The story of immigration has been told numerous times in a plethora of ways. I’ve read books and I’ve seen plays on personal experiences of immigration and the premise of all the stories begin the same: the characters come to America in search of a better life, in search of change. West Side Story (1961) and Brother from Another Planet (1984) go in completely different directions in portraying the life of an immigrant. The immigrants in West Side Story found that their expectations of America had been a too high. Opportunities are not so easy to attain, and the welcome was not the one that had anticipated. While in Brother from Another Planet, “The Brother” comes to America expecting nothing, and finds it to be better than anything else he’s ever known.

Brother from Another Planet is one of the most interesting movies I’ve ever watched. I didn’t expect to fall in love so quickly with a character that couldn’t speak, but I did. The Brother can’t talk, so when he landed on Earth, he wasn’t able to tell any lies about where he was from or what he was about. He couldn’t explain his story if he wanted to. Instead his new friends had to learn about him through his actions and relations with others. The Brother was able to learn about them too, just by observing. I watched, completely fascinated, as the Brother connected with New Yorker after New Yorker, sometimes without even realizing it. There was something about the Brother that made people love and trust him. Though he wasn’t very sure how society was on Earth, he slowly assimilated. One of the key parts of the Brother’s assimilation was near the end of the film, when the authorities from his home planet finally tracked him down. They came into the bar to catch the Brother but instead they found themselves in a fight with the Brother’s new friends.

The atmosphere of the bar is relaxed. The patrons are laughing and throwing a ball around. But as soon as the Men in Black enter the bar the relaxed atmosphere gains tension. A low song with a teasing beat is heard in the background “she’s a bad, she’s a bad, your mother,” as the one of the Men in Black catches a football and squeezes the air out of it with one hand. The patrons of the bar stand up to defend their new friend. Two of the men simply share a glance as they attack the Men in Black in unison.  Their movements are sure and confident, though some of their hits miss their targets. The bar has dim lighting, which creates shadows on all the actors faces, making them all look more threatening than the have before. Though the patrons put up a good fight they are huffing and puffing as they attempt to hold back the Men in Black who in the meanwhile keep stoic, sure faces. The patrons are are calm and confidant as they go up against the aliens. The most frantic of all the characters is the Brother who throws billiard balls at the Men in Black while trying to escape.

I found it surprising and completely amazing that these men, who really haven’t known the Brother for that long were willing to fight these strange, super-strength men just to defend him. The Brother hadn’t done anything in particular to cause them to go to the lengths that they did, but they still treated him like he was their family. To me this was one of the most important scenes of the movie because it showed that the Brother had assimilated so well into society, this social group in particular that they saw him as one of their own, and defended him as such.

While the only thing holding back the Brother was his past. The immigrants of West Side Story, though much less alien than the Brother, had more than two individuals on their backs pushing them to go back to their country of origin. Engaging in a much different way than Brother from Another Planet, West Side Story tells the tale of immigration from the viewpoint of Puerto Rican immigrants living in New York City. They cannot seem to appease their new neighbors and so they separate themselves from the rest of the neighborhood, forming a gang and calling themselves the Sharks. The sharks become the rivals of the American-born group, the Jets. And the two gangs often get into small fights that sometimes result in trouble for the entire neighborhood and even death.

Most of the Puerto Rican immigrants seem to have the idea that the only way to survive in America was stick to “with your own kind” and all of the immigrants except Maria believe this. But there is a point during the movie where Maria convinces her friend Anita of her love with Tony, and Anita agrees to run to the drugstore to send Tony a message. But when Anita she gets to the store, the Jets are there and they begin to harass her. A Jet whistles “La Cucaracha” as a slow mambo playing on the radio gains tempo. The rhythm of the song hints at the chaos that is about to ensue and as Anita asks to see the drugstore owner, the Jets rudely tell her that the owner isn’t there. Anita remains cordial though she doesn’t believe what they tell her. As she tries to move past the sea of Jets the trumpets of the song blare in the background. They pull off the scarf wound around her head, leaving her vulnerable. Her hair and shoulders are now exposed and it is this point of the scene that the viewer is keenly aware that Anita is the only woman in a room full of incensed young men.

