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- Reading responses are due by 8pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I found “Lone Star” to be a complex movie to follow, it had diverse point of views, and different time lines going on throughout the film. It was interesting to see how so many cultures can arise in John Sayles border town; as one character says, “We got the whole damn Menudo down here” The diverse ethnicities and lives of these characters represent the people that come from all different walks of life, and they all have their own distinctive perception about what it is to live in a border town. Although there were many different conflicting scenes and characters, what aggravated me about this film was not the discrimination that Mexican-Americans were exposed to by the Anglos, but the one they faced from their own paisanos. As Mercedes Cruz owner of the Santa Barbara Café employs immigrant workers, she insists they speak English since they are in America now. I found her character to be contradictory, as she was able to break the mold and become a business owner which was admirable, but she also seemed to have disdain toward her own people and culture. I couldn’t understand why she was so disapproving of migrants who just wanted to have a better life in the United States, people who crossed illegally just like she had done years before. Was it her way of showing tough love? Or was it just her deep struggles with assimilating to the American culture that made her scornful of her own heritage? Overall the film depicts some of the deep sociopolitical issues that we face in the borderlands, lands of mixed cultures and ambiguous perspectives. (271)
ReplyDelete-Víctor D. Gaytán
“Forget the Alamo” provided me with greater insight into the real meaning of the film. As I read, one of the predominant themes of the movie is the ability to interpret evidence in various forms. However, still, evidence may be wrongly altered and modified by the hands of evil doers. Like the history of the Alamo, the past can become twisted and turned in all directions but the “right” way. Can it be called history then if it did not happen the way it has been told for all these years? I agree with Adams and the film as they argue that America is a multicultural nation, and there is much of factual history that we do not know of. The making of the film is a great sight to behold because it brought and continues to bring awareness and clarity to the history of the Alamo. In doing so, it justifies the Mexican American population, and it helps shed light on their voices. Evidence cannot be based off someone else’s stories, but rather, evidence should be sought after, researched, and searched for to receive the truth. Many today continue to believe the wrong stories of the past, and people such as Adams and Sayles have contributed to shifting the minds of these people.
ReplyDeleteCeline Brianna Salas
Lone Star by John Sayles was very interesting in my perspective. It contained a lot of riches and it is not like other films I have seen before. At the end of the film, I learned that we should appreciate the film a little more than usual. The film explores a huge array of cultural, racial, economic and familial tensions. Strong characters were involved in this film and these characters showed great emotions and clear dramatic force. The film is about watching a whole town, perhaps a whole society, emerging from such long shadows. It’s funny in a way because in every topic we have covered we come to learn that Mexican-Americans were being discriminated like usual by the Anglos, but they were being discriminated by their own paisanos which is crazy to even think about. Mexican-Americans are somehow or some way being discriminated in way that is unfair. It just makes me wonder like why don’t people like us? I’ve always thought it is important to fight for what you believe in especially if it involves your culture and where you come from. My mother is one to relate as she struggled with discrimination when she was at a young age and she always reminds me that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can succeed. Overall, the film was great and I really enjoyed it as it dealt with many issues and even had some mystery in it which I love in movies.
ReplyDeleteMichael Garcia
The Lone Star film and Forget the Alamo: Thinking about History in John Sayles “Lone Star” give readers an insight on the tensions created and the conflicts that occur in a so-called melting pot. Anna Adams in Forget the Alamo states that in this context “there are many borders besides the physical Mexican/United States border. The film presents borders between the past and the present, between white, black, and Mexican, between truth and lies – borders that are difficult to maintain.” (343) The film addresses the difficulties between living in a binary world, where we view things as either one thing or another. Race, culture, and color all exist on a spectrum therefore when we try to stereotype and categorize a group of people as either bad or good because of these characteristics we fail to see their identity through a logical point of view. We see a lot of this not only the film but in general, where racial profiling and discrimination takes place against minorities. Therefore, some themes in the film that are also addressed in the reading are an important part of Mexican American studies considering we learn about the individual through an intersectional point of view.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Juarez
The article "Forget the Alamo" and the movie "Lone star" were both very eye-opening to me. We had read about borders, and Gloria Anzaldua made a great job when writing that there are more than physical borders that keep us from dreaming bigger, or accomplishing our dreams. However, there was something else in this article and in the movie that made something click in my head.
