Papel O Tijera

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In Francis Als’s Children’s Game #14: Piedra, papel o tijera, we follow two silhouettes of small hands backdropped on a grey spackled wall. Some lime green underpaint peeks through the cracks. The movements of the hands are the only motion of the film, as the camera remains static. The sound of adolescent voices repeating “Piedra, papel o tijera” confirms our assumption that the hands belong to children. The children repeat this game many times over the course of the entire film. They shake their fist up and down, three times simultaneously, and on the third go, they make their decision. Will they choose piedra (stone/rock), papel (paper), or tijera (scissors)? They must be decisive and quick as piedra beats tijera, tijera beats papel, and …show more content…

He continues to giggle for the next game, instead of reciting the mantra. Fortunately, he succeeds, picking Tijera while his opponent on the right pulls out his flat(ish) hand for papel. He continued the contact, letting his tijera linger as his two fingers “cut” his opponent’s paper. He pulls back and begins the mantra alone, while his opponent giggles. The rhythm is a bit off, for sure. The deviations continue at 1:46, when the player on the left tries to use his tijera to “cut” Piedra (which is forbidden according to how they had been playing before). This infraction goes unnoticed as they continue, their laughter growing with the growing lawlessness of the game. However, at 2:12, the left hand chooses Tijera and the right chooses Papel. The left hand repeats his earlier lingering contact, but this time sings a song. He pulls back and begins the mantra alone, again, but his opponent has a delayed reaction, not laughing or reciting until later. This section of the short led me to wonder: What is the goal of this game? Rock, paper, scissors is a timeless game all around the world, so it’s very likely that the audience already knows the rules and how to

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