Can Movies Create a "Latin@ Community"? Do We Want them To?

Wed10Sep2008

Can Movies Create a "Latin@ Community"? Do We Want them To?

Spike Lee's new movie, "Miracle at St. Anna" is coming out September 25th and already getting reviewers tied in a knot. Some people find it lumbering and dull, others find it amazing and refreshing. Briefly, Miracle is the story of a battalion of black soldiers during WWII. Apparently all the usual themes are in the movie, racial conflicts, soldier angst, haunting magical realism, etc.

But the thing that I was interested in reading about the film is that it works to create a 'black community' in the U.S.

It uncovers a history that not many people are aware of, brings it out into the spotlight, and says, here, this is OUR history. Unspoken is who "our" really is--African American and black, it asserts, but as we've discussed on this blog, what really, is African American and/or black?

Which brings me to the question, why are there such limited amounts of movies like this being made about Latin@ history? I know that the movie about Che is coming out soon, but that definitly will not be a mainstream movie. Before that, I think the last mainstream Latin@ centered movie I personally can think of is La Bamba (yes, I am a loser that doesn't go to the movies much, if you know more recent ones, please say in comments!!). Whether we like it or not, movies that center on African American communities or Latin@ communities define us, both to ourselves and to other communities. And given that so many of us point out over and over again that there really isn't such a thing as a "Latino Community"--I have to wonder--do we want one? Could movies help to create a Latino community? Do we want them to? Would you go to see a movie that sheds light on an unknown aspect of Latino culture (whether it's Chican@, Rican, Salvadorean, etc)?

What would a movie that highlights the Latino community look like?

'Crash' to Become a TV Show (Tuesday, Jan 29 2008)
Microsoft strikes out at iTunes for Latino listeners (Monday, Oct 22 2007)

La Macha

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1. Eric ~ Wednesday, Sep 10 2008 | 16:47H:

I don't think a movie can/should create a Latin communiy. Unlike the African-American, community, we do not have that certain "history" of slavery IN the United States. We have other roots and in fact, African history is OUR history.

A movie would only divide us just because we are Latino and we are (unforunately) divided by diff't cultures (ex. Colombian, Chilean, Puerto Rican, etc). Could a movie exist where it can combine all of these?

La Bamba was a great movie and it only showed a small portion of what we are about. May I add that Maria, Full of Grace was excellent too, but it wasn't mainstream.

*sigh*

2. AfroTaina ~ Friday, Sep 12 2008 | 13:05H:

Movies could create a "Latino" culture and community, but what's the point? This would only serve to be engaging with oppressive, neocolonial identity scripts. Let me ask you: What is Latino?

See me, I am a Dominican, not “Latino” and not from “Latin America.” What are these terms but political projects aimed at maintaining the social, cultural, and economic power in the hands of those descended from the Spanish who exploited us (killed the indigenous people, transported and brutalized slaves, and exploited our land). While I may speak the same language as a mestizo from Mexico, is our commonality nothing more than an anachronistic attempt at reliving colonialism? At perpetuating the perverse desire that we are part of a hemispheric brotherhood united under the banner of white, Spanish descent? We must be critical. “Latino/Hispanic” is not an encompassing, all-inclusive, and, most importantly, liberatory identity for those of us who identify as "Latino." “Latin America” does not exist; it is imaginary, real only in the minds of those who take the realities of the status quo as just and true scripture. “Latin America” is not a geographic identity like those of other landmasses; it is a construction uniting us in a 19th century creation: “Latin Americanness,” ie the Spanish Empire. While my heart is with all those oppressed in the Caribbean and the Americas, I long for the day when “us Latinos” open up our eyes and realize that these terms homogenize our nations, push black and indigenous peoples to the periphery as they falsely claim that Latinos are neither, and maintain a destructive colonial legacy: the Iberian control of our minds.

let us liberate our minds and lands

VivirLatino