Movie Analysis: Sleep Dealer

‘Our Wall’; written by Charles Bowden; is one of the essays focused on border problems, especially with the illegal immigrants and smuggling; and the wall to prevent the same. The author is an American non-fiction author, journalist, and essayist who mainly depicts the realism, and presents it to the society with the hope of change. In this essay, ‘Our Wall’, he cites the wall is made by U.S in order to control the illegal immigrants from Mexico. The essay collects views and comments before and after the establishment of wall of the people from both sides. This essay seems to be in against of the wall, which generally breaks up the personal ties and humanitarian relationship of the people in and out of the wall, and the wall stands still

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.

Throughout Jason DeLeon’s The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail, it is clear that DeLeon adopts a style of ethnography that is inherently different from Evens-Pritchard’s The Nuer. DeLeon represents a key shift in anthropological theory and ethnographic writing that helps to construct a rich, raw and authentic account of undocumented migrants and their journey across the US/ Mexico border. Throughout this ethnography, DeLeon argues that the United States’ border policies are ineffective in deterring migrants, but instead provide an opportunity to hide behind the hybrid collectif of the Sonoran Desert which creates a level of inhumanity that is indescribable. DeLeon draws on the four fields of anthropology, including

Raat, W. Dirk, and Michael M. Brescia. Mexico and the United States : Ambivalent Vistas (4th Edition). Athens, GA, USA: University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Richard Misrach captures the tone of a stark and bleak reality with the darkening clouds and the barrenness of the wasteland in his photo of Wall, East of Nogales, Arizona. He is making a statement about the issues that the U.S. and Mexico have long had. The image displays a wall surrounded by desolation with a path by it’s side leading off toward the darkening clouds. The wall continues until it melds with the wasteland. The path is joined by a smaller path that merges into it. After it goes over a hill, it disappears. The clouds darken when approaching the horizon. The yellow and brown weeds and grasses of the hilly plains leads to forbidding mountains. There is a small light post on the wall. All in all, it is a depressing sight to see. Richard Misrach is implying that the future of the U.S. and Mexico is bound together and will see dark times before reaching an impassable obstacle if there is no change in their policies involving each other. Everything in the image

Many may use the argument that Hellman purposely picked lifestyles of a harsh and poor nature, in order to fully drive home her point of supposed economic growth. Unfortunately, it’s the truth, a truth that faces many each and every day of their existence. A life that for all intent and purpose was meant to flourish with the newly formed relationship established with Mexico’s neighbors to the north, the United States, ultimately took a turn for the worse. She is able to presents the effects of this supposed economic development in a very humanistic light, seeing the interviewees unmistakably describe the negative conditions in which they endure. This being said, one can only help but notice this downward spiral, which manifested itself with the ties to the American economy.

The logos used in this book are through politics. Urrea makes clear that it’s Mexico's blame for putting people on the "devil's highway" through corruption and dense politics. But he also shows how misguided the United States policy has been. The author describes the conditions and historic events that lead to the beginning of the illegal immigration into the United States and draws a clear parallelism with our times, when there are several tasks in the United States that Americans are

These three chapters discussed an intertwining time as well as issues. The three chapters also had titles that seemed to flow from one to the next. Chapter two titled, The Promise of Progress. In chapter two Gonzalez discussed the agreement between United States and Mexican health officials about quarantines being useful and used to protect citizens in each country. Gonzalez also informs the audience that people in both Mexico and the United States had the idea that all people despite their class should be medically treated if ill. This would in turn help slow disease spread and out breaks. Chapter three titled, The Appearance of Progress. In chapter three Gonzalez discussed transnational employment with African Americans in the South (Alabama) looking for equality and freedom in Mexico. This is the same story Jacoby told in his article. Just like in the Jacoby piece Gonzales comes up with the same outcome. Racial equality in Mexico compared to that in the United States was just an illusion. It is the appearance of progress from the outsider’s perspective with transnational movement of labor from the United States to Mexico and better racial relations in Mexico, but this appearance is a façade. Chapter four is, The Power of Progress. This section analyzed the Laredo small pox riots at the turn of the twentieth century. Quarantine camps are setup in Laredo that discriminated against ethnic

The factory in which Memo finds himself in is no ordinary place, it is known as a ‘Sleep Dealer’. Both the name and title of the film refer to these factories where a type of ‘virtual labor’ is performed by Mexican workers and then transmitted virtually across the militarized Mexican border to the United States. The ‘sleep’ in the title references the sleep inducing effect which the long shifts have on the factories workers as they perform various forms of virtual labor in countries they are not

