Maria Valentina Rubio Ángel, Laura Valentina Prada Melo.

11°B

Los Oriyinales: A society where nothing is how it seems

“Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen” – Anaxagoras

Nowadays, our society has placed too much value on appearances due to the existence
of social media and external agents who might have change our perspective regarding
to those aspects in which we identify if someone is really valuable, interesting and
worthy of our admiration. Our world has become fast paced and people have become
quick to make judgment or jump into conclusions, so they do not get to know each
other for who they really are and they tend to get carried away by appearances. In this
context, appearance is directly related with idiosyncrasy, which is defined as a mode
of behavior or thought peculiar to an individual or community mainly connected with
its place of origin, traditions and culture.1
Moreover, this kind of behavior can be told to rule our community, pulling us into a
state of mind where we just think of controlling and manipulating the image we offer
to others in order to fit in. Whenever you meet a stranger, the first thing you are going
to look at is how they appear and act, and depending on that, you will create an image
of them arose from this “first impression”. “Los oriyinales” is a perfect example of
how these masks are shown in the Colombian Society, using humor as a way to attract
public attention and generate public enthusiasm for our common reality.

“Los oriyinales” is a Colombian film directed by Harold Trompetero, which exposes a

fun analysis of the Colombian society by describing particular situations of everyday
life.2 In this movie, seven stories are set out in order to make a comparison between
social classes, which have an aspect in common when it comes to the relevance of
appearances. The characters reflect the typical Colombian idiosyncrasy, viewed from
both sides of the coin. In the one hand, this film is based on the popular and common
traditions in our country, by standing out the idea that those aspects constitute who we
are and how we function as a country. On the other hand, it represents power relations
that deal with how different groups are able to interact with and control other groups.3

1
Definition of idiosyncrasy (noun), from the English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/idiosyncrasy on March 31,2017.

2
Fragment based on “Trompetero pone a sonar Los Oriyinales”. Retrieved from
http://www.elcolombiano.com/cultura/cine/trompetero-pone-a-sonar-los-oriyinales-KE5754783

3
Definition of power relations (noun), from the Reference Web-page. Retrieved from
https://www.reference.com/world-view/power-relations-8263a0ae182ff7c4 on March 31,2017.
However, beyond appearing to be someone different from whom they really are,
hiding under a mask, calling attention from others and trying to reach an established
objective; the final purpose of appearance is to fit in a society that imposes social
parameters that we are supposed to fulfill. So, we try to act in a certain way just to
adapt to those standards, which prevents us from being rejected in our communities.

The masks that people wear are real. We have built a society based on masks, a
society that defines how we are supposed to act even if it is all just a huge pretense.
The existence of these masks can be evidenced in the fake promises that politicians
make to the ones who are going to vote for them, in the “perfect” image that social
media sells us just to make us believe we need to look in a certain way, in an
employee who tries to look good in front of their superior and also in the blind
imitation of trends and behaviors. We live in denial of ourselves and we rather to
please others instead of tear down the barriers that our society has established for us.

Particularly, in Colombian society we highlight the use of double standards. The

appearances make people limit their economic capacity, spend money in unnecessary
things and follow a capitalism system that forces us to depend from an opinion
emitted by the people who surround us. This phenomenon is adhering not only to
material possessions you can presume to others, but also to human relationships
which are disguised under an artificial personality. Therefore, Colombian people are
susceptible to the imposition of trends, using stereotyping to simplify their social
world and infer traits and abilities that a person has, according to an impression.4

Consequently, these behavior patterns are due to the inevitable necessity from being
accepted, loved and consider important inside a community as it is Colombia. So, in
front of the lack of these basic needs, masks will come up as a response to cover the
truth behind an individual within society where we develop survival mechanisms to
keep an affective and lovely response from our surroundings5. Nevertheless, this
adaptive response during adulthood can cause that the person identifies with the
previous fictitious image he/she has already built. It implies that there is no longer
interest on identifying his/her own necessities and life objectives; and those are totally
replaced, as it was set out before, just for reaching a non-sense objective in their lives.
“What matters is to pretend” is the premise of this film which through humor leaves a
message for us to do something for the toxic world where we are living today. 6

4
Fragment based on “Stereotypes” Simply Psychology. Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html on March 31, 2017

5
Fragment based on “Vivir de las apariencias, una opción que siempre termina por explotar”. Retrieved from
http://www.emol.com/noticias/Tendencias/2011/11/11/736109/Vivir-de-las-apariencias-una-opcion-que-
termina-siempre-por-explotar.html on March 31, 2017

6
Los Oriyinales, la película colombiana que deja un mensaje para los “aparentadores”. Retrieved from
http://www.caracoltv.com/farandula/los-oriyinales-la-pelicula-colombiana-que-deja-un-mensaje-para-los-
aparentadores