A person can see that they are being oppressed and treated unjustly, but if they do not have the understanding of why they have been placed in a particular position, and if they do not have the tools to remove themselves from said position then their knowledge is useless. In the films Salt of the Earth and Cesar Chavez, the farmers and miners both have a general awareness that the treatment they are receiving is far past inhumane, however they feel powerless because they do not feel they have a place in society or history. Political consciousness is formed by the oppressed cultivating methods to regain a sense of self within history and society; riding themselves from their oppressors authority. Each film ended with the beginning of the process …show more content…
to political consciousness. In Salt of the Earth the eviction was the last scene in the movie, but it was an important scene due to the level of political consciousness that was reached.
In this scene, the men have gone hunting while the women have returned to the picket line. While hunting, Ramon begins to ponder on the argument that he had with his wife the night before, he remembers Esperanza stating that she didn’t believe that they, the women and the miners, were getting weaker, but rather she felt they were gaining strength, and the actual ones who were truly losing strength were the mine owners and the police. Back on the picket line, the women and children are alerting others about the eviction that is taking place while the police officers are removing the furniture from the house; as the news spreads, the crowd outside Ramon’s house increases. The men arrive and join the group of men, women, and children that have gathered around in support. The sheriff feeling overwhelmed and outnumbered gives up and the eviction is stopped. The officers and mine owners admit that they will have to settle. Ramon, who was opposed to the women being a part of the movement, now praises and thanks his wife, the men and the women for their dignity, realizing that if they all stand together they can accomplish more and go further. In this film, the characters were more ignorant to both their own individual positions in society as well as their position as a group; thus rendering them powerless against their
oppressors. In the Cesar Chavez film the Mexican-American farmers have more of an advantage than the miners, due to their knowledge. In Cesar Chavez the film, this scene comes after President Nixon promises the owners that he will sell their grapes in Europe, and the remainder will be bought from the Department of Defense for the soldiers. Although those around him feel defeated, Chavez is determined to continue fighting; thus he goes to Europe. Chavez is encouraged by Dolores Huerta and the other members of the organization that he should focus on human laws because Europe still protects the rights of workers. While in Great Britain (Britain), the UFW gains the support of the Transport and General Workers Union (whom endorses the UFW boycott); and the more educated people become about the injustices the farmers are fighting against they, UFW, begin to gain support throughout Europe from various religious groups, as well as the Pope. Chavez does a radio interview with BBC, and he meets with the longshoremen, whom refuse to dock and unload ships with Delano grapes. He even goes as far as dumping crates of grapes out into the water. All of these events cause a decline in growers resulting in a loss of money for the growers. Their grapes were no longer being sold and many farmers joint the strike, and stopped working (by the end of the film, there are no farmers in the field). One grower is seen, walking through the fields examining the grapes, which have dried up and have spoilt. The growers, now each shown as feeling frustrated, decide to negotiate with Cesar Chavez and the UFW. At the end, Chavez gives a victory, and everyone cheers.
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.
3. Throughout the movie, it was apparent that Dr. Francis and Dr. Gallo, displayed the same objective of wanting to discover the cause of AIDS; however, in terms of critical thinking, it’s obvious that they utilize different styles of critical thinking. To further explain, in one segment of the movie, Francis compares and correlates already known viruses that cause cancer, damage t-cells, and exhibit the same symptoms with what he thinks might be the cause of AIDS. However, Francis is comparing his fields of expertise in which he already knows and thinks might be true, not with what has been scientifically proven; therefore, he is using wishful thinking, a speed bump of critical thinking. There are also times in the movie, where Francis thinks
After Papa’s death, the property should go to Ramona. One day, a lawyer comes to their house to talk about the property. The lawyer didn’t come alone. Tio Luis, Esperanza’s Dad’s brother, came with him. Ramona looked a little shocked to see Tio Luis. This shows that Tio Luis didn’t see them in a while. The Lawyer and Tio Luis sit down and they tell Ramona that now, Tio Luis owns all of the property. Listening to this Ramona got a shock. She couldn’t believe that because after Papa’s death, the property should go to Ramona. Tio Luis was a little mean kind of person. He took everything from Esperanza and her family. One day, someone burns their house. No one knows who did it. When their house got burned they had to live in the servant's house. After few days are passed, Tio Luis comes to meet Esperanza and her family. This time, he has brought a new trouble for them. Tio Luis comes and asks Ramona to marry him. Hearing this, Ramona and her family got a big jolt. Tio Luis asks for an answer. Ramona didn’t reply anything, but in her heart she is saying
Men of all professions had gone, such as lawyers, physicians, miners, mechanics, merchants, senators, and gamblers (Wilson). Most of the men had abandoned their jobs and family to try their luck in finding gold. Luzena had went with her husband and brought along their two kids. She had remembered that “the travelers were almost all men” (Wilson). Since there were virtually no women to tend to the men’s needs, men often interacted with women they didn’t know. “A hungry miner, attracted by the unusual sight of a woman” had paid Luzena five dollars for a biscuit that she had made (Wilson). Thus, women became cooks, prostitutes, and owners of hotels. Luzena had a hotel called ‘El Dorado,’ where she had “twenty miners eating at my table.” (Wilson). That was how women typically made money, by providing services that are outside of mining, the ones essential for life, like eating. Luzena had also recalled a ball taking place in Nevada City, where “there were twelve ladies present and about three hundred men” (Wilson). This really portrayed the gender imbalance and demonstrated competition among men for even a dance with the
Esperanza finally comes to the conclusion that she does not need to fit into the mold of Mango Street. She also realizes that by making her own world, she can do bigger and better things and come back to help others on Mango Street. Not everybody can fit into the same mold and Esperanza made her own. . Esperanza leaving shows that she is a leader and hopefully she will have the others from Mango Street follow in her path. Maybe other people will fit into Esperanza’s mold or they will use her as an example. Esperanza used the other women as an example to make something of herself so all of the negative people she meets and has in her life, they made her the person she wanted to be.
Esperanza meets up with 3 elderly sisters at a wake. One of the older women affirms Esperanza’s secret wish to leave Mango Street, but makes her promise that she will come back one day. Esperanza tells Alicia that she feels like she doesn’t have a home but Alicia convinces her that like it or not that Mango Street is her home and no matter what she will have to come back to make Mango Street a better place because the mayor is
Esperanza begins as a very wealthy girl in Mexico, and doesn’t think about how lucky she is to have the privileges that she has. She can have almost anything she wants and has to do little work. Esperanza barely even thinks about the lower classes. They are not part of her life. But when her ranch is burned down and her father killed, she has to leave Mexico and enter the United States as an illegal immigrant. But by doing so, she is forced into contact with many people far less wealthy and well-off than her. When Esperanza enters Zacatecas to board the train, she is surprised that they are not in the fancy section. Instead, they are in a car with peasants and beggars. “Esperanza had never been so close to so many peasants before. When she went to school, all of her friends were like her. When she went to town, she was escorted and hurried around any beggars. And the peasants always kept their distance. That was simply the way it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would steal her things.” (p. 67). Esperanza has an obvious suspicion of the peasants during her train ride. She tells her mother that she cannot travel in this car , and that the people didn’t look trustworthy. A little bit into the trainride ...
Ferriss, Susan, Ricardo Sandoval, and Diana Hembree. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997. Print.
In Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez, by Margo Sorenson, two teenagers were not paying attention in history class, and their teacher assigned them Saturday school, pulling weeds. Kenneth and Aleesa weren’t friends, they were caught passing a note to someone. After, they started to work on Saturday, they both drank from a blue water jug, that sent them back in time. To the year 1965, where Cesar Chavez was helping out the field workers get their own union. By putting on a strike against the Schenley Company, who grow grapes in Delano, California, and sold them around the world. While, the teenagers were in the past, they lived and worked with the Lopez’s, Juan, Rosa, and their son Luis. Luis helped Kenneth and Aleesa understand what was happening during that time with the NFWA- National Farm Workers Association and the strike to get the workers a union of their own, and they all joined the NFWA. Which ended in the year 1970 and they were able to go back to their time. Both Kenneth and Aleesa were able to experience the strike first hand, and when they went back home, they wished that they had paid a little bit more attention in class, and that they were going to from then on.
Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
In many ways the movie was ahead of its time. The idea that wives were and should be treated as equals to their husbands was still new in the 1950’s. The change in the relationship between Ramon and Esparanza parallels the changing roles of women within marriages, in the decades since the movie was made. In the beginning Ramon is the perfect example of a 1950’s traditional husband, he wants to support his family from the outside and let Esparanza handle the kids and the home. Esparanza fulfills her duty as the traditional wife, and she works very hard. Esparanza and her husband are at odds throughout the film, over what role they each should be playing within their family and in the community. Ramon becomes a leader to the other men, he wants to fight hard for their safety in the mines, however when it comes to his wife and the other women in the community, their needs are not as important. Esparanza and the other women have plans of their own, they lobby the union to include their demands for adequate plumbing and sanitation. At first Ramon forbids her to participate in these activities, he believes her place is at home, and fears for her safety. When the strikers are told that they must stop picketing or go to jail, the women take it upon themselves to continue the strike. Ramon is still unable to let her be his equal, and fight
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
“Poverty and exploitation of women in Latin America can never be alleviated because they are rooted in machismo,” meaning that because of the way society was run in Latin American, women can’t advance from the ancient state of mind that they belong in the private sphere and should stay there, because only men are good enough to be out in the public sphere. The reason why society was run in this manner, was because of the machismo feeling engraved in the minds of men and, in some cases, women in society. Alicia, Carolina, and Nancy don’t really have any other choice, than try to survive on their own by doing acts that are not “approved” by the society they live in. Even now, because of their actions, we could even disagree with the way they decided to approach their situation, because even now a day, we could think that selling one’s body or being involved in “off the book”
The 2006 film V for Vendetta, a cinematic remake of the classic graphic novel series by the same name, is the epitome of a Marxist fairy tale. The film is complete with a bourgeoisie government who spreads their ideology, via mass media, to a citizenry composed entirely of proletariats, and a hero who sets out to break said citizenry from the prison of false consciousness. If one examines the setting and environment of the film, and follows the main characters as they fight against, or break free from, false consciousness, evidence of Marxist themes are present throughout the film.
The 2008 documentary The End of Poverty? is a film that focuses around global poverty and how it became the tragedy that it is today. Poverty was created by acts of military conquest, slavery and colonization that led to the confiscation of individual’s property and forced labor. However, today the problem remains because wealthy countries who take advantage of developing third world countries. The film interviews several activists who discuss how the issues became and several ways in which they could be eliminated, as well as interviews from individuals who are experiencing it firsthand.