The Jets call out “tramp” and “pig” and they throw her back and forth across the room. Tension mounts as they play with her dress and tug on her body. The mambo is playing at full force now and now we can here that the trumpets of the mambo are blaring “In America,” mocking the positive viewpoint Anita had of America earlier in the film. The song then turns more menacing as they push Anita onto the ground and prepare to mock-rape her. Just as they are holding up a boy to thrust on top of her the band suddenly comes to a stop as the storeowner yells out “stop it!” It is silent now as Anita stands up and makes her way out of the store. “Bernardo was right,” Anita says as she makes her way out of the store. “If one of you was lying in the street bleeding, I’d spit on you.” The behavior of the Jets let Anita know that despite what Maria might think there is indeed a huge different between immigrants and natural born citizens, no matter what Maria might think. Even if Anita decided she wanted to be accepted by the Jets, it wouldn’t be as easy as that because assimilating in America isn’t always that simple. And try as they might, just like Anita was not welcomed into the drugstore, some immigrants will never feel fully welcomed within America. 

These movies portray some of the reception new immigrants receive when they move to a new country. Some are accepted quickly and whole-heartedly, while others don’t find the acceptance they may or may not be looking for.

I immigrated to the United States when I was 8 years old. Therefore I can relate to the main characters in both Brother from Another Planet and West Side Story. Two of the biggest obstacles that these characters faced were language barriers and the fact that they look different from others. I was unable to speak English when I first arrived.

Brother from Another Planet is “a film about a “Brother” who escapes slavery on another, more technologically advanced, planet, and takes refuge in Harlem with the active support of its black, Latino, and welfare white inhabitants.” (Guerrero, page 45) This statement shows that even though the Brother does not have the capability to speak, he is able form friendship through various ways. He is able to befriend people of African American decent because he is of the same skin color. He is able to befriend the Latino worker who works at the video game store because he was able to understand Spanish. Finally he was able to become friends with some white individuals because he has the amazing ability to fix machines and he has the ability to listen. Thus even when his former masters arrive in search of him, his friends delay them from finding him. His tenant stated that he just comes, and his friends from Odell’s bar (that helped find him a job and a place to live) help him escape from his former masters. Although they do not really know the Brother, they stand by him, give it their all to protect him, only because he is (almost) the same as them. The scene in which the aliens are about to catch the Brother after a long chase is the scene that portrayed how should people stand together they can overcome suppression. I believe that the people who stood there waiting for them were other runaway slaves. I like how the director kept the scene minimal, in other words the director did not add objects. The dark lighting that was kept throughout the chase and how the camera did not actually follow them running shows this scene through the scene of a third party viewer, not one of the characters. In addition, shining the light behind the group of African American people who later chased the aliens was an effective way to show the power that they had.

West Side Story has a couple of scenes where the Jets and the Sharks show their dislike of one another and there are those moments where a Jet and a Shark will compromise their differences and become friends (or in this movies case, lovers).  One of those scenes is the balcony scene. The differences between the two characters were shown whenever Maria had to talk to her parents. She spoke in Spanish, a language that Tony did not understand. This movie did not emphasize the language barrier between the two groups of people, but it does show how physical features and accents can serve as a way to discriminate against people. However in this scene, language becomes the method that the director uses to represent the compromise between two enemy groups. During the end of that scene, Maria is on the balcony while Tony is about to leave. Tony told Maria that he loves her just as he was about to leave and Maria said “te adore” to him after some distance was between them. The director might have done this so that to signify that although they love each other, the tension between the two groups separated them. In addition, this scene was very intimate for the shots were mostly close-ups. It was filmed in order to show the affection between these two people, showing that people do not have to dislike one another just merely based on where they were born.

There were instances of harassment, especially on the scene where the officer comes in the candy store after the rumble details were settled. The officer states that  “you get what you have been itching for….use of the playground, use of the gym, the streets…so what if they turn this whole neighborhood into a stinking pigsty”  In addition, that scene increased the tensions between the Puerto Ricans and those of Caucasian descent.  The close ups of the frustration that Bernardo felt when the officer told him “it’s a free country, but  I have a badge” made the audience sympathize with the Sharks. Even the Jets felt kind of bad as a shot of the scene captured a Jet’s worried face. When the camera zones out, the audience sees the Jets and Sharks stopping each other from beating up the officer. This can be viewed in real life, for enemies can put away their differences and join together in order to defeat a common enemy. This glimpse of compromise shows that these two different ethnicities have the capability to make peace. (This is something that doesn’t happen until they realize the devastating effects of their rumble, i.e. Tony and Bernardo dying.)

I noticed an interesting similarity between West Side Story and The Brother from Another Planet. In both movies there were two groups that could be classified as “marginal immigrants” that joined forces when confronted with representatives of those in the country possessing a level of authority and a sense of belonging that the two groups could not seem to attain.

This clearly fits for The Brother from Another Planet but what about West Side Story? One need only examine one particular scene from West Side Story to determine that the two warring groups had an alliance of sorts. While it seems that the Sharks are the ones who aren’t given a place in the country, the Jets are shunned just as much. Their parents were immigrants and thus they are relegated to a lower status as well despite the fact that they were born in America. This common bond causes the groups to come together when faced with Americans who they see as those truly holding them back from having a place in the country. While the two groups are fighting over physical space in the country, both groups are fighting with society in general for acceptance. For example, after the first row between the two groups in the playground, the police drive up, breaking up the fight. While the two groups stand on opposite sides, they speak in a way that makes them seem as a single group. For example, each gang greets one of the two policemen in a sing song way, almost as if they were speaking collaboratively. In addition, despite having obtained injuries by the hands of the Sharks, Baby John, the Jet most likely to confess to the cops, refused to tell the police who attacked him. In fact, the other Jets even suggested that a policeman was the one who did the damage. This could be seen, symbolically, as the Jets expression that it was discriminatory men like the police in that precinct that were harming them in ways that really mattered. Upon further reflection, it would seem that the two groups weren’t standing on opposite sides, but were rather acting together to surround the police, presenting a united front. In Florez-Citizens vs. Citizenry, the author gives several examples of how documented immigrants assisted the undocumented in opposing the authorities. We can clearly see a very similar situation in West Side Story, and, as I will now prove, The Brother From Another Planet.

Again, two underprivileged groups join forces against those who discriminate against them. The people of Harlem, specifically those in the bar, all go out of their way to help the Brother. A lot of the divisions between blacks and whites in  The Shadow of Slavery can still be seen in The Brother from Another Planet. For example, when the two white men get lost in Harlem, they become fearful and stand out like sore thumbs. This scene is meant to demonstrate the enduring division between some black and white communities. The aliens searching for the brother clearly represent both his oppressors and the oppressors of black individuals for they are portrayed as being white. In the bar fight scene, it is interesting to note how bravely and determinedly the individuals in the bar fight for the Brother. First of all, three rounds of fighting occur involving different individuals of all ages and personalities. None of the individuals flee and despite seeing previous allied combatants defeated, they resolutely join the fray. Its even more impressive that they keep fighting considering the strength of the aliens. I mean really, one of them snapped a baseball bat with his bare hands but the drunk patron and elderly man joined in the fight!!!!! Why did these men risk so much for a man they barely knew? Because of the common bond they had, the hardships the Brother faced elicited a great amount of sympathy in those in the bar, and those in Harlem in general.

Immigrants come to America with the hope of a better life, one that’s full of freedom, happiness, financial prosperity and opportunities. Even though this land offers a lot to immigrants, it also requires absorbing its unique culture. Sometimes, as hard as people may try to become an “American,” stereotypes and racism make it harder. It can be scary to become part of a different culture but it’s scarier when you’re faced with discrimination, which can block access to many of the opportunities America offers.

In West Side Story, the experience of the Puerto Rican immigrants is molded by the discrimination they face from the white American gang, the Jets. This discrimination becomes a huge part of the way these gangs interact with each other, or the only reason for their interactions. There is a lot of hatred and tension between these groups because of the differences in their cultures. The discrimination the Puerto Ricans face becomes obvious in the beginning of the movie as the lieutenant remarks “as if the neighborhood wasn’t crummy enough,” after he breaks up the fight between the two gangs, referring to the Sharks. This scene takes place on the streets where the Jets and Sharks have marked their territories by writing their gang name on the ground, buildings, and walls. It becomes obvious that the Jets are in charge of their area while the Sharks have their area, and there is no crossing over into the other gang’s territory unless someone wants trouble. This scene marks the tension between the two gangs as they snap their fingers and perform their choreographed fight-scene. The Jets share an ethnocentric attitude throughout the movie as they are constantly making fun of the accents of the Sharks and their language. Flores makes a really good argument in Citizens vs. Citizenry that race, language and culture are what denies someone equal rights, because those same things are what makes them different. The stereotypes and racism become very apparent to me when the Puerto Ricans were singing about America on the roof. The girls are praising America for how much better it is than Puerto Rico while the guys are mentioning the racism that exists in America. Anita and Bernardo go back and forth: “buying on credit is so nice/one look at us and they charge twice,” “life is all right in America/if you’re a white in America,” “free to be anything you choose/free to wait tables and shine shoes.” These lyrics in the song really stood out to me because it goes to show that even though America is about equal opportunities to success, the color of your skin changes the way people look at you and treat you. As a result, the two gangs prefer to stay amongst their own kind.

Brother From Another Planet, was an interesting movie because it highlighted the troubles faced by immigrants once they arrive to a new country in a different way. Unfortunately, stereotypes engulf Brother wherever he goes. In the beginning of the movie, he does not know that in order to eat some fruit he has to pay for it with his own money. This scene takes place on Brother’s first day since he landed, and he’s wearing clothes that are basically rags. He does not realize he has to pay for the fruit he wants and is chased by a police officer because he’s thought of as attempting to rob the store. This scene clearly depicts the racism associated with blacks and how the cop thinks he’s going to rob the store because he’s black and is dressed in rags. Brother can’t find a decent job because he can’t speak to anybody and he is forced to do menial tasks to pay for things that he really wants. After Brother finishes washing the car, he only receives a few coins whereas he expected a little bit more. The one scene that stood out to me was when Bobby’s old lady is talking to the two white Men in Black, and she says how it’s really sad that there’s a kid who overdosed downstairs and may die but the only thing that matters is if someone has a paper saying they’re a citizen or not. Even though illegal immigration is a huge issue in America, there are some things that may be a little more important like a kid dying because of drugs. Throughout the film, Brother does try to assimilate to the culture he’s being exposed to and tries to help the people he meets by fixing video games and healing those around him.

Assimilation becomes hard when people are discriminated against as they’re trying to learn the ways of a new culture. It becomes necessary to absorb the culture in order to have access to the many opportunities America offers, but it’s important to balance the two cultures because you can’t forget where you came from as it’s apart of your identity.

Instead of seeing through dark side of the information about the unjust slavery and discrimination against otherness, I approach this these materials with focusing on the positive side of humanity within the community of the minority. That is the support and help the minority people provide for one another when they are fighting against the bullying of the dominant group.

In the movie The Brother From Another Planet, the men in the Odell’s bar generously offer helps to the protagonist, an alien slave. At the first time when the protagonist appears in the bar, the black man Sam nicely introduce him to a white lady as a boarder and later he also helps the talented protagonist find a job at a game store to repair game machine. In the scene when the two white alien slave catcher come to the bar and investigate the men in the bar for the whereabouts of the protagonist, the men intend to hide their knowledge of the protagonist. In the second scene when the two white aliens come to the bar again and encounter the protagonist, the men in the bar fight with these two white aliens without hesitating in order to keep them from catching the protagonist who is their brother with same color skin, even though they do not know who this person really is, they still voluntarily to support him. The trust in their brother accentuates the closeness and unity of the black community and this unity is even stronger when they are facing the white authority.

