The experience of an immigrant begins with a perilous and painfully endless journey. The man endures it all as he clings onto the hopes of a better life and rejuvenation in America. Little does he know, the highly anticipated nation that embodies the fulfillment of his dreams only awaits him with unique conflicts and issues. The nation will pick on him racial status and label him an alien. It will question his skin color and determine his inferiority. It will constantly remind him that he’s an outsider intruding a nation where Americans live – an ethnicity that he can never be a part of because it has already been created. Assimilation and integration are impossible because he looks different, talks different, and is different.
America is built on the concepts of freedom, equality, and acceptance. It is for this reason that it has attracted, and continues to attract populations from around the world. Every race and ethnicity is able to walk in and make a living in this nation. Citizenship tests even allow non-natives to enjoying voting rights and other privileges of the nation. The nation grants liberty and the pursuit of happiness to everyone, but then why is it that the boundary of whites and immigrants divides people so apart? Why is the immigrant an inferior alien? Why does his skin color or accent matter? And why does his cultural difference stand in the way of complete assimilation into the American society? William Flores discusses these issues and brings forth the term – Cultural Citizenship. He claims that U.S. Citizenship “does not allow full integration into a society nor equal rights”. The nation might be handing over freedom and equality to its people, but cultural freedom and equality is lost along the way. The nation is made of immigrants and it would only make sense to grant its people a personal set of rights that allow the immigrant to practice his culture and still be considered equal. This lack of cultural citizenship in the nation has given birth to Otherness. Immigrants are others because they’re neither white nor American. Lack of cultural citizenship takes away the sense of belonging from the immigrants, who now feel like outsiders. I must have to argue that the journey of an immigrant doesn’t end once he arrives to America because now he does have to prove himself again and again that he is an American. Inspired by the societal issues of the nation are two movies Brother From Another Planet (1984) and West Side Story(1961), where the journey of immigrants is after all, endless.
Brother From Another Planet is an allegory of the experience of immigrants in America. Whether they are legal or illegal, one can see that races and ethnicities are divided, and there aren’t much signs of assimilation. The establishing shots of Brother From Another Planet introduce a new place to the audience just like New York City is a new place for Brother and other incoming immigrants. Medium and close-up shots of Brother’s facial expressions reveal his confusion and nervousness of the world around him. As Brother wanders in the streets of the city, it must be noted that he only encounters immigrants – African Americans and Asians. He sees the law enforcers around, and they happen to be white. He walks into a bar and only finds Africans Americans inside, who are hospitable towards him and even call him Brother. Right at the beginning, we can see that the society’s character is being set. There isn’t much racial intermingling taking place, as each race is associating with its own. Unlike the Asian storeowner, it is the African American bartender who warmly welcomes Brother and calls him Brother. In addition, the white Americans stand on the other end of the spectrum in being the law enforcers such as the policemen or the INS. The marijuana addicts and street criminals in the movie aren’t white, they’re people of color. Brother’s co-worker, Hector is another man whose actions show how the boundaries of race and ethnicities haven’t been crossed yet. He gets excited when he learns that Brother might know Spanish and easily befriends him. He warns Brother of the rude boss as well, who of course, is white. Themes like these are obviously reflective of the mid-1900s society, where white people were the superior bosses, while the immigrants worked under them. The movie has many interesting scenes, one of which is when the INS members enter the bar. As the men enter, a long shot shows them entering from an almost blinding light outside. This shows the blunt difference between the two people entering and the peopling sitting inside. The close-ups and medium shots that follow show the facial expressions of the black men and the white men at the bar, and the audience can sense the tension that is building. This tension of course, arises from the black and white issues that plague society. People of color are considered different and this is evident when the INS member asks the African American guy for his green card. The doubts of racial tensions are only proven when the guy defensively responds that he doesn’t need a green card because his people built the nation. The use of words like “my people” shows that immigrants did acknowledge their Otherness and alien status. Perhaps Alberto Sanchez is right in saying that black people are already divided and given a place to live, Harlem. I would like to point out two scenes where the audience is made aware of the fact that neighborhoods are divided by race. One scene takes place in the train where a young boy says he’ll do magic and have all the white people disappear. A little humor disguises the truth behind this striking scene where we see that certain races are entitled to certain places. Another amusing yet important scene is when two white men get lost in Harlem. In a long shot of the two men, we can see that the neighborhood people are staring at the sight of white people in the area. Just by looking at these people, the men are able to guess that they’re in Harlem. Had neighborhoods not been separated, nothing would’ve given away where the guys were lost. Even when these guys enter the bar, medium shots of the two white guys sitting next to Brother and across from the black bartender reveal a lot of unease. The audience can see that although there may be physical closeness, there is a lack of communication and tons of awkwardness.
Unlike Brother From Another Planet, which touches on the black vs. white issues, West Wide Story simply portrays the impossibility of immigrants to become American, because they are not American. As one of the Jets member says, the Puerto Ricans are just cockroaches who are solely intruders trying to take over the place they own. If society is running on these kinds of thoughts, of course an immigrant will always stay an un-American immigrant. The Sharks are threatening to the Jets, and Alberto Sanchez questions exactly how musicals show ethnic differences because in this case, immigrants are obviously being shown as a threat to “national, racial, and linguistic identity”. Sanchez even points out the symbolism behind the gang names and how immigrants are consciously being shown in a negative light. Sharks are dangerous animals that bite, and the Puerto Ricans are being given this title to refer to their “barbaric” and “savage” nature, whereas the Jets represent technology and civilization. Immigrants are belittled in society, and this is seen right at the beginning when the two gangs stand opposing each other in the park. The white policeman steps in to end the conflict between the two groups, but while he tells the Sharks to get out of the park, he nicely lessons the Jets against the “PRs”. Even the law enforcement is racist, and perhaps this is another reason why immigrants feel like they don’t belong; like they’re Others. At the store when the two gangs are making a deal on where they will be fighting, the lieutenant once again jumps in to kick the Puerto Ricans out, and provide assistance to the Whites against the PRs. The lieutenant is expected to practice equality, yet he abuses the power of his badge against the immigrants. Another scene that convinces the audience of the ethnic issues of the society is when the whites and Puerto Ricans attend the party. As always, the Sharks and Jets stand on opposite ends. This time, their clothing colors vary too as we see the Jets wearing bright blues and yellows, and the Sharks wearing dark browns and oranges. The game that the lieutenant makes the two groups play too portrays the animosity each group has towards the other. The circling game forces the whites and Puerto Ricans to intermingle and dance with whomever that they come across, yet even then the two groups cheat and end up dancing with their own people. If one must point out any progress in the movie, one can clearly say that the love between Maria and Tony overcomes all boundaries and issues. This is obvious when Maria and Tony catch each other’s eye at the party and approach each other without any concerns of what the society might say. The cinematographer’s choice to place a soft focus around them as they embrace shows how they have blurred out the racial differences between them to pursue their feelings of love. The tragic love story of the couple teaches the audience a lesson, as they see that skin color and racial divisions are all man-made barriers that can be, and must be erased.
Hence we see that movies like Brother From Another Planet and West Side Story took fictional characters to portray realistic issues of racism and intolerance that existed in this nation. Immigrants are considered outsiders as they are either being hunted down by the INS or picked on by the white Americans. How then can these people feel like this nation is home? They were struggling and they are struggling – to be “American” and to prove that they are American.
