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The difference between Hispanic culture and American
The difference between Hispanic culture and American
Cultural differences between Mexicans and Americans
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This Hispanic film titled "Under The Same Moon” makes a connection about the difficulties the Latino community must undergo without losing their values and traditions in order to provide for their families that were left behind. In addition, this film reproduces some of the complications my ancestors went through when they made the most difficult decision to migrate to the United State in a quest for a better life. It is not easy to decide to abandon your home country, customs and, most importantly, your family in a pursuit of a more stable daily pay rate. All this work hard to provide for the loved ones who stay behind waiting for their return. Despite the challenging, they faced they decide to cross the border until they reached the destination …show more content…
to a better paying job. Moreover, back then the discrimination was more aggressive than in today’s era. Since back in the days it was not allowed to mix communities or speak any other language than English. This kind of environment made it more difficult to live by. However, it demonstrates the immense love and dedication to providing for their families. As is shown in the film the Rosario, who is the mom crosses the border to the United States to give her son, Carlitos a better opportunity. While she was working two jobs, saving all she could to provide financial stability for her son.
Therefore, her utmost goal was to see her son one day and bring him to the United States legally. Also, this film explains the difficulties that Hispanic families face on a daily basis if they do not have the proper documentation to work legally. The fear of being detained from the border patrol and the discrimination from their employers is all worth it because they are supporting their families. Also, as shown in this film the Latino community work hard everyday to provide for their relatives with dignity and respect. Moreover, this movie also represents the traditions that continue from generation to generation, for instance, the birthday party in Hispanic communities must have piñata, music and all people are welcome. Also, another tradition is wedding celebration it’s a huge event even though is not too fancy, the music, the cake, and the relatives it makes a great “fiesta”. The main reason I have chosen this movie was that it provides an insight of what my ancestors walked through in order for my family to have a better life. In addition, it showed some of the traditions we celebrate in my own house such as the piñata, candy, music, cake, and
decorations. Moreover, this movie transmits the purest love a mother has for her children and that she is willing to sacrifice her life for them. Despite the difficulties that a mother must undertake everything is worth it to see the children happy and healthy. Therefore, this movie demonstrates the Hispanic culture, loyalty to their families. Just as in my cultural tradition, we all work together to achieve our dreams. We Encourage, Praise each other, we have each other’s back. Most importantly, we are a united community and stand by each other. This is what I love about my culture that despite the difficulties there is always a place to smile and be grateful.
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.
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.
By showing the historical struggle of Mexican immigrants to be equal members of American society, portraying the humble and unique characteristics of Fernando Valenzuela, and by emphasizing his incredible rise to fame, the film Fernando Nation introduces a new type of American dream. Fernando Valenzuela became the embodiment of the Mexican-American dream to many people. By understanding his story we can understand the hopes and dreams of many Mexican immigrants in America today.
Harvest of the Empire is a valuable tool to gaining a better understanding of Latinos. This book helps people understand how varied Latino’s in the United States are. The author also helped give insight as to how Americans reacts to differences within itself. It does this by giving a description of the struggles that every Latino immigrant faced entering the United States. These points of emphasis of the book were explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
On October 14th, 2016 in class we watched “Two Spirits” by Lydia Nibley. Basically the film explored the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder of the main character. Fred was part of an honored “Navajo” youth who was killed at the age of sixteen by a man who bragged to his friends that he was nothing but a “fag”. While walking home from a carnival he was chased by one of his friends. Once his friend caught up to Fred, he pulled him down from a mountain and smashed his head with a heavy rock. Fred laid there for five days straight where two young boys found his body lying there. He was labeled as a “two-spirit” who was possessed of balancing masculine and feminine traits. In the film, there are two parts that are put together effortlessly like the people it discusses. Most of the documentary focuses on Fred’s murder, but the real issues in the film were those of the lesbian, gay, and transgender community and how its members were viewed in a
Islas, Arturo. From Migrant Souls. American Mosaic: Multicultural Readings in Context. Eds. Gabriele Rico, Barbara Roche and Sandra Mano. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995. 483-491.
In a country full of inequities and discriminations, numerous books were written to depict our unjust societies. One of the many books is an autobiography by Richard Wright. In Black Boy, Wright shares these many life-changing experiences he faced, which include the discovery of racism at a young age, the fights he put up against discriminations and hunger, and finally his decision of moving Northward to a purported better society. Through these experiences which eventually led him to success, Wright tells his readers the cause and effect of racism, and hunger. In a way, the novel The Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle illustrates similar experiences. In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collided. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping at a canyon, struggling even for cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the hugest gap between the two races. Despite the difficulties American and Candido went through, they never reached success like Wright did. However, something which links these two illegal immigrants and this African American together is their determination to strive for food and a better future. For discouraged minorities struggling in a society plagued with racism, their will to escape poverty often becomes their only motivation to survive, but can also acts as the push they need toward success.
Jose Antonio Vargas’s article on My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant is a writing about his childhood journey from the Philippines to the United States as an Undocumented Immigrant. Vargas writes this article to emphasize the topic of immigrant and undocumented immigrant in the United States. He uses all three appeals: pathos, ethos, and logic in his writing, in specific, he mostly uses pathos throughout of his entire article with a purpose for the reader to sympathize and to feel compassion for him. The use of these appeals attract many readers, they can feel and understand his purpose is to ask for others to join and support other people who undocumented immigrant like himself. In addition, it gives other undocumented immigrant people courage
Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire a History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000.
Paper Moon, a 1973 American tragicomedy directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film Paper Moon dramatically depicts the Great Depression era in the Plains states of America. The artistic cinematography used throughout this film contributes to the overall historic feel. Shot in black and white with the period music, the stark settings help the viewer understand the personalities of the characters and their growing relationship with each other, plot of the movie and its setting.
It is impossible to talk about a Wes Anderson movie without acknowledging its stunning color palettes and quirky storytelling style. In one of his most exemplary works, Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson uses a warm color scheme that blends bright and desaturated colors that ranges from golden yellow, vermillion red, creamy beige, light brown, to even a hint of teal. His color scheme, which is reflected throughout the film’s props, sets, costumes, title design, and camera filters, effectively evokes nostalgia, establishes the summer-like, dreamy mood of the film, and creates a distinct contrast between the different moral values of his characters. However, in the chaotic stormy escape scene and in the costume of Social Services, the visual design deviates greatly from the film’s primarily warm color palette and instead, immerse their visual elements in a deep, dark blue color to show the contrasts in the mood of the story as well as the attitudes of the characters. Overall, Anderson’s visual
The American dream, as some may call it, is a cherished idea by those who may lack opportunities. For those in Mexico, it is something that is sure to have crossed their minds sometime in their life. The United States, to foreigners, has been looked at as a sign of opportunity and freedom from oppressive governments or unfortunate living conditions. The Other Side of Immigration takes a look at the Mexican nation and provides thought-provoking interview segments about the people still living in the nation who experience and observe the effects of immigration to the United States.
All of us most probably wish and strive to work towards a certain dream, goal, or utter accomplishment. When so is done, we experience satisfaction and happiness. Ups and downs are bound to be encountered throughout our journey, however, once we reach our goals, immense awards shower the hard work which has lead us to our dreams. In Joe Johnson's "October Sky", just is shown with a dynamic and shifting emotional environment with suspense and exitement, as part of the film adaption of the award winning memoir "Rocket Boys" (also known as October Sky) by Homer Hickam, Jr. Based on a true story, this biographical motion picture follows Homer Hickam, Jr, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik in
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home.