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Immigration and the media
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Cheech Marin’s film, Born in East L.A., spotlights many key issues brought upon mainly by immigration. This comedic production hits the hearts to many because while it may be humorous, it is also a reality to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and so it hits close to home to many. Immigration is the main topic of this motion picture, but I want to focus on one subdivision of it only; language. The linguistic barriers in between a border is evident in the movie and especially a reality in our world. The film is concentrated on Mexican-American nationalism and immigration. In the beginning of the film, the main character sees himself more of an American rather than Mexican. He speaks fluently in English but does not know how to speak or comprehend proper Spanish. This is an example of involuntary language loss. Rudy, the main character, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, does not see himself as a white man but does not see himself as a pure Mexican either and is stuck in the in-betweens of both ‘Mexican’ and ‘American’ culture. Because of this, he is not of specific origin or descent but rather a Chicano. A mix between both cultures instead of just one. Early in the film when Rudy is instructed by his mother to pick up his cousin who is from Mexico at a toy …show more content…
Rudy symbolized the immigrant’s child and he also demonstrated how one’s language may become obscured with another. Cheech Marin brings awareness of the dangers an immigrant may go through and also to the lives of an American born child to Immigrant parents. This film is not only relatable but a call for an awakening to ignorance. Many people are able to watch this film and laugh, but behind their minds they are brought to acknowledge and correct the stereotypes and wrong perspectives that one may have about
Afterwards, in the 1990s films portraying Latinos would take a somehow new direction, one of the most famous filmmakers would be Gregory Navas, he directed the movie My Family/Mi Familia, a film that portrays the lives of a Mexican-American family and the difficulty that the couple faced in order to establish in the U.S. “by passing as immigrants and all the struggle to integrate their family in another country” (Peña Acuña, 2010). The film let the audience see a potential reality that most immigrants went through when they first moved to the United States and how the system worked differently and the way immigrants had to adapt not only to the system, but also to the language and culture.
She explains how Mexican and Chicano literature, music, and film is alienated; their culture is considered shameful by Americans. They are forced to internalize their pride in their culture. This conflict creates an issue in a dual culture society. They can neither identify with North American culture or with the Mexican culture.
The documentary is about a Honduran man named Johan who is trying to cross the border into the U.S.A. Although the man who plays Yohan (Gael Garcia) isn’t an actual immigrant, he interacts with real immigrants who show the daily struggles of crossing the border. An example of this is when he is in Mexico playing soccer at
Mexico is described as tragic-those who are of Mexican descent are often very traditional in thought. Rodriguez’s father held the traditional beliefs that old men are wise, that life is disheartening, and near one’s death is the point where one must look back on their life. However, he also feels that Mexico is a happier place, with sweeter children and more lavish funerals. Perhaps he views Mexico as the tragic place because it represents a lost heritage to him. He, who in his middle age, finds himself agreeing with the Mexican ideals, nevertheless finds himself affected by living in America. Instead of being raised with the ideas of Mexican culture, he was raised with Protestant optimism characteristic of California. He was forced to abandon the way of life of his ancestors, even if only partially. America-more specifically, California, conquered the Mexican ways, and in so doing, lost the opportunity to reconcile the Catholic South and the Protestant North. Thus, Mexico emerged as the tragic hero and California as the laughing victor. California is comedic because it is a place where it is possible to start anew, to defy the traditional.
This movie is based on changing the lives of Mexican Americans by making a stand and challenging the authority. Even when the cops were against them the whole time and even with the brutal beatings they received within one of the walk out, they held on. They stuck to their guns and they proved their point. The main character was threatened by the school administrators, she was told if she went through with the walkout she would be expelled. While they wanted everyone who was going to graduate to simply look the other way, the students risked it all and gave it their all to make their voices
Danny came from a family where his mom is white and his dad is Mexican. He was made fun of at school for being white by the Mexican kids and made fun of for being Mexican by the white kids. He tried out for the baseball team, and they made fun of him for not making it because he was Mexican. He didn’t fit into any group. So that summer he went to stay with his aunt, uncle, and his cousin Sofia, in National City, California. He was in a place where everyone was Mexican. Even though he was Mexican he still didn’t fit in because he was also half white. He didn’t know any Spanish like the rest of his friends and family did in National City. That made him feel left out when they would speak in Spanish. They still accepted him though.
Also, as immigrant this affects Zainab and Mauna, because it allows them to see the injustice and the oppression in immigration system. The film illustrates how society labels illegal immigrants as outside the norm, marginalized Tarek. Immigrant are being deported and exposed to the injustice system.
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
The writings of Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez’s depicts a bilingual story based on two differing culture. On Mother Tongue, “Tan explores the effect of her mother’s “broken” English on her life and writing” (506). On the other hand, Richard Rodriguez “recounts the origin of his complex views of bilingual education through Public and Private Language” (512). From a child’s eyes, Tan and Rodriguez describe each joys and pain growing up in a non-English speaking family. Hence, may be viewed that cultural differences plays a major role on how one handles adversities.
In the film “Bordertown”, the protagonist, Johnny Ramirez ultimately finds solace, happiness and satisfaction in the aftermath of his own failure. If one were to believe the notion that we are all at a fixed station in both life and society, then the Mexican protagonist’s ambitions and their disastrous outcomes would only serve to bolster this opinion. This is, however, what the film “Bordertown” attempts to convey to its audience. As Johnny Ramirez ambitiously sets out, attempting to acquire material success, in the world outside of his neighborhood, he finds only offers of wickedness and corruption. His final retreat back into his barrio is where he finds goodness and love. This film, then, suggests that not only should Ramirez not have bothered in his undertaking, but that any venture outside of one’s own “station” or “place” would put that person out of his or her natural element. The results of this can be dangerous or disastrous. The film’s message is clear: Stay where you belong.
The film tells two distinct stories. The first story is a light hearted ethnic comedy about the growing friendship between an Italian American (Bruno, a man with little positive to say about illegal immigrants finds himself working with one in this film) and a Mexican immigrant (Ignacio) both struggling with their co-dependency for each other and the stronger need for a paycheck. The second story tells us about just how uncertain the life of a migrant worker can be.
The movie starts out with Oshinica (Oshi) and her Sephardic conservative family coming to Mexico from Turkey. Even from the moment they step off the ship, the feeling of not belonging is very obvious. They mainly speak Ladino and are unable to find where they are going in this new, strange place.
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...
This movie takes place in Los Angeles and is about racial conflicts within a group of people which occur in a series of events. Since there are a wide variety of characters in this movie, it can be confusing to the viewer. In the plot, Graham is an African-American detective whose younger brother is a criminal. His mother cares more about his brother than Graham and she wants Graham to bring his brother back home, which in turn hurts Graham. Graham?s partner Ria is a Hispanic woman who comes to find that her and Graham?s ethnicities conflict when she had sex with him. Rick is the Los Angeles district attorney who is also op...