Invisible

“I need you to translate because some students don’t speak much English.”

From the principal’s words in the opening scene, it is clear that the protagonists of Invisible are recipients of blatant stereotyping as well as the staff’s serious lack of effort to accommodate Spanish-speaking students. As the principal of the school, Principal Powell should be making an effort to learn Spanish, but instead he delegates these responsibilities to the Spanish teacher alone.

“Not all the same. I am Dominicano.”

When the interviewer unthinkingly labels all the children as Mexican, they each angrily counter this assumption by announcing where their families are from. Miguel assertively notes that not everyone who speaks Spanish is the same, and from this exchange, he is clearly aware of the way people outside the Latino community often group Latino people together as one monoculture when they are in fact infinitely diverse.

“Don’t say anything about Mom. Don’t say anything about the move.”

Both George and Celeste experience shame as a result of their poverty. This quotation makes it clear that George feels as though he must hide his family’s economic difficulties in order to avoid ruining his chances of getting into a good high school. Similarly, Celeste fears what might happen if the authorities find out that she is living in her van with a young child.