Similar to The Brother From Another Planet, the film West Side Story also depicts the closeness and unity of the minority. Even though the film describe the Latino as the delinquent, it balances out with highlighting their unity because they are working tightly together to protect one another and defense their right to use the basketball court and the playground. In the scene when Anita finds out that Maria are staying with Tony, Anita is angry at first, but later she agrees to help Maria tell Tony that the polices are looking for him, even though it would be risky for her to come to the jet gang alone. This suggests her care and support for her sister Maria. She does not have to it at all, but in front of the white police authority (when the police investigates Anita), she gives in and takes risk to behave against the white authority.

In Flores’s Citizens vs. Citizenry: Undocumented Immigrants and Latino Cultural Citizenship, he also elaborates the unity of Latino minority. Whether documented or undocumented, Latino immigrants are all helping each other in defensing their rights to pursuit equality and freedom, as well as protecting their family. For example, the “Comité (Committee for the Rights of Undocumented Children)” will help “alert families if INS officers were seen in the area and to provide temporary foster homes for children in case parents were arrested and deported” (Flores 269).

The unity of the minority is the only way that will threaten the authority on the legislature. Even if there are oppressions, as long as the marginal immigrants are united, the day of equality and freedom will eventually arrive.

As part of an immigrant family, I have experienced some difficulties with assimilating to my new environment, especially in language and culture. I think Brother from Brother from Another Planet shows these difficulties in an interesting way. First, he cannot communicate so he has the barrier of language between him and those around him. He often gets misunderstood and looked down upon because he cannot speak. In one of the beginning scenes, Brother unknowingly “steals” from and “robs” a grocery store. He didn’t even know that he had to use money to buy food, and although a bit extreme, this shows the misunderstanding and confusion that immigrants may face here. In later scenes, Brother tries to assimilate to his new American culture by trying drugs, sleeping with a woman, and frequently visiting the bar. But no matter how hard he tries to fit into his new surroundings, Brother remains a stranger and an “alien.” Furthermore, not only is Brother an immigrant, but also he is black. In our reading of Shadow of Slavery, the author emphasizes how most black men and women had to hold low-paying service jobs as domestic laborers, waiters, or barbers. I thought this related to Brother from Another Planet in that Brother had to take a job as a repairman for mere household products and videogames, when he had amazing telekinetic powers to not only fix objects, but also to heal people.

I thought West Side Story showed more clearly the struggles faced by non-white immigrants as “marginal citizens.” The Puerto Rican men in the film seem to be very bitter towards the Jets and white people in general. The most memorable scene for me was when the Puerto Rican men and women were arguing about the good and bad aspects of living in America. The women would gather together and stomp towards the men, spitting words like “Life is alright(?) in America” and the men would turn back and say “If you’re a white in America.” And the lines that stood out to me the most in the song were “Free to be anything you choose”/”Free to wait tables and shine shoes.” It reminded me of Shadow of Slavery, of how these immigrants, like the newly freed blacks in early 19th century, were limited to low-paying service jobs because of their skin color and language barrier. Also, in Citizens vs. Citizenry, Flores talks about how Latinos need their own physical and creative space, a place to “feel a sense of belonging, comfortable, and at home” (262) and for “expression of their culture, to be themselves and to develop their own identity as a group” (263). This reminded me of West Side Story, of how much the Sharks valued their own place and despised having white people in the dance floor. They felt very strongly about their own space and remaining faithful to their own culture and beliefs, especially Bernardo. As Flores says, they did not seek “assimilation into the host society” (277). They were Puerto Ricans living in America, not Latino-Americans. