Media Rituals-Living Undocumented

    A medial ritual that I found to be precise to the concept of liveness is documentaries. In this case, I would like to focus on the documentary “Living Undocumented” which not only shows the sad reality of many immigrants but also an ongoing issue of our society that while may not be personally faced, can create a connection with the audience. As Couldry quoted from Collins, “ reality as with liveness is a thread throughout its history and is part of a wider ideology of naturalism” (Couldry, 2003) the actions may not be transmitted in real-time but the liveness is still intact, telling truthful experiences from real people. 

    Accordingly, the "Living undocumented" documentary tells the story of eight families whose fate is at a stake of how the migration policies enforce the rules. All their dreams and possibility could be crushed in a matter of seconds, people that were escaping from life-threatening conditions, families seeking a better future, students who had a plan, established families in the United States being sent to a country where they have nothing and no one. An issue for which you feel empathy. As Couldry quoted from Corner, “For the first time ever, people, were listening to real people saying whatever came into their minds" (Couldry, 2003), they had to embrace themselves to tell what they were forced to live, to go through, to leave behind. It does not follow a script or an order of events, it is simply spoken memories of perhaps one of the crucial and decisive moments in their lives. 

    Although illegal migration is still being widely criticized, I believe this documentary could help us see beyond a migration status, beyond a right or wrong. To try to find a solution to the problem, to relate to it even if has never happened to us but ask ourselves what if I were that person? Should we continue to give them a hard time and treat them as outsiders or as humans?

    To sum up, this documentary allows you to connect to the pain and suffering of those individuals and families, but foremost as Couldry mentions, it helps "to be more widely represented in television's picture of the social world" (Couldry, 2003), the silent voices of undocumented people could take strength and help those who are blindfolded towards this issue to understand it better. To take action.