The movie A Day without a Mexican was an interesting movie, to say the least. I actually don't know if I really liked it. Yes, I understand that a lot of it was said in a way to show the racism that really exists. However, I still felt as though a lot of it was a little too much. The movie covered a lot of interesting topics. One that I found most interesting: the movie discussed a lot of people’s feelings and problems with the Latino population, and immigrants in general. When the Latinos disappeared, some people were happy at first. They were glad that the people who “had taken their work” were gone. However, once a short amount of time passed, many people realized how hard they worked and how many things depended on their hard work. This appeared within several of the families in the film. First, the family that owned the farm: the farm owner was unhappy from the beginning. He appreciate the hard work of his workers and treated them as they were employees, not based on their race. However, his son had a different view. He was happy that the Latinos were gone. He had a view as if they shouldn’t be here in the first place so why not get an American to do the work. However, when they tried this, the prisoners ran off and the others weren’t hard workers. This made the owner appreciate his employees that much more and it never seemed to change the son’s mind.
Another example of this is the Abercrombie family. The Senator was very racist against the Latinos. His wife hired painters to paint their house, and trying to keep it within the budget she had been given. However, when she brought Latino’s home to have them paint, he automatically assumed they were illegal and threw them out. Then, once all the Latino’s disappeared and reappeared, he realized how much could not run without their work and began to see them as humans not just Mexicans, especially since not all of them were from Mexico. These are just two of the many examples from the movie.
The movie was supposed to be a humorous exaggeration of the racism that occurs against Latinos. One thing the movie made me realize is the prejudices that some people actually have. I cannot imagine judging a person based on their race. We all come from different backgrounds so how does that change our ability to work and function in society? The movie opens my eyes to the many prejudices that people act on every day and it makes me sad that people are being judged like this when many people come simply to find a job to be able to support a family.
I also feel sad when I think about the automatic prejudices that some carry against the latino community, or any community that is different for that matter. I don't know how I really felt about the movie either. It was certainly interesting. I'm not sure if I could say that I liked it a lot, but the issues brought forth were worthy of discussion, and I believe the movie's exaggeration helped in effectively portraying prejudice and consequences that California would suffer without the presence of the latino community.
ReplyDeleteThe impact that each person has on another is incredible, and I think the movie did a good job emphasizing that as well.
Krista, I also agree with Mandy and you when it makes you sad to think about the prejudices often carried against any community of people who are "different." In an ideal world, all people would be able to be judged by the merit of their works, not the color of their skin. But, until that day happens, I think it's also important to be aware of race and to consciously attempt to treat people in the way that we wish to be treated--for me, that means with fairness and equality.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think it's also important to realize that in our culture, it is nearly impossible to not have any sort of prejudice. You say that you cannot imagine judging a person based on their race... which very well may be true. But, are you prejudiced based on other things? Religion, gender, socioeconomic status?
I agree with the Mandy and Lavonne: people act on instant prejudices based on what they believe, and what they were taught. I also agree that in an ideal world, as Lavonne says, there would not be prejudices based on the color of someone's skin. But unfortunately that is not the reality we live in. Not being aware of race doesn't seem to me to be a good way to treat racism. It happens, and the people who are being judged are aware of the racism. In order to work for that day when race isn't the first impression people have, then people need to be aware of how they treat others, and how they think themselves should be treated.
ReplyDeleteKrista, I agree with your analysis of the movie. It was clearly a work of satire, blowing up and heightening peoples perceptions. I also agree, that it is extremely unfortunate that people allow these stereotypes and prejudices to define the way they live and interact with people, even if they had no intentions of doing so.
ReplyDeleteWatching this movie made me think of a song from the musical Avenue Q, titled “Everyone’s a little bit racist.” The point of the song is to highlight the fact that everyone, no matter how much they might try to say otherwise, is often racist. One of the difficulties in dealing with this is that often times, as the song says, racist thoughts may be based on a truth the individual holds. They may have had a really bad experience with someone, and that subsequently influences all of their interactions with people “like” them. The second––and I think most relevant––point the song makes is that, though everyone exhibits racist thoughts occasionally, it’s a lot easier to see it in others. It’s not easy to see those thoughts in yourself.
Good points raised in this discussion. Our brains make shortcuts based on prior knowledge. If we couldn't represent the world to ourselves and each other based on categories, we could never get beyond details. On the other hand, those categories need to be constantly revised--otherwise, we act based only on incomplete stereotypes. The trick is knowing that we have prejudices and being will to revise them. (I know plenty of people who don't think their prejudices towards others are in need of revision.) In the case of understanding Latinos, it's also tricky, because what makes someone Latino? Race? Culture? Nationality? Language? Most people in this world are not going to take the time to developed a nuanced understanding of "others" unless they are motivated.
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