Freak "So I Had Too

¶ … Freak "So I had too many beers, so I had to have her. So I Riverdanced up to her" - said by John Leguizamo in Freak. This scene involves Leguizamo speaking about seeing a 'typical' (from his perspective) "redheaded, freckled, drunk" Irish girl. He then proceeds to show how he 'riverdances' up to her in order to emphasize his knowledge of Irish culture.

As he attempts to get her attention by using a series of Irish/Scottish references, she says that he has nothing to do with anything Irish and calls on her brothers to save her. John Leguizamo's background can be observed throughout Freak, as he concentrates on making it possible for audience to understand the multicultural aspect of his personae.

While some people might find his acting in the film offensive because he appears to insult Irish individuals, the reality is that his complex character is meant to induce feelings related to the effects that globalization has on individuals, especially taking into account the multicultural aspect of his performance. One needs to consider that Leguizamo originates in Columbia, came to New York, and met an Irish girl who was really fond of.

In order to reach out to her he employed a strategy that he considered to be best in the given circumstances. One is likely to understand the feelings that Leguizamo wanted to put across as a result of going over this performance. It is practically as if he acknowledges that he does not belong and attempts to pose into someone he is not in order to influence the girl in liking him.

Leguizamo is well-acquainted with his background and it appears that he sees nothing wrong with trying to look Irish as long as he knows that this is for a good cause. His parents struggled to integrate the American society and had significant problems trying to do so during their first years in the country because the majority of Americans were putting across discriminatory attitudes and promoted the idea of segregation. Leguizamo associated the concept of fondness with the idea of similarity.

Thus, he concentrated on trying to look Irish even with the fact that it was obvious that he came from a Latin American family. This makes it possible for viewers to understand that Latin Americans in general were accustomed to changing their attitudes with the purpose of being accepted, as this was one of the most important ideas that they could possibly think of.

Being accepted into a community where individuals are inclined to discriminate is an important step in a person's life and actually enables the individual to be able to experience progress in the respective community. Leguizamo's behavior demonstrates the effect that globalization has on individuals and it is surely intriguing to observe his tendency to try and integrate a group that he has nothing to do with in order to achieve his goals. Latin Americans have experienced great difficulty trying to integrate the U.S.

society and to this day they continue to be discriminated. Even with this, the problems they went through did not stop them from devising effective strategies to influence others to accept that there is virtually nothing differentiating them from the rest of the world. Leguizamo's attempts to impress the Irish girl are surely not meant to have her think that he is a bona-fide Irish person. Instead, he wants to exploit his humor and his Latin background in trying to get to her through other means.

He is well acquainted with the fact that it would be difficult and almost impossible for him to pass as an Irish, but still goes on with trying to look that way because he thinks about the humor he would instill in his audience by doing so. People like Leguizamo managed to experience success in their lives because of their failures.

They learnt how to recover rapidly from problems that they came across and they even learnt how to use their background as a tool to influence others in appreciating who they were. The fact that the Irish girl relates to Leguizamo as being a Puerto Rican actually contributes to the feeling that he did not hesitate to put across ideas that might have emphasized his cultural background.

Leguizamo uses an intriguing strategy with the purpose of catching the Irish girl's attention and does not care that he will look like a fool doing it. It is actually by emphasizing the fact that he is.