Un Día Sin Mexicanos

A day without Mexicans. What would it be like? Some believe more opportunities would be available for Americans while others think our economy will suffer. While no one can say for sure, filmmakers Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi explored this possibility.

In September of 2004 "A Day Without a Mexican" was released and it portrayed the events of a day in which all Latinos who resided or worked in California disappeared.

The filmmakers say in statement made on their website that "immigration reform is the civil rights struggle of our time. It is a struggle that affects all of us with its impact on the economic, social and cultural fabric of our society."

In the film Arau and Arizmendi show various situations in which not having a Mexican (or any Latino for that matter) around would affect us. And while the situations are exaggerated their point is clearly understood. One man arrives to his restaurant with and finds it a mess because the dishes were not done. In another instance the streets begin to fill with garbage because workers are not there to pick it up.

Whether or not an individual's stance is for or against propositions restricting the abilities of Latinos immigrating to the USA, it forces everyone to pose the question: what would we do without them? Would Americans step up and take the positions they hold or would we fall to pieces without them?

The film is not in theatres any more but I think it is one worth seeing and DVDs are available. Check out the trailer below and decide for yourself!

Movie Trailer

A Movie Worth Seeing

In my past few blogs I've talked about the negative portrayal of Latin characters in film. While all of my facts are true in previous blogs and my opinions stay the same, I recently saw a film that gives a different perspective.

While often times Latinos are shown to be drug traffickers in movies, it is not often that the reasons why they do it are presented to the audience. The 2004 film Maria Full of Grace, however, takes this perspective.

The film is centered around Maria (played by newcomer Catalina Sandino Moreno), a young girl who grows tired of working on a rose plantation for little money and even less respect. After learning she is pregnant, Maria realizes she needs a job that earn more money and receives an offer to work as a drug courier, carrying pellets of drugs concealed in her body from Colombia to the United States. After only one trip and the death of a friend due to the job, Maria decides to stay quit the job and remain in the United States in hopes to find a better future.

The director, Joshua Marston, wanted to do a film about the stories of immigrants coming into the United States and was inspired by one woman's in particular. Although the story is not based on this one woman, it is the story of many. If you want to find up to date figures, facts, or other information about drug trafficking in the US, click here. But if you are curious about Arizona inparticular, click here.

When the film came out in 2004 it was immediatly nominated for prestigious awards and won many of them. Click here for a full list of those awards & nominations.

The Beginnings

To understand stereotypes in film, it is necessary to start at the beginning. For stereotyping of Latinos, the beginning was the appearances in silent western films in the early 1900s.

The term 'greaser' is a derogatory term used to describe Mexican Americans and although it is not one heard very often in 2007, it was openly used in the early 1900s and used in various movie titles. For example, Greaser's Revenge in 1914 and Tony the Greaser in 1911.

Mexican Americans were referred to as greasers in the early 1900s in film and often times everyday life because of the grease that would get into their hair and on their bodies while working with animal hides.

The typical 'greaser' image used throughout the 1900s is shown below:



The role of a greaser in Hollywood was rarely, if ever, a positive one. They played the first role of the bad guy: dishonest and conniving in every possible way. This portrayal appeared typically in the western genre.

The 'greaser' character continues to be reinvented and appears in films today. While the modern day greaser might have migrated from the wild west or frontier into the city, the character is undoubtedly morally deficient in comparison to the portrayal of their white counterparts. Many times in today's films the greaser is involved with gangs or other illegal activity.

However, in the blatent prejudice in the film industry did not occur without any protest. Due to many complaints and boycotts by the Mexican Government in the 1920s, film producers began to stray away from the specifying the heritage of their Latino characters. This, in turn, led to pan-Latino (a 'you're all the same' state of mind) portrayals that were still offensive to much of the Latino population.

An Accurate Portrayal

When I think of movies that have Latino characters or the Latino culture as a focus point throughout the film there is one film that immediately comes to mind.

"Scarface"


I am sure I am not the only one.

In the past the portrayal of the Latino people has always been more often that not a negative one. The characters in the films based around a Latino culture are often prostitutes, drug lords or violent gang members.

In the films "Blow" and "Traffic", while the actual drug dealers in the United States are white and American, the stem of the problem always goes back to the Latin American countries as well as their people.

One film historian from the University of California-Riverside says the issue with the depiction of Latin Americans is the violence. The films give the idea that Latinos, as a people, are more violent than other Americans. This opinion, however, was given in 1996.

Today the depiction of Latin Americans has changed drastically. Although sometimes still drugs are associated with the Latin American Culture it is in a different perspective. Take for example the film "Maria Full of Grace." This film tells the story of a young girl who was forced to transport drugs in and out of the country using her body as a vessel only because she needed provide for her family. Instead of invoking anger in a viewer, this film creates sympathy for the girls situation.

Over my next few blogs I want to talk about the movies that have not only done positive things for the image of Latin Americans but also effected the progress in a negative manner.

Below The Fold

So last week I went to see the documentary, 'Below The Fold.' Going into the film, I didn't know anything about it except that it told the story of the first Latinos that won the Pulitzer Prize. 26 minutes later I felt as though I had sat through a history class, but not the sleep inducing kind, I heard learned about a group of people who forever altered the way journalism was done.

'Below The Fold' is about a group of young journalists who overcame prejudice at the monster publication, The L.A. Times, to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Members of that prestigious group, George Ramos, Virginia Escalante and the director Roberto Gudino were all in attendance.

Robert Gudino was a film student at U of A and is now attended UCLA for film school. He expressed during the Q&A that he made the film because he was connected and inspired by the humble beginnings of these people. Also that it was a film for the community and his people.

After seeing this film, I understand why it is so important to tell this story. The percentage of Latinos in the newsroom has dropped significantly and there are still battles to be fought to even the playing field for minorities. If, as Robert Gudino hopes, this film does someday make it on PBS, it is a film I recommend everyone to see. It is a film that is encouraging for all journalism students, not just minority students, that the combination of hard work and not giving up will always create a success.