ReplyDeleteHistory is part of a border created in our minds. What I mean by this is that depending on who writes history and how it is portrayed (even if it is accurate or not) will have a very tremedous effect on other people. The future generations will have this border in their heads shaped by many other things that will keep them blind to the truth. Fear, discrimination, superiority, insufficiency, all are borders that are shaped by what we see, read, and believe. that is why the accuracy of history should be of great importance. In the film, we see discrimination coming from the same hispanic race which seems very odd and almost shocking, but it is true. I've herad my dad say before that in el puente las muejeres "mexicanas" son las mas cabronas. By this he means that the Mexican american border patrols are the less flexible when letting you cross, and indeed I've notice some might be more strict looking and many times I've felt like they were against me, and this indeed is shocking because they look just like me and my family from the other side, but I've realized it's just a border in their heads shaped by history and other outside sources.
the power of perspective is big, and it can create borders bigger than those that we can see and touch. The worst part is that these border are in a place that no one can reach, so it becomes extremely hard to destroy them.
Ingrid Davila
In the following article and film, my thoughts were all over the place. I felt so many things such as anger or was just like "What is going on?" I loved this film for the reason that scenes have different meanings. The movie presents borders but not only between Mexico and U.S.A which is the biggest conflict. He also places borders between ethnicities. When reading "Forget the Alamo", it was a little more interesting because we read about the thoughts and things discussed that weren't brought up in the movie. Mexicans have made/brought many kinds of traditions that some Americans call theirs. The fight of Alamo is a perfect example. It hurts me to see how ignorant people can be and up to this day, discrimination still happens disregarding the rights that protect all of us. Just because these rights are guaranteed to protect us, it still doesn't protect us from the daily talk of discrimination. Trump being an example. The article also states how some people, in this article it was Pilar, was ashamed of being a Mexican. It hurt me that people were so shamed of where they came from because they were afraid of being turned down. It was like an expectation. No one should ever feel ashamed from where they came from. I feel like your ethnicity is a big part of who you are and who you can be.
ReplyDeleteYARAZETH RAMIREZ
In the film "Lone star" and the article "Forget the Alamo", I was rather shocked to find out the racism and bigotry that fueled the formation of my home state. In Texas history and American history, I was taught that the Mexicans were fighting against the Americans for land that Americans already had. I was taught to criminalize my own ancestors' past. Upon learning that the Alamo and the war for Texas was fueled through imperialism, colonialism, and racism, I am mad at my schools for teaching me different. This just goes to show how degrading and wrong history classes are, and why Mexican American studies should be taught in public schools across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. These brave Mexicans had the courage to stare Imperialism in the face and show these disgusting hateful bigoted men that Mexico is powerful, and that we were not going to take any of their oppression. It amazes me that American history would straight up lie and say that Mexico was stealing land that was "Rightfully America's". It makes me even more frustrated that they have the guts to say that "Immigrants are Illegal". If Immigration is wrong and illegal, they need to build a wall on the Canadian border. They also need to check themselves, and imperialism, since this land is not theirs. White people are the immigrants, and the hypocrites, and this is why our history is important.
