The Ideas Of Collective Memory In John Sayles's Lone Star

In 1996, John Sayles embarks on an impelling journey of rediscovering the past in the movie Lone Star. A dead body in the desert turns up, which Sam Deeds believes is Charlie Wade, Rio County’s former sheriff. Sam’s father, Buddy Deeds, was a legend in their small town. Sam tries to uncover the truth of how Wade died and if his father was in any way connected to his murder. As the viewer watches the movie, the plot moves from the present to the past to uncover the mystery. As a result of uncovering the past, collective memory is a common theme in the movie. Collective memory involves a community or a society that has a common set of feelings, beliefs, and knowledge about the past (Schwartz 2007). The conflicting ideas of past events further

As mentioned in lecture, Alessandro Portelli says that a memory being true is not as important as the function of the memory (Lecture Jan. 9, 2018). White people's collective memory is more superior than those of less dominant groups. The textbook that the parents were debating is an example of the exertion of power and authority. The main reason for the war between Mexico and America was due to the fact that America needed more land for slavery. The textbooks, which were written by white men, exclude these facts, and instead glorify the brave acts of the Americans. The dominant society, white upper class men, is using their collective memory to stay dominant over other groups. These textbooks paint a better picture of American history because their standards need to remain at the top. While it uplifts their dominance, it is also enforcing the oppression of Mexicans. The narrative of the oppressed is being silenced to justify white culture superiority. It is interactions such as the parent meeting scene that allow this to continue to happen and proves that memory is shaped by power and

Hispanic, such as food, music, and language, impact the culture of Rio County. This is due to the geographical border. This is also known as hybridity, which means that something belongs to many communities and is a mixture of identities (Lecture, Jan. 9, 2018). Though this may be true, there are many people who disagree with the mixing of communities. For example, Cody explains to Sam as they sit at the bar that he wants to keep a dividing line between each race to run a successful civilization (Lone Star). To believe there should be no mixing in cultures means that they have selectively forgotten certain aspects of their history. The land that Rio County sits on once belonged to Mexico. All the people of Mexican descent who once lived in this area would continue to stay in the area they once resided in. As a result, over the years as the original inhabitants and the Americans continue to move to and live in the same area, a mixing of culture is inevitable. For those like Cody believe that whatever land they are on belongs to them, and anyone not like them who are on their land are outsiders. They choose to forget the history to justify the prejudice of other