Not to be predictable, but Melting Pot wasn't really my favorite movie. It did make me uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, I do believe there is great value in being disturbed. I just sometimes wonder how effective things like that are. I mean I feel like I'm pretty sensitive to racial stuff and pretty aware of white hegemonies and stuff like that. In my case he's kinda preaching to the choir, and making me uncomfortable in the process, so not so effective on that level. And then what about the people who aren't already in the proverbial choir? How likely are they to watch a film called Melting Pot or RACE? I'm just not sure what the goal of that film was.

Overall, I thought Melting Pot was a great film. But I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty details here... I just want to touch upon some issues of authorship. So Rusca directed this movie and also wrote it, but as we've discussed in class, authorship in film is a sticky subject. As we saw during the credits, which seemed to go on forever, hundreds of people went into the making of this movie (even though it was independent, low-budget, and made under some serious time constraints). Still, it seems to me that Rusca is pretty much the primary author... or is author even the appropriate term here? He definitely created the concept and oversaw its implementation, but he also mentioned that he checked with Latinos and blacks from communities in Los Angeles to confirm and fine-tune certain aspects of the screenplay. If these people helped shape the film in any way, shape, or form, does that make them secondary authors? Can a project as big as a full-length film ever have a sole author, anyway? Just some things to think about...

I did really enjoy the film, but I’m going to talk about what I didn’t like here. (Isn’t that what we Pomona students do??)

As much as Mosley wanted to show that things are not black and white I think he did really set it up for Álvarez to win for councilman. Throughout the beginning it seemed he was made to look like the innocent, down to earth, good hearted simple man. Lucinda, on the other hand was shown as ruthless, aggressive, and far less moral than her competitor. We see her in the bus with her campaign manager and although we get a glimpse into her idealistic past we also see her do nothing as the campaign manager throws out the other girl for not wanting to lie! When Álvarez won, it came as no surprise.