During this entire film we got to follow a few families in their struggles of being migrant workers, most likely illegally in the United States. Following these families and examining their ways of life gave me a huge insight into the real struggles these families face. This examination was a micro-level analysis of migrant workers and their role in society, as well as their interactions between family members. One thing that really gave me a different view on the lifestyle migrant workers and immigrants have was the fact that all they wanted was a good life for themselves and their family, but no matter how hard they tried they could not get to this point. Before this movie, I just assumed that these types of people simply did not work hard …show more content…
The work that these families followed was the harvesting of fruits and vegetables, throughout the United States. Doing only this work would clarify these families and other workers into a certain group, perhaps called the harvesters of the fresh fruits and vegetables. Once the products are harvested, they are then packed into crates, boxes, and other means of clustering items. The products are then delivered to there next destination. The next destination could be a wholesaler of these goods. These wholesalers can sell their products directly or maybe distribute them to retailers. The retailers them sell the fresh fruits and vegetables directly to the public. This creates a somewhat simple process from harvest to retail to customers. Each group has their own specific jobs that moves the process along to the next stage. These different jobs are each separate divisions of labor throughout the agricultural industry. Divisions of labor help to perfect the process within the industry. The reason that perfection of each stage of these processes are made possible is due to the fact that each division, or group of workers, can focus specifically on their one part of the process. Instead of having one person, or group of people, managing this whole chain of events, each group can really focus on what is important in their part of the process. In the case of the harvest this concept of division of labor …show more content…
Some of these stereotypes could be due the fact that they are in America illegally. The people of America who do not have the insight into these peoples lives think they are all rapists, drug abusers, drug dealers, thieves, and low lifes. These are all false stereotypes of the migrant workers we got to see in this film. The families travel to this country not to steal our jobs or participate in criminal activities, but to build a better life for themselves and their children. These stereotypes can lead to negative opinions and disrespectful behavior toward these people. This type of negative activity towards all migrant workers, or all Mexicans in America is truly a based on ignorance of the subject. As stated in the definition, a stereotype is sometimes true, and thus that is why they exist. The people who participate in these activities give the honest, hardworking immigrants that want only a better quality of life a bad name in our society if you are uneducated on the subject. The type of negative treatment that these immigrants can be subjected to could really damage ones self esteem and self concept. There is a laundry list of things that effect the migrant workers sense of self, especially in children, and this is just one more thing that they have against them when they are simply trying to make a better life for themselves. This film really helped to open my eyes to the
As showed in the film, Latino American often misrepresented and underrepresented both in front of and under the camera. American Hispanic often portrayed as lazy, unintelligent, greasy and criminal. Hispanic women often pictured comfortable sexuality as prostitution in film production; while Hispanic actors limit to criminal characters such as drug dealers, gangster, and provide the power for the white American. Audiences have less interaction with Latino in their real world might be easily framed by media images regarding the race and ethnicity. The lack of Hispanic history and culture understanding allows these media portrayals to change and form unfavorable behavior and attitude against Latino communities.
Latino portrayals in the media of theatre and movies have had negative affects for the Latino community but there are roles that are slowly becoming positive for their community. Not only have Latinos been portrayed negatively through stereotypes but they have also been ignored from American Media. When Latinos are actually present in different forms of media a very consistent type of Latino is portrayed. The words Hispanic and Latino already come with an image of that specific person who has dark features and an accent. When it comes to stereotyping Latinos in the media whether it be Hollywood or Broadway they tend to translate everything negatively through the roles they play. The audiences’ lack of understanding different Latino cultures allows the media to manipulate and reinforce myths on Latino communities. Rita Moreno from the film West Side Story had to overcome many stereotypes in order to achieve her fame. "Before 'West Side Story,' I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolita’s in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After 'West Side Story,' it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories”
Many of the statements and visuals portrayed are those that negatively illustrate how Mexicans and ...
Mexican immigrants in the United States are willing to work hard and long hours throughout the day regardless of the amount of sleep or rest they may get. Conversely, this is not how Efren Mendoza, a public city bus driver, views Mexicans and he believes they are not motivated to achieve things in life. One would assume that he would understand how difficult it is for immigrants to assimilate in a new foreign country without knowing anyone or anything here, but he is not on their side and it is somewhat hypocritical of him because he himself is Mexican. It is as though Efren sees his own people as invisible individuals because he does not acknowledge all their hard work and sacrifices they may have gone through in order to arrive in the United States. He further proves his insincerity when he mentions that the “new wetbacks [are] picky about what jobs they’ll do [and that they] half-ass [the] work” that they are given to do (77).