ReplyDeleteMichael Gonzalez
This film was very interesting because we were able to see a different perspective from a small town in the United States. There was a lot of mixing of cultures that make up the whole United States which can be more attracting. In other words, as explained in the article, America is a multicultural nation and the president is trying to change this. I believe that trying to change this till now is very difficult, especially because some people have lived in this country for decades already and it isn't fair to kick them out. What I enjoyed about this film is that it focuses on various issues that affect us today like cultural, racial, and especially economic. It is sad to see that all of this discrimination against the Mexican- Americans have been around for many years. It is important to realize that we live in a binary world like discussed in class and we should learn how to share the country because there is nothing wrong with having people migrate to give their families a better socioeconomic life. I understand that there is a physical border but still that shouldn’t divide us from each other. I think that since Donald Trump is against many cultures and race, Americans think that it is okay to treat us worse than before because the most important man in the United States doesn’t like us. (233)
ReplyDeleteBruno Morales
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ReplyDeleteIn all honesty this film " Lone Ranger" was a little hard for me to follow. And reading the article Forget the Article Thinking About History in John Sayles' Lone Star, one of my favorite sections the part that mentions where he is in the cell and the cellmates are having a conversation between each other and they're talking about history. "Y pues? So it is a lie. Nothing changed in my heart between then and now. History will call me a traitor because some comemierdas couldn't shoot straight." "It depends on who writes history" "Or rewrites"," offers a third mate. "Then history is a puta... What she says depends on which guy is up her bollo."" This little convo between them really has me thinking a lot, and I found it really interesting because they really had a point. For the longest time, you know like when I was growing up I was always taught to have pride in the Alamo and the people who fought for it, but obviously after taking this course you can obviously see the reality and the story behind the Alamo. And they make a very unique point there because it really does show who's side your on to dictate which are the bad guys and which are the good guys. But like I said, growing up, they always told us about how the texans were the good guys and the Mexicans were the bad guys.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Lopez
In this week’s article “Forget the Alamo” and the film “Lone Star” were both something worth watching and reading. The film gave lots of different scenes with lots of different meanings. It kind of reminded me of what we studied with Gloria Anzaldua’s book, “Borderlands La Frontera” because of how she does talk about borders. It kind of sucks how because of the fight of The Alamo, Mexico and the United States created a border, separating Texas from Mexico. I find it ironic how now with our new President, racism and discrimination is booming, shaming Mexican Americans more than ever. They discriminate saying that we should go back to our country but when really Texas was once part of our country. Then we have some people raising their kids to shame on the Mexican Americans when they are Mexican American decendants as well. I feel like no one should shame anyone, and for sure no one should be ashamed to BE a Mexican American. Despite the fact that we are children with no actual country to call ours because we are not Mexican nor American, we still show pride for both countries. Somos huerfanos sin pais, pero huerfanos muy orgullosos.
ReplyDeleteGiselle Sanchez
The reading by Anna Adams assisted me in getting a much deeper comprehension to John Sayles film “Lone Star” as it connects the diverse point of views between all the characters. The movie alone was an astute representation of the nature of history and exhibited culture and familial strains of pressure. One thing that I liked about Sayles timeline is that he uses some of Frontera’s inhabitants as metaphors for political history. Although history is eminently revisitable, in page 340 it mentions “just as individuals cannot escape their families histories, the town cannot escape its past,” which I find to be completely true as one cannot simply change what’s already happened but only try to interpret the moral behind the situation. Something I could absolutely relate to from these resources was the way the white members in the reading wanted the history of the Alamo to be told as I too remember Mexicans being displayed as indolent, inferior, cowards, etc. I recall being told the stories of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, two American soldiers, but never did I hear about the side of the Mexican army. I was glad to have seen how a Mexican parent was able to stand up to the Anglo and explain how it is all just propaganda because in the end that’s all it really is when it comes to any sorts of media. There are always going to be two sides to a story but as mentioned in the beginning of the reading, “it all depends on who is writing the history.”
ReplyDeleteAdrian Martinez
I had never seen the movie “Lone Star” before this. It is a movie that I would not watch on my own because I was not aware of it but I would definitely recommend it to others now that I have watched it. I thought this movie had a great plot and message overall, it was very clear. There was a lot of reflection made by each of the characters. This movie shows a great overall view on the life style people had back in the day. One of the things that impacted me greatly was the amount of corruption that played a role in this movie. Throughout the movie in general we saw many examples of this when they would show the flashbacks of Sheif Wade. Something else that stood out to me was the real history of the lady that owned the restaurant (Pilar’s Mother). I found it extremely shocking the way she acted by denying where she came from and pretending she wasn’t a Mexican. She would say that she was superior to all of her employees which were majority illegals from Mexico, but ironically she would call border patrol every time she saw other illegals and would offend refer to them as “them wetbacks”. At the end of the movie she finally opened her eyes when she saw that Enrique’s wife needed medical assistances, so she decided to take her to a doctor who was a friend of hers without having them to pay her back and not calling the border patrol.
ReplyDeleteBrandi Rae Rodriguez
From “Forget the Alamo” and “Lone Star” one can find the diversity in these films from point of views to character roles. The films do make a difference in letting us show how the events happened and having them play in front of us, but it does not always mean that the impact of the even was such great change on how the world is today. Some events as such as the Alamo play a minor role in history that compared to other events or battles, the Alamo is somewhat not a role at all. Because of the films is that events as the Alamo because noticeable and popular but do not always shine the light on what really happened or on how important it is because it is based more on entertainment for the students to get their minds interested in the subject. I remember watching “The Patriot” back when I was in middle school and the only reason why I was watching the movie was because of Heath Ledger! Once Hollywood as set their hands on a historical event, it has to be improvised and changed to where it can become engaging for the audience rather than focusing on what really happened and setting a point of view of both sides. I feel like that every time I watch a history film, it makes me question every scene because it is either too amazing to be true or too real for it to have had actually happened.
ReplyDeleteAshley Escalante
This was the first time I watched the film “Lone Star” and I really liked how they portrayed some of the stories that were happening, for example one character that really got my attention was Mercedes who was the owner of the local restaurant, and how his personnel was composed of immigrant workers. At first, the personality of Mercedes was mediocre, instead of supporting his own people she was acting as if she was Anglo. When she was in his restaurant she was taking advantage of some immigrants that she had, but I think it was not very gentle how she called border patrol whenever she saw immigrants in his land, but I am happy that at the end she proves that she also has a heart and is willing to help others just as she remembers how someone help her. “Forget the Alamo” by Adams provides a more detailed story of the film, I find it interesting when all the teachers, fathers and administration are arguing about how Pilar is teaching history in a way that Anglos are not seen as heroes. I remember that on one previous reading it also mentioned the battle of the Alamo and I remember that it also shows how Mexicans are portrayed as bad people, which is not true.
ReplyDeleteLuis Reyna
The film provided, ‘Lone Star’ and the reading “Forget the Alamo,” by Anna Adams I was shown the idea of perspectives. Adams begins with stating that history is subjective and it entails all different perspectives. The film showed many different backgrounds and stories that history contains. It represents that there is not one form of history but instead there are many different people. The history of something can be very different for the other. It might be your history, but you are not the only one that went through it. For example, when the Anglos gained ownership of Texas land it was seen as a victory. The Mexicans were seen as dirty old villains. But in reality Texas was the home of Mexicans, my heritage. They were taken away from their land, families were ripped apart, homes were taken. And not only that but after their land was taken Mexicans were brutally terrorized for the mere fact that they were Mexicans. There was one scene in the film where the teachers were explaining to the students’ parents the history they were teaching. The white people felt offended because they were teaching their children false history. But who is to say it was false? When you look at it we are living in the United States ad this country does not want us to know the truth behind what really happened with the Alamo and what really happened when the Europeans settled to this land, taking it away from the Native Indians. These teachers were showing all parts of the story, rather than limiting them to see how “great” our country is. I might have gone off topic with this one but the film and the reading opened up many thoughts that have to deal with perspectives and I guess you can say biased history.
ReplyDelete-Alma De La Llana
“Lone Star” is a very complex film, although, at first it was hard for me to follow. I was fascinated by the mystery of history and the development of ideas throughout the film. This film encloses not only secrets from the past, but also many different borders such as racial, cultural, physical, and emotional. Nonetheless, John Sayles does a very good job in crossing each border.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I liked the most about this film is that every single character had an important role in the plot and the fact that Sayles gives every character equal time and representation. One example is the elderly widow sitting in her porch playing with what appears to be a gameboy, although she only appears in the film for a short period of time, she made a great impact with her words when Sam asked her if she or her husband ever complained about Wade’s atrocities and she replied, “not if you were black or mexican”. For me, those are very strong words, the message behind those words is one of racial discrimination.
After reading “Forget the Alamo” I was able to understand the film, I was able to see and understand different concepts of the film. I couldn’t agree more with Dr. Adams that “Lone Star” is a masterpiece, a brilliant exploration of the nature of history. Through this reading I had the opportunity to reflect on many aspects of my life, not only my past, my present, but also my future history.
Rossy Tapia Cervantes