A Day Without Mexicans Analysis

The movie “A Day Without a Mexican” is a comic movie that shows how California would be without the help of Latinos workers. When a mysterious pink fog surrounds the boundaries of California, there is a communication breakdown and all the Latinos disappear. The film represents in a sort of comic way the concerns about immigration in California. It clearly highlights the idea from how Americans are dependent on Latinos. The main point of the film is what would happen if Latinos immigrants who are in here just disappear. It affects the economy and the state stops working missing the Mexican workers.

The film compared to reading confirmed what they said, the film went off of details more in depth. They spoke about how mexicans were entered the united states under government labor contracts. In the film we were able to see exactly

After watching the films, I noticed a few similarities between the films. One example from the films is between “el Norte” and “Under the same moon”, both films show the struggle of immigrants go through when wanting a better life for themselves or their families. During the Norte film, the producers explained how an immigrant tries to cross the borders themselves, yet once they fail, they are left with the options of hiring a coyote to help them get across. I also saw that connections in the film “Under the same Moon”. In that film, the producers wanted to show their viewers that any age group would have the difficulty of going across the border. It also shows how children are much easier to be crossed , since they are much smaller , but also

The second documentary was called “Wetback”. It was about the Latin or South Americans and the difficult journey to sneak into America. This documentary was also tied in with symbolic interactionist perspective. The first term that refers to the documentary “Wetback” is stereotype. This is basically when someone assumes you are like others of the same race, gender, age and other descriptive labels others can give you. In this film, the two main characters where Nayo and Milton. They are two men from Nicaragua that had decided to take the dangerous journey to the United States. They were making this trip to try and find a better life for themselves and their families. They were stereotyped during the journey when they were caught by some Mexican police members that ended up taking all their money and sending them on their way back home. They were two easy targets because they were traveling on a bus with other people attempting to migrate into the United States illegally. Further along in the film, there were other times where many immigrants from South America were labelled as criminals. This is because many people in border areas or towns believe that they are only coming here to steal our jobs and overrun America. For example, in Arizona there is a group of men called the Civil Homeland Defense. These are citizens that take time out of their days to patrol areas around the border to try and stop as many “Mexicans” from coming into America. The sheriff in this town thank

During the Mexican-American War the border moved, but the people didn’t. History has shown us that no matter how thick the border might be Latino Americans have a strong connection to their culture and roots; instead of assimilating, Mexicans live between two worlds. The film, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez gave us a perspective of two cultures; “Two cultures- the Anglo and the Mexican- lived side by side in state of tension and fear” . Cortez is running for his life as he heads north, while the Anglo believe that because of his Mexican ethnicity, he would travel south to Mexico. Throughout the film there were cultural tensions and misunderstandings; language plays an important part of someone’s identity, and for many Latino Americans Spanish is their first language. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez also shows us that language plays an important role, and can cause confusion between two different groups. For example, Anglos refer to a male

The film created a connection of the people living in Barrio Logan showing the life before and after to the changes they had to go through. It was just a humble town that had all the resources the needed to feel safe. Before there was a border people would come as they pleased and enjoy their time the beautiful land to visit the community where everyone knew each other. Then the border created the first separation of the land they used to travel across so easily. Which ripped a part of the place they once knew. After time, many people left as the highway was built right on top of where their homes were built.

To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there

The movie also displayed a "Gringo" with Ms. Alice Harper who was an American woman who offered Enrique a job in Chicago that would help him earn his citizenship and make good money. Each of these ethnic groups have a different relationship towards each other Mestizos and Indians view each other as enemies as we saw when Rosita was on the bus and she had the conflict with the Mexican man behind her over a window. Mestizos view the Chicanos in a negative manner because they feel that they should be in better touch with their heritage but the Chicano 's as we saw in the movies gave Mestizos ways of adjusting to American culture as far as employment and even language. The Gringos view the Indians and Mestizos as good hard workers, they are aware of the fact that they need the work so somet8imes they take advantage of them by underpaying them or making them work in unfair conditions. The Mestizo and Indian immigrants depend on the Gringos for work and education opportunities when they first come to America.

These texts are similar in many ways. They both have the main idea as Immigration Separation-Families divided-children and parents. Both texts have all of those traits. All the parents are selfless. Both making decisions that are best for the kids and not necessarily for the adults.

Through experience and education I have had the opportunity to see the diversity within the Hispanic culture. There are major differences with this group in terms of immigrants

In the Preface of Major Problems in Mexican American History Zaragosa Vargas writes, "Nearly two thirds of Latinos in the United States are of Mexican descent, or Chicanos- a term of self definition that emerged during the 1960's and early 1970s civil rights movement. Chicanos reside mainly in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Midwest. Their history begins in the precolonial Spanish era, and they share a rich mestizo cultural heritage of Spanish, Indian, and African origins. The Chicanos' past is underscored by conquest of the present-day American Southwest first by the Spanish and then by the United States following the Mexican American War" (xv). When one thinks of a Chicano one thinks of the Mayans and Aztecs, the conquests,

Coming from a life of poverty and despair would be enough cause for anyone to search for a better life; a life in which there is a belief that all of your biggest dreams can come true. This is the belief that many immigrants have about the United States. They naively believe for it to be the “land of opportunity”. Originally the United States was founded and settled by immigrants. Many immigrants, such as Mexicans, Eastern Europeans, Jews, and others from countries around the world came to America to escape war, poverty, famine, and/or religious prosecution. Some also chose to immigrate to take advantage of the opportunities and promises that America held. One such major group of people is Mexicans. Being a border line country neighbor to

As the population of Latin America and the Caribbean raised in 1995 with a 190 percent increase (Gonzalez 199), the job markets in Mexico are becoming scarce and competitive. The living conditions of residents in provincial towns like in Cheran, “whose timber-based economy is in tatters” (Martinez 9) are greatly affected. Mexican immigrant workers are forced to cross the border and find a greener pasture in the United States, because “in 1994, Mexico was crippled by a profound-and-prolonged-economic crisis” (Martinez 8). With the huge influx of Mexican immigrant workers coming to the States in search for better jobs, the US citizens are concerned about the economic impact: jobs, government and public services. However, the Americans’ concern that the immigrants are draining the nation’s resources, is a sweeping statement, it is based on a myth. There are many recent studies that the immigrant’s population living in the United States helps the economy. Similarly, the Mexican government and immigrant families are grateful for their immigrant workers for lifting the ailing economy and the status of immigrant families. Immigrant workers, legal or illegal, are positively reshaping the economy of sending and receiving countries through these major myths.

Starting in the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II, the immigration policy in the United States experienced dramatic changes that altered the pace of immigration. High rates of immigration sparked adverse emotions and encouraged restrictive legislation and numerous bills in Congress advocated the suspension of immigration and the deportation of non-Americans (Wisconsin Historical Society). Mexican American history was shaped by several bills in Congress and efforts to deport all non-Americans from the United States. The United States was home to several Spanish-origin groups, prior to the Declaration of Independence. The term “Mexican American” was a label used to describe a number of Hispanic American groups that

In “So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans,” Jimmy Santiago Baca defends and shuts down the stereotype of Mexican workers. Many Americans hold resentment towards Mexicans presence in the work force, and believe that they are taking jobs away. However, many Americans don’t realize that these Mexican workers fill jobs that others do not want and are usually paid less than an American would be paid. In the beginning of the poem Baca addresses the American stereotype of Mexicans taking jobs from Americans in a very sarcastic manner. He then continues by telling the truth, that Mexicans are actually not taking jobs. He explains how Mexicans come to America to make a living for their family, which