolises such as New York City • Most common difficulty that immigrants face is their assimilation within the American culture and atmosphere that they are inhabiting • Language barriers and ethnocentric ideologies tend to have an effect upon one’s assimilation to the American culture • Family is important within this struggle, as the struggles of assimilation tend to affect the household as a whole rather than just a single individual

5. A common struggle (cont.) • One tactic many Latin immigrants implement in their assimilation to the American culture is conformity • A conformist is one who follows the majority's desires or standards • Conformity tends to involve compliance, in which the member outwardly agrees with the norms, but inwardly rejects them. • Many Latin immigrants feel that my conforming to the majority groups norms that they will receive positive feedback and acceptance from the group • Conformity also involves internalization, in which the member adopts the norms of the group both overtly and internally. • Internalization of the majority group’s norms means that they embrace these norms, but unconsciously ignore or dismiss their own personal norms and beliefs

6. Origins of Masculinity: According to Clifton Evers the origins of masculinity cannot be defined....however our ideas about masculinity have to blossom from some where. Based on our class discussions we believe these impressions of masculinity begin to develop in the home. Connecting Themes Discussed In Class with “Freak” John explains in his performance that Latin mothers worship their sons. He says sons of Latin mothers are treated as “Kings”. John says, “This is how this macho shit begins” because his mother always told him he was the center of her universe. John acknowledges to the audience that Latin boys grow up expecting to be worshiped and spoiled by the women around them. Do you think this is good example of how our ideas of masculinity begin to take shape in the home??

7. 2) How Femininity Plays Into Masculinity: In class we discussed how masculinity is defined by what femininity is not. Here are two instances which we want to discuss which may represent how men view women in the Latin culture: 1) When John’s mother decides to enroll herself in college classes to get her degree, John’s father gets very angry when his wife comes home and discusses what she is learning in class. He puts her down for wanting to attend college and makes her feel bad for using her new vocabulary. 2) John is explaining a time when he saw a woman on the street, and says, “She didn’t have a gun in her hand, or a hypodermic needle, and she wasn’t a hooker or a maid, so it was kind of hard to tell if she was Latino.” What do each of these situations convey about how Latin men view Latin women?

8. 3) Latin Ideology: In class we discussed that masculinity as ideology “functions as a series of beliefs that people buy into and perform” (Todd W. Reeser).These different forms included discourse, practices, myths and images. Here are two instances we want to share and then discuss in terms of how ideology is something we buy into and then perform: John explains how one day when he was sneaking into a theatre he accidently ended up auditioning for a play in Time Square. He put on a magnificent impromptu performance and when he was finished he was told that the writers were looking for someone who wasn’t Latin to play the Latin part, they said he needed to act more Latin and more pathetic... John explains a time he was in an Irish Bar and got into a confrontation with a few Irish men. When they started to confront him, he got nervous and explained to the audience, “I would do what any Latin kid raised in the Ghetto would do... I acted like a retard!” Based on each of these experiences John explained, how do you think other cultures view Latin culture?

9. References: http://www.biography.com/people/john-leguizamo-9542489?page=2http://leguizamo.ning.com/page/john-leguizamo-biographyhttp://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_hispanicaffairs/2009/10/immigrants-facing-multiple-barriers-to-assimilation.htmlhttp://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe70s/life_16.html

10. Thanks for listening!! Carlos A. Restrepo & Emily M. Van Buren