girls and boys

Girls and Boys. The soap opera syllabus intensified the traditionally girlish trend; this was problematic only when it seemed that we were “losing” the male members of the group. Originally there were fewer boys at the selection process, and on the first day of shooting out of 6 only 2 boys came. Therefore is seemed possible that we were running out of boys as they were less interested in the story or maybe it was due to the dominance of the girls. During the selection most girls who got into the group were friends in their lives as well, as it seemed some of them were very close friends. This fact restricted a bit the activity of other members. Moreover the group followed those 1-2 opinion leaders.

whose story

Whose story? On our third meeting (15 May, Tuesday) we gave out two sheets with one image and some questions on each. These were the following: Imagine a character who lives in this house. What do you think his job is? Who does he live together with? What do you think his dreams are?

(Yachts at the port) Imagine a dialogue between two people who are at this place and write down some sentences of their conversation. Common work begun with such and similar small exercises. Although we did not mention the kids that the images are related to the soap opera, without being instructed, they tried to place the previously designed characters and episodes at the locations in the pictures. We did not as them not to discuss their answers with each other, so almost all of them wrote the same to the first picture, namely, that Ainoa lived in the house, and also their answers followed Ainoa’s description of her character. There were more differences at the port scene, they chose scenes from those that they previously planned to shoot in the port/ on the beach.

It was reflected in their teamwork, in the clear development of the story that they were used to working together as a group. In a few days they managed to develop a story, almost as well as a professional story liner team. Dominant members of the group were playing amazingly naturally and in the spirit of their roles. Esteisis showed her nature-born talent who is able to burst into tears immediately in the most dramatic moments, girls were very creative when forming the story and their character.

meeting the parents

Meeting the parents. We interviewed Dani’s and Quim’s mothers for an interview. Information shared by them cant be generalized as they are definitely different from other parents in many aspects, and we had no information about them, not even from their children, they did not come to the meetings either. Dani’s mother is Catalan; Quim’s mother is Spanish, from Andalusia. Both parents chose the school because its closeness to their home. They agreed that there was a big pressure on their children because they had a lot of classes even if the level of education is not particularly high.

Daniel – according t his mother - wants to be a biologist, sometimes engineer or a postman. His mother would be happy if he chose to be a musician or an artist. Quim’ – just like many other children – wants to be a vet, otherwise is interested in cars. (The other day he told us that he was going to be an English teacher.) His mother would be happy if he became a nurse. In fact there is no specialization at school, if somebody wants extra or would like to learn something special, they must attend private lessons.

According to the parents in Mataró there is no difference between the statuses of jobs. People can work in many different areas and in service industry, in boutiques and shops you can always find vacancies. Both of them like living in Mataró and would not be happy to move off, they are satisfied with their work as well.

Career

Career. As the importance of work in children’s and their families’ life had drawn our attention, we asked questions about the same subject when interviewed parents and Elvira. As Elvira emphasises, she thought that most children did not go on to higher education after finishing high school. Therefore their ambition to become vets, solicitors or singers - as they claimed at the second shooting - remains a dream.

There are good pupils and teachers pay particular attention to them. They tend to suggest parents to send their children to higher education but this is only possible if parents are able to provide a financial support for them. This shows that – even if parents are employed – their income is too low to spend it on education. On top of that, according to Elvira Carrio for many families this is not a priority. The fact that only two of the participants’ parents came to watch the projection on the 21 of September shows the lack of interest towards their children’s activity as well as their surfeit.

Desires

Desires. During the conversations, which were of course dominated by girls, it seemed that they do not have extraordinary ambitions concerning economic needs. But concerning their carriers, they had extraordinary goals, which can be recognised as desires. These are not lifelong plans, they do not see the rout towards these goals, they do not plan, just wish everything will come true. The roles are mostly everyday characters, a bit richer or a bit poorer than the average but there is no radical dissimilarity between them. Talking about themselves, or rather about their character most of them told they were ordinary, everyday people. They are motivated by becoming respected, by friendship, living in decent conditions and by being loved by everybody.

Selection

The selection. We started to search for the participants of the programme at two places. The first institution where we got to with the help of Can Xalant was a foundation in Cerdanyola that deals with children. Most of them are coming from immigrant families, living in poor conditions. Practically, we did not succeed here at start, and as we fount visit to our next “enlistment” place more successful, we did not return to the foundation.

We found our participants in a school, the high school called IES Pla d’en Boet. (About the conditions of the selection see the procedure analysis later.) Finally we announced that the program will start in Can Xalant at 17.00 on Wednesday.

(9 May, Wednesday) Finally, there were about 30 children. We introduced our plans, and told about some projects Katalin made in cooperation with other young people or artists. We handed out the guides, and a questionnaire that children filled in. After that we made a portrait of each of them.

Some children copped out because of the fear they have to perform, and the “big girls” took over, which has also discouraged the young ones. Those, who could speak English were enjoying their privileged communications position, their interpreting role. Many kids came with their friends, for them joining the project was an opportunity for common entertainment, the “lonely” ones could not take part in it. After the meeting we chose 13 children on the grounds of the photos, questionnaires and our impressions. The very small ones (13-year-olds) were left out. It was interesting, that mainly those kids returned the next day to the “announcement of results”, who we have chosen, the others lost interest. This shows, that the group - although we selected the members – was formed more organically, at the first meeting: personal motivations (to creative work, socializing, and communicating), and group dynamics could emerge.