Children are seen to be the future leaders after we’ve lived our lives. They are to carry on in the world and make improvements for the better. With that, they are to be taught responsibility and good decision making skills. How parents go about on teaching that to their kids is in their own unique way based on their given circumstances. Some parents are able to succeed in properly raising their child and some fail for whatever reason. Some children, with enough self determination and discipline are able to guide themselves if their parents are absent in their lives. Mad Hot Ballroom, Painted Dolls, and Spellbound are documentaries on one of many programs that are available to kids. Along with each documentary is a unique program for kids that you may not have considered before. Mad Hot Ballroom is an Expository mode documentary. The point of an Expository mode documentary is to make an argument. Mad Hot Ballroom is an inspiring documentary about a ballroom dance competition program for New York City’s public schools. This film follows kids at an elementary school in Washington Heights. The school is the most immigrated and poorest school in the competition. The effectiveness of the choice of mode was something you had to think about. The argument is not blatant but one that you would see if you were analyzing it. The underlying argument is that its a great and healthy idea to have your children exposed to different cultures other than their parents. By doing this you’re making your child aware that there’s other cultures than your own and that you shouldn’t ridicule another culture but to try and understand it instead ; being able to peacefully co-exist, accept that theres other cultures and not pass judge because someone doesn’t share the same beliefs as you. This builds a well rounded mindset for when they mature. They will be maturing with a more advanced outlook on life and will be able to pass that onto their own possible children. This is a fun film to watch because you see these kids participating in these dances from different origins. You’re able to see that the kids are having fun and build a sense of unity with their class. In other parts of the film they have cut scenes to where they interview the kids and ask them about mature questions that you wouldn’t think an elementary schooler would already know. For example, the little girls were talking about how they would want a man with ambition and a good head on his shoulders instead of a drug dealer. This shows the type of environment their exposed to on a daily in order to be aware of them. Observational mode is where the filmmaker doesn’t influence the film but also be hidden behind the camera with the possibility of some narration. The documentary Painted Dolls represents this mode well because the camera is observing beauty pageants. This film is about a beauty pageants and follows a little girl named Swan along with her mother and some scenes with other parents and their competing children. Swans mother is a single mother of three kids who works three jobs to be able to support her daughters contests and their family. Assuming, Swans mother started her up in pageants to give her life some structure. She had mentioned that her eldest daughter always had different boys calling their house phone while her son kept landing himself in trouble that may have him end up in juvenile hall. She also comes from a military background so her discipline on her daughter while teaching the routines is admirable. Its tough yet supportive, but at the same time its also destructive to herself because she smokes excessively and even while around her daughter. Swan is seen as the underdog in this particular beauty pageant while Leslie, the daughter of the pageant coach, is usually the winner. During one scene of the film you see Swan say to her mother if she quite her third job, she’ll quit participating in pageants as well. This says a lot about their relationship as mother and daughter. From such a young age Swan was able to sense that the pageants were stressing her mother out financially and was willing to sacrifice doing what she enjoyed most in order to relieve the person she loves. In the end after eventually receiving some coaching from Leslie’s parents, Swan won first place in the final competition. Another film that represents the Observational mode is Spellbound. This was also an enjoyable film to watch. The observational mode served well here because you are able to see how ambitious, disciplined and goal oriented these eight children are on their own. As your introduced to each one of them you see their work ethic on how they study. As unfamiliar as it is you don’t see children voluntarily putting so much effort into studying too often, which made it hard for some to have friends. Each child has their own introduction scenes and you get to see how they are and how their family is and how involved they are in their child’s study. Neil and Nupur both have Indian backgrounds and both worked along with their parents to be able to win the National Spelling-bee. Both of their parents work ethic for them was strict. Many people assume that your a good student if your from another country, mostly because your parents didn’t bring you to another country with better opportunities to not use them and not succeed. As the spelling-bee was coming to an end you see that some children were able to build unity with some of the other contestants. All of these documentaries were enjoyable to watch. Each had their own unique inspiring ending to them along with a positive message. You’re able to learn something from these films. Mad Hot Ballroom’s message was that no matter if you win or lose it was a great experience to endure and most importantly you had fun and also that learn of new cultures is beneficial. Painted Dolls shows that even though you may be seen as the underdog that its still possible to win. Spellbound shows that hard work and determination can let you achieve success in the future.