He illustrates the suffering people experience at the hands of the desert, the loss that shatters the families of those who lose their lives during the journey, and the desire for the American Dream that motivates the border crossers to risk their lives. The emotional tales in the book give a face to a group of people who are nothing more than a statistic to many Americans. The vast majority of people seem to have no comprehension of the impact that different policies will have, regardless of their support for or rejection of our current immigration policy. Big picture information about illegal immigration is intangible and incomprehensible to most. The emotional arguments provide readers with information that the average person can work with, such as the story of Memo and Lucho crossing the border and eking out a life in the US afterwards (De León 167-201). The stories provided by the book can also connect the effects of immigration policy on the individual to the impact it can have on large groups of people who had no intention of crossing the border. For example, the testimony about Maricela’s life and death provided in Chapter 10 connects the suffering Maricela experienced to the pain her family and friends feel after they learn of her death (De León 243-264). These stories aid in the creation of better arguments about illegal immigration.

In his essay “The Country Just over the Fence,” Paul Theroux describes his trip to Nogales, Mexico. He begins his essay by illustrating the physical appearance of the wall separating Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. He calls it “an unintentional masterpiece”. Theroux feels the wall is somewhat informal. He discovers that crossing the border into Mexico is not too difficult itself. He marvels over the appearance of the wall and also the underlying call to action it places on a person, “Do you go through, or stay home?” Theroux decided he needed to see for himself. After deciding to cross the border, he met many different people. They told him about the celebrations that used to be held between the two neighboring towns which are now divided by the wall. Theroux also met people who had attempted to cross the border illegally into America only to get sent back to Mexico. On his adventure, Theroux also learned about all the medical tourists who travel to the country for cheaper treatments, specifically dentistry. I am interested in discussing Theroux’s presentation of the his decision to cross the border, the people he met, and the medical tourism Nogales, Mexico draws in.

Signs Preceding the End of the World is an insider’s look at the mind and journey of an illegal immigrant. A Mexican young woman crossing the border story is what challenges the ethics of readers. The main character in Signs Preceding the End of the World is Makina. “Makina is in charge of a small Mexican town’s telephone. A reliable, messenger, she knows how to keep a secret and when to keep her mouth shut. She is dangerous when threatened, quick to defend herself against lecherous fools, and unafraid of speaking truth to power” (Long). Makina is just like an ordinary person. She is no different from an average American. Makina has a job and harmless when not threatened. Americans act as if immigrants are so beneath them. Immigrants are hard workers, just like Americans. Immigrants want better lives for themselves and their families, just like Americans. Americans and immigrants are not the only ones who want these things. People all around the world want what is best for everyone they know. Most people will do whatever it takes to get to what they need; even if it is in life threatening conditions. Signs Preceding the End of the World challenges our ethics by placing the reader in the mind of an illegal immigrant, allowing the reader to know the true feelings and experience of the immigrant.

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s, Labor and Legality is a book written on the Mexican immigrant network in the U.S. She centers it on the Lions, a group of Mexican men from Leon, Mexico that all share their lives and help explain the many networks and strategies that are used in order to excel and gain happiness. There have been many different sorts of misconceptions about immigrants, and in recent years about undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The U.S. has made a sort of war on illegal immigrants and has made it a seemingly high priority in the media and in politics. Therefore, many Americans have been mislead and ill-informed about the history of immigrants/undocumented immigrants. Gomberg-Muñoz’s Labor and Legality helps set us straight. She unveils undocumented immigrants for the people that they are instead of the criminals that the media leads many to believe. Although she doesn’t have a wide range of participants for her study, I believe that she addresses many of the misconceptions and just plain ignorance that American people have of people that are undocumented; why stereotypes are supported by the people themselves, why politicians include stronger illegal immigration laws, and everything in between. Many of her topics reveal a sort of colonialism that the U.S. practices on Mexico; the exploitation of undocumented peoples to the benefit of the U.S. through economics, hypocritical laws and campaigns, and the racist and prejudice consequences.

This year’s election cycle brought heated debates and discussions about many things; “the wall”, free trade, NAFTA, immigration issues, borders security and policy issues. Regardless of which side of the political isle you stand, which way the political winds sway in Washington D.C., one thing is certain not to change with the election cycle, and that is, the actual physical border between The United States and Mexico. Therefore, if we can’t change that, and we can’t, then there needs to be solutions to problems that continue to exist between the two sovereign countries. Trade and Security are two of the most important factors for neighboring countries and they must not be ignored. Beyond just good political, diplomatic, and strategic vision it is important to understand there are cultural, education and diversity complexities which takes tremendous and often times delicate maneuvering to come together for the greater good of both economies and governments, as millions of people rely on successful trade agreements and security.

The video starts with interviews of certain members of the Mexican population that are both in the government and not in the government. They discuss the many reasons why the people choose to go to the United states for work rather than stating within the country itself. One of the key things stated Is, “...the root cause of the problem should be addressed… the lack of opportunities in the country”.