The zoot suit symbolized several different things for the Mexican American population in the Los Angeles community. Not only was it a symbol of pride in their Mexican heritage, but also a form of rebellion from the norms emplaced upon the Mexican teenagers by their parents. These suits were also a symbol of unity, these young men wanted to look different and feel as if they’re culture could be something they could display and be proud of. This whole image was seen by the modern culture of Los Angeles to be “gang” related or distasteful. These “Pachuco” or punks often spoke a hybrid of English and Spanish, this was known as “calo.” However, many of the Mexican American teenagers at the time, spoke only English. The outfit often included pants wide at the knee often 40 inches or more, a broad shouldered jacket, hat, chain wallet and shined shoes called “calcos.”
Depending on who you ask, this fashion became popular in the early 1940’s. As we can see, history has a tendency to line things up for the “perfect storm.” This just so happen to be the time that thousands of service men, fresh out of boot camp arrived in Los Angeles looking to blow off steam before being deployed into combat around the world. To these service men, large baggy pants and jackets were a symbol of hate or disrespect to the
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The zoot suits were just an example of a more prevalent and widespread issue, as the video discussed there were many separate occasions when a Mexican American would be abused or assaulted and the “law” at the time would turn a blind eye. “Who in their right mind would care if a United States service man assaulted a Mexican kid?” Unfortunately, this type of attitude was not uncommon, several different attacks have been conducted by not only by the service men but by the Mexican teens in response as well. This back and forth clearly was not healthy for either side, one group attacked another, and nothing was
However, in Los Angeles and throughout the southwest, the Mexican population had shifted from heavily immigrants into United States-born citizens. These new English speaking, young generation no longer thought of themselves as “Mexico de afuera” but, started to embrace the American clean-cut style at the time. Resulting in new Deal youth programs...
The book Zoot Suit has symbolic significance for Mexican Americans and tells about the riots during World War II. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder was one step in the fight for the rights and respect of Mexican American's. This riot involved young servicemen and civilians who clashed in the streets of the city with young Mexican Americans who wore the noticeable "Zoot Suit." At their height, the riots involved several thousand men and women. In the end no one was killed and only a few were injured but even today, the Zoot Suit riots are remembered for their significance.
Mexican-Americans were highly offended when American citizens, mostly the marines and soldiers, attacked any Mexican they saw on the street wearing a zoot suit. Some of the time these Mexicans were not part of a gang, but were attacked as revenge from that August night in 1942. Police officials were watching servicemen beat the Mexicans on the street then arresting the victims, saying that they provoked the riot (La Op...
...founder of the pachuco subculture (Germán Valdéz’s Tin Tan), spread across borders. Although never particularly accepted in Mexico or United States, the pachuco did create an identity and a spot in society. I argue that this cross-border subculture, which was not particularly accepted, would not be a unique phenomenon if it were accepted. There had to be something that was diverse and against the norm for the “camouflage and mimicry [to] make him visible, give him a location in (and out of) culture” (Durán 43). The pachuco was known but never fully understood by others but that is how cultures are introduced until either it assimilates or not.
Valdez, Luis. "Zoot Suit." Zoot Suit and Other Plays. Houston, TX: Arte Publico, 1992. 21-94. Print.
Over 84 years ago New York was the city of swing. In a realm where culture clashed with politics, race with class and gender with society most teenagers spent an ample amount of their spare time dancing to the music of Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and the likes of others. With the music, blasting in their ears and sweat dripping of their skin the youth was engulfed in a period that would come to stand as a turning point for African-Americans. Despite the rage of the music, there is no question that appearances and the right attire also played a prominent role in the culture of that time. In a society wherein which, Blacks were discriminated and stereotyped against their clothing distinguished and set them apart. The Zoot-Suit, one of the significant symbols of fashion during the era of Swing music was more than embellished get-up. It was a statement, a rebellion, a cultural identification even, but mainly it was a reminder of the social order of society that failed to express and identify certain races1. Although many have argued that racial tensions leading up to the riots emerged from the attitudes of the various races, I stand that fashion choices chosen by the youth of that period played a substantial role in the insurgence. This paper explores the history of the suit, its social and political contexts, its connection to music as well as the implications of fashion choices during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Next, the Rollin 60’s Crips are a subculture of the Crip gang. There are thousands of smaller gangs who are Crips, but are not all from the same neighborhoods. It always was weird to me that there could be hundreds of Crip gang members, but they don’t all get along when they’re from different neighborhoods even though they represent the same things. The Crip gang’s main color is blue. They tie their bandanas on any part of their bodies to represent their flag. They’re known for tucking bandana half way in their back pocket on the left side. This special significance has been recognized visibly, but also in music lyrics. The gang is home to the streets of Los Angeles, California. Of course, there have been some members that have relocated to
...types of the Zoot Suit trend. Without El Pachuco’s presence in these scenes, the clarity of the issues would not have been put in the forefront of the play. Zoot Suit is a political play designed to display the Chicano struggle against oppression and injustice. Although Zoot Suit reaches back to a historical event for Mexican-Americans, the play concerns all ethnic minorities in America. The Zoot Suit is a historical image that embodies a form of agency imbued with political power and rebellion for Chicanos and Chicanas alike. This play is counteractive to the prejudice and misrepresentation of Zoot Suiters of the time and is a tool for historical education. Not only does this play educate those who were unable to bear witness to such discrimination, but it also displays the ways in which counterculture can be powerful and makes changes in society.
What ever happened to having your pants on your waist? It’s apparently now called a “fashion” to have them below your ass. Though sagging looks hideously ridiculous there is some history behind it I bet many of you do or don't know. For instance According to Greg Mathis, sagging was adopted in the United States prison systems where belts were sometimes prohibited to prevent prisoners from using them as a weapon or committing suicide by hanging themselves but that style was later popularized by hip hop artists such as snoop dogg and others in the 1990’s.
The movie “Walkout” is about the school system in East Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. During this time Mexican Americans were treated unfairly and were seen as second class citizens. The story goes through the different aspects that Mexican American/ Chicano students had to put up with within their own schools. They wanted and deserved equal education, but were constantly shut down by the city. This movie contains the four characteristics of Mexican American Art, which is what gives this movies such a strong and meaningful message.
The movie has a suburban setting inside a high school, and the characters each belong to one of the high school cliques: freak, princess, bully, jock and geek. At the very beginning of the movie when the characters are introduced, each of them are receiving a drive from one of their parents who is either too pushy, ignorant, or uncaring. Later on in the movie when each of the characters share their stories, they all reveal that their parents provide them with an unsatisfying home life. This rings true to the theme of missing or uncaring parents mentioned by Theresa Puchta. Although all of the characters are clothed to suit their particular part in the movie, they have been done so based on the latest fashions that certain clique adopted at that time. For example, it was “in style” for jocks to wear their school’s sport jackets, for geeks to wear the cardigans and khakis, bullies to wear leather jackets, weirdos to wear an assortment of clothing, and the popular girls to wear the fashion magazine trends. All of the characters are dressed in one of these ...
of the 1920’s. The fashion went from everything being the same to having so many different things to choose from.Therefore we can all have a different style to fit our personalities.
Chicano Park, is an area seventeen miles north of the United States-Mexico border in San Diego County. It was established in 1905 as Logan Heights and became known as Barrio Logan by the large Mexican population that exists in it. This population has a distinguished history that is told in the web site. One may think that this is the history of all Mexican-Americans, but it is not. The effect of certain events that occurred in Mexican-American history on this community and California, such as the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and the Chicano Moratorium march against the Vietnam war, is addressed. The major outcome of these events emphasized by the web site is the influence it had on art in the Mexican-American culture. However, the history and other effects on al...
Coming out of the war, conformity was a major fashion rule throughout men with miserable and restrictive fashion choices on offer. There was also not many options like today when it came to buying clothes. When a man was at work, it was only socially acceptable for his to wear a suit in the shade of either charcoal, dark blue or brown. The suit had to be nicely fitted
This made the style popular among hip-hop fans who liked following their idols. In 2000s this fashion remains popular, but it has recently made a comeback in the 2010s, with celebrities like Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Ludacris Justin Bieber and more bringing back the fashion trend. Sagging style in the 1990s was focused on baggy trousers with plaid boxers, but in the 2010s sagging has become popular with skinny jeans and branded boxer-briefs. When ingenuous young people see these images of the men they idolize, they think it is cool to dress like them, and they overlooked all of the negative reactions involved with it. Shawn Thomas is a 17-year-old high school student who sag his pants says. “It shouldn’t matter to people how I want to wear my pants, the key word I that being MY. I don’t tell older people I don’t like how they wear their clothes, so they shouldn’t say anything about how I wear mines”. According to many people, young man who wears sagging pants are criminals because the history of this fashion comes from the prison. In my opinion, there is a sad level of decency in this country, and its too bad people always jump the gun and point fingers when they have nothing better to do with their