In my opinion, the most interesting part of Labor and Legality was “Meet the Lions”. Learning about each of the ten male Lions was so interesting and insightful. It opened up a new lense in my worldview. Obviously, I have not had experience with undocumented immigrants. I know nothing about what they do to get here, why they come here, etc. By reading personal accounts, my worldview was able to shift in a new direction. Not only do I now see that undocumented immigrants are needed in America, but they are people just like any citizen here. As said before, undocumented immigrants, like the Lions, do the jobs that most Americans do not want to do. Low paying jobs are the ones people steer clear of if they are older than 20 years of age. They are NOT stealing “our” jobs, they are taking the jobs that you do not want. They are hard working people who will work in stench, who will clean the dirtiest of bathrooms, and who will slave in the sun picking tomatoes for a better tomorrow for their families. I know nothing about the politics involved when it comes to immigration, but I do know that it is extremely difficult for an undocumented immigrant to get citizenship. I believe that if they are “found” here, they should be given the right to try to obtain citizenship, especially if they have lived here for so long. In one of the videos
There are many stereotypes set from race to race. Personally when it comes to Mexican immigrants, I feel like they have it rough as far as being called worthless basically implying that they have no intelligence. According to Murillo and Villenas the New Latino Diapora are “areas without traditional Latino presence to which Latinos have increasing moved over the past 15 years (Wortham, 3).” For a better understanding there are areas that are not set to a specific race or ethnicity. According to the reading it is normally located in Pennsylvania and other parts of the world. Many people these days believe that all Mexicans are the “same” in terms on who they are and what they do . This is where racialization comes into play. The dynamics of the different populations over the past years have implemented that there is a difference between the new Latina/o immigrants and other people who have been in the same space. In the Worthham article it stated that Meixcan-Americans African Americans do not work as hard as Mexican Immigrants. This actually makes sense to me because immigrants ha...
... over romanticized, as the U.S government is constantly making it more difficult for immigrants to become citizens, especially those from the global south. Furthermore, immigrants from the global south tend to be in the lowest income bracket, showing Marston’s interpretation in his film to be false.
A picture of a woman with her two children shows that not every family is the stereotypical family with two parents and responsibilities are spilt with gender roles. The tired eyes, wrinkled skin, and aging face illustrates the struggles that a woman has to face, physically and emotionally, for her family. It shows the individual worth of being a woman, as she is not only the caretaker for her children but also the provider for their needs, which is a generally a man’s responsibility that she is executing, even though many men couldn’t provide for their families as they lost everything they had. A woman during this era is expected to stay with the children and make their home a haven, and she was stripped of the ability to do that by the necessity to become a migrant. The image cues for emotional responses with economy, as there were a few families during the Depression that hadn’t been severely affected and at least had a solid roof over their heads, food to eat and clothing to keep them covered. This image portrays a clear distinction of social class issues in the United States during the time, and “Migrant Mother” shows people what the life if a migrant worker from a poor family is really like during times of crisis. It proves that the Depression was a systematic failure in the political, economic, and social spheres, and the poor pea pickers are suffering an outcome for something they hadn’t caused. Their living government in the image show that there has been no political or economic help extended to them by a failing government. The pea crop had frozen; there was no work. There was no opportunity for prosperity and success, no possibility for an upward social mobility for the children, there was no land in which life was better and richer for everyone. This wasn’t the American Dream that everyone grows up thinking because this was about a crisis that left the entire
Migrant workers have the stereotype of hard workers that are desperate for money. They are usually not very well educated. Most of them were strong but some weren't. Take Lennie and George for example. George wasn't very strong but was smart and Lennie was strong but dumb as a fence post. Like Lennie and George, all migrant workers wanted their own land to farm. They had few possessions and were independent. The workers liked to cuss a lot, get drunk on Friday nights, and were usually very poor.
Pre-industrial labor mostly consisted of farming and agriculture involving the entire family. In 1823, 97 percent of all Americans still lived in farms therefore the rural population and workforce was much larger than the urban population and workforce. The production and growing of food was used by the...
...y crossing the border does not bring any happiness in their life, actually makes their present life worse. Parents lose their children as a consequence of their wrong decision of sending their children to the United States, and then they have nothing to do, unless regretting. Even teenager abandoned by their parents, and taking their own decision to cross the border realizes that their temptation of getting a better life actually brings more frustration in their life because the path is very tough and most of the time impossible. Throughout the movie the logic, the evidence, and the reality she represents helps her to accomplish logos, ethos, and pathos which makes her argument strong. So it is obvious to say that Rebecca Cammisa’s argument the unaccompanied parents should not allow their unaccompanied children to cross the border is effective and convincing.
A stereotype about Asians that was witnessed in the movie is during the opening scene. When an Asian and Mexican driver had an accident for that reason the Mexican is being prejudice
Of course, there were so many stereotyping that appear in the film such as: the Iranian man who is called Osama or ties to terrorist - Black people don’t tip or more Gang bangers have tattoo and sagging pants. More at the beginning of the film, The Asian women who stated that “Mexicans don’t know how to drive they brake to fast”. Don Cheadle who treated his partner as Mexican when she is actually Porto Rican descendant.
The movie opens up with rural images of thousands of migrant workers being transported in trucks with a short introduction by Edward Murrow and some occasional interventions of parts of an interview made to the secretary of labor after he saw the impacting images, and to the different people who have seen the lives the workers lead. Most of the secretary’s commentaries depict the exclusion that these people have since they are basically people who are silently crying out for assistance to stop harvesting the fields of their shame, or at least to hope for potential raises and better work conditions. From Florida to New Jersey, and from Mexico to Oregon, these people including women and children travel around the states following the sun and the demand from the seasonal goods while working around a hundred and thirty-six days earning and average of nine hundred dollars a year.
At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate.