Future Visions: Technology and Citizenship in Underwater Dreams
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more compelling for an underdog film about science and technology than those involving the Carl Hayden Community High School Falcons Robotics Team of 2004. First brought to national attention in a Wired magazine feature article, the story begins when two dedicated science teachers at a high school in a poor and crime-ridden neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, start a robotics program to encourage hands-on learning within the areas of science, technology, and engineering, then enter four inexperienced teenagers and their handmade robot in a national underwater competition funded by organizations like NASA and the Office of Naval Research. Some stories beg to be told. Directed by Mary Mazzio, the documentary Underwater Dreams (50 Eggs Films, 2014, 86 minutes) sets their tale against the fraught landscape of national debates about STEM education, immigration policy, and economic interests. The teachers enter the students in the top tier against colleges and universities—strictly as a morale-protecting strategy in the face of certain defeat—but the Hayden team wins the competition, defeating a team from MIT in the process. Despite the familiar narrative arc, one detail complicates any reliance on conventions of genre or definition: all the team members were brought as children into the United States from Mexico without documentation. The film certainly begins like a conventional underdog story. “They didn’t know it, but it was a competition that would change everything,” says narrator Michael Peña. The four teenagers are endearing: Oscar Vazquez, a hardworking student and ROTC member; Luis Aranda, a quiet giant who carries the robot and handles the cable; Lorenzo Santillan, a former gang member with a mischievous streak and good mechanical skills; and Cristian Arcega, a brilliant loner with the brainpower and confidence to challenge