Immigration is a continual struggle, a process that, with enough progressive sentiment and resilience, culminates in assimilation. We all are guilty of prolonging the immigrant’s journey towards social acceptance through our tendency to reject the foreign and stick to our own ground that ultimately constructs the invisible barriers of prejudice that immigrants must overcome to reach social equilibrium. The Brother from Another Planet (1984) and West Side Story (1961) both shed light on the experience of immigrants who are faced with the struggles of the marginal citizen.
West Side Story (1961) illuminates the experience of Puerto Rican immigrants through gang-rivalry, a wonderful approach at displaying the struggle for space. William V. Flores argues the importance of the creation of cultural communal space, a natural step in establishing the immigrant’s place in society. The gang rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks is fueled by mutual hate due to race and culture; however, these ill sentiments are brought into view because of the space issues. Both the police and the Jets are discontented with the “PR” invasion that they must deal with, and show their discontent through insults geared at language (“Buenas Noches” is constantly used throughout the film to reaffirm the Sharks’ status as foreigners), race (“PRs”) and culture. The Sharks have to deal not only with the issue of maintaining their space in society, but also with the countless social boundaries they are faced with throughout their struggle.
The scenes that most vividly distinguish these socio-cultural boundaries all take place within the soda pop bar. Anita, bearing news for Tony, steps into the bar and is confronted by a chiding group of Jets members. Immediately, a Latin-infused song begins playing while the Jets continue to evade answering Anita’s questions. Soon, they begin surrounding her, calling out every common Spanish phrase that comes to mind, the camera zooming in and out, fluctuating between the face-to-face confrontation and shots of the gang gradually enclosing around her. Soon, the music picks up and the camera follows the crowd as they humiliate Anita, tossing her back and forth in some cruel take on a Latino dance. Early on in the scene, a calendar can be spotted on the wall near the entrance, sporting the American flag, symbolizing the freedom of our country. However, in this bar, no such freedom exists to the culturally prosecuted; Anita, despite her willingness to help, cannot get a word out before she is publicly humiliated, simply because of her race and affiliation with the Puerto Rican Sharks.
The Brother from Another Planet (1984) approaches assimilation from a different perspective. To reference Flores’ concept of space, African Americans during this time period have already acquired their own physical space, Harlem, the community into which our alien friend is dropped into, however, they have not quite fully assimilated into existing society (if that is even possible), rather, created their own, based on shared racial and cultural identity. The movie portrays the stark differences between Harlem and the non-minority world around it through the adventures of two lost middle-American men that stubble in Harlem. A long shot reveals the foreign world they find themselves in as soon as the realization dawns upon them. Later on, the two find themselves at the same bar all other migrants, other worldly or not, find themselves in. At first, their awkwardness is apparent, not at all in their comfort zone, however, after a few too many beers, they admit that African American’s aren’t what they thought previously, and leave the bar shortly after. The close shots squeezing together black and white increase the racial tension of the bar scene, and even after they become inebriated, the bartender’s firm statement of train directions indicate that the two groups aren’t completely comfortable, nor happy with each other’s presence. In this interesting take on migration, the minority becomes the native and the white man invasive of the cultural space of Harlem.
