Latino Gangs in Movies Essay - 745 Words

Latino Gangs in Movies American filmmakers of the late twentieth century portrayed Latinos as merciless pursuers of the American Dream. The Latino immigrants were characterized as Urban Bandidos, seeking the path to ultimate wealth and power in a society dominated by Anglo authority. West Side Story, Fort Apache, and Scarface each portrayed the Latino character differently, but commonly depicted the Urban Bandido as a man in search of money and power in America. Not only do these immigrants fight for the warped American dream, but they often fight without fear, willing to risk almost anything to reach the top. In West Side Story, the Puerto Rican gang known as the Sharks always gets blamed for the conflicts that arise†¦show more content†¦Newmans partner in the film who is engaged to a young Latina woman, pressures his future wife to sleep with him and she eventually gives in to her strong Anglo man against her original beliefs opposing sex before marriage. Fort Apache displays the widespread view that Anglos had more power in a hierarchical society, while Latinos were left weak and without control over their actions and values. Scarface portrays the Latino immigrant from a different perspective, as we can see in the character of Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. He is a Cuban refugee willing to hurt anyone and do anything to gain power and wealth in the United States. He and his friends use guns, drugs, and sex to push to the top of the power chain, while of course pursuing the innocent Anglo woman. Once again we see the portrayal of Latinas as subordinate, weak and submissive to the domineering, overprotective male. We also see the same conflict over loyalty that we viewed earlier in West Side Story, but here the Latino puts family before all and kills his best friend in a rage of jealousy over the friends relationship with his sister. In WSS, the loyalty lies with the lover instead of the family, as we observed when Maria continued to love Tony after he killed her brother in cold blood. Whether snorting cocaine, killing old friends, or selling their bodies, the Latinos in theseShow MoreRelated Portrayal of Latinos in Film Essay529 Words   |  3 PagesJewish girl and Catholic guy. From there on movies shifted from their portrayals of Latino males as Latin lovers to urban banditos. Films changed from problems involving women, sex, and love to delinquency, drugs, and gang fights. Movies such as West Side Story, Scarface, and Fort Apache, the Bronx, all use Latinos as scapegoats to focus the problems of society to the immigration of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. West Side Story shows Latinos as invaders of Anglo-American territory, whichRead MoreMedia s Portrayal Of The Black Age Of Media Essay1393 Words   |  6 Pagesthem in movies along with entertainment? How do films speak to issues of gender, difference, history, and cross-cultural relationships? Let us try and answer some of these questions in detail. American society is made up of immigrants whether the white majority or the colored minority. There are mainly four racial/ethnic minority groups in America, broadly defined as Native American, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans (Zhang). These minorities are underrepresented in the movies relativeRead MoreLatino Community At Risk Youth Focus Group Of Forsyth County1130 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Unidos† Gang Prevention Welcome, to our Latino community at-risk youth focus group of Forsyth County, in North Carolina. Our mission of the â€Å"Unidos† Gang Prevention and Education Program is to lower gang involvement, violence, with providing education, knowledge, community and family involvement. This program will target Latino students from ages 11-17 that show involvement to be at risk of being a member or have affiliations with a street gang. However, all students are welcome. The program willRead MoreThe Movie Crash Film Analysis1473 Words   |  6 Pagesassociated with class. In addition, wealthy individuals were rated as more intelligent, making better grades, and making friends more easily than poor individuals (Woods 2005). Media and Hollywood film continuously perpetuate these image in the majority of movies that are seen. On a daily basis, one has the ability to witness individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each other, there is, although unspoken, levelsRead MoreThroughout The Course, We Have Learned How Race And Discrimination1931 Words   |  8 Pagesmore present than ever thought. When looking at topics, such as, colorism we have to first take a look at the history behind it. In the journal article â€Å"Skin-color Prejudice and Within-Group Racial Discrimination: Historical and current Impact on Latino/a Populations†. We can go all the way back to the conquest of Latin America and look at the massacres and oppression of the people was to civilize the people of the communities that Europeans came across that were different form them. Then duringRead MoreSolutions For The Youth Violence1520 Words   |  7 PagesSolutions to Our Youth Violence Gang and youth violence has become a seemingly unfixable issue in countries around the globe. Zooming in on America, the U.S government has made efforts to keep gang violence under control through the try and failed method of mass imprisonment and also placing more policemen in affected neighborhoods to patrol the streets. Not only did the government help expand gang networks in prisons by using these tactics, but these â€Å"solutions† also made the youth living in harshRead MorePortrayal Of African Americans During The Film The Silent Black And White Movies 2012 Words   |  9 Pagesthat everyone has some sort of prejudice towards an ethnic group. A perfect example is that of the portrayal of races through stereotypes in American films that are being made and sold to the public. Since the beginning of the silent black and white movies there have been stereotypes that misrepresent ethnic groups, such as the negative portrayal of African-Americans in minstrel shows. Althou gh these extreme negative racist portrayals have ended, the film industry still insists on adding stereotypesRead More Discrimination and Misrepresentation of Minority Races in Film2457 Words   |  10 PagesHorsemen of the Apocalypse. Even when films were silent movies, The technology of film entertainment was so powerful†¦ in altering the mindsets and viewpoints of minority racial groups that, †¦one of the side effects of American cinema was often crushingly brutal portrayals of other races and cultures, depictions that spread to larger audiences than ever before possible around the nation and even around the globe(Keller 5). The representation of Latino men, in my opinion, was the most severe and the mostRead MoreWhat is Hip Hop?1057 Words   |  5 Pagesthat marked the beginning of the hip-hop/rap era on a world stage was in 1979, when the Sugar Hill Gang produced the enormously successful song entitled, â€Å"Rappers Delight† (Reese). Rap music continued to b lossom after the release of Rappers Delight. It was revealed to the music industry, the film industry, and the print media (Reese). This was a huge milestone for the hip-hop generation. Movies such as Wild Style, Style Wars, and, later, Beat Street and Breakin allowed international audiencesRead MoreFreedom Writers : Film Review1085 Words   |  5 Pages1992. During this time in America, it all comes down to what a person look like. Latino, Asian, and Black got blasted by those who think they are superior from the rest. Different cultures fight each other for territory and kill each other over race, pride and respect. One of the greatest challenges of a multi-cultural country is dealing with other people from different race. And that is why the teenagers from the movies struggled trusting each other. You have to protect your own and this leads to