Border and Body: We don't discriminate, we'll violate both!

I just wanted to chat about "A Stranger Comes to Town" by Jackie Goss since we didn't really hit on it during discussion. How interesting to see these different forms of media (yes, they were tweaked with) come together to form a sort of visual conversation on the current immigration, naturalization, and debate of borders that seems to be all over the media.
I didn't know that much firsthand experience with customs before this film, so seeing it presented in a non traditional or animated way almost makes it more personal. I thought about why the filmmaker would have chosen to use this kind of format with the topic rather than shooting similar to a documentary you might she on PBS. I then realized that she almost had to do it this way due to the politics surrounding these folks lives. The format needed to almost have that distance from "real" and "animated" to synthesize maybe what these folks were talking about. The interviews were very intense, and at times were hard to believe. A woman interviewed was talking about having to be strip searched and a part of that entailed checking her genitals. What? What is this and why do we think this action is going to make it "safer" in this country. Hearing that just outraged me, I couldn't believe it. I understand Jackie. I thought back to the kitschy DHS video explaining each step of the customs process, all of it seemed so simple, so removed and so unreal that it would make sense that they would think that shoving their hand down someones pants was "going to extreme measures to keep our country safe from terrorism." The story, the images, and everything seemed so fake, but that's it, Jackie is telling us something very real. Didactically of cartoon plus clear abuses of power = better understanding of who controls borders and what it means to cross them (literally and figuratively.)
This piece made me think of how with current technology borders of both land and body can easily be manipulated depending on which side you may be on.