Tenoch And Julio Analysis

At the beginning of this course, we read the article Why Latin America? I was not sure that I knew much about Latin American other than the beautiful variety of cultures, the beaches and tourist sites, and the poverty in a lot of areas. I had seen documentaries on immigration and the conditions in some countries of Latin America all throughout high school, but I had never looked into Latin America outside of that class. I felt such a disconnection and while I knew in the back of my head that they were not so different from us, I felt that Americans had developed a lot of harsh feelings towards Latinos American people. From the Latin American films, I have learned that Latin America’s problems are not so different from the US’s, especially on

It is obvious that Tenoch comes from a wealthy family while Julio comes from a middle class family. These two characters may be best friends, but they harbor some feelings towards each other’s social class that the narrator actually brings up in the film. Noting that the boys live in different environments, the narrator acknowledges the fact that Tenoch always uses his foot to lift up the toilet seat in Julio’s home and Julio lights a match after using the bathroom in Tenoch’s home. Tenoch has a sort of demeaning attitude in this case towards those less than the upper class. On the opposite side, there is Julio who is trying to fit in better with the upper class, even though those in the upper class will always look down upon him because he is lower class. Neither teen may voluntarily admit to these actions, but that does no change the fact that they are inbred into them. Ultimately, these issues are not a Latin America only problem. In the US, the disconnection between the upper class and the working class makes it that much harder to integrate the groups. Those in working class may feel less than those in the upper class and may either try to fit in or completely feel out of place to the point were neither parties can really interact with each other. Even people who push pass working class and become elites are then considered “new money”. People of the “new money” status are often looked down upon by “old money” or people who have been born into the upper class. Being that there a few individuals who fall into the elite group, it is very hard to gain acceptance from the group. Just like Tenoch and Julio, neither party will necessary admit to their understandings of each other or attitude towards each other, but those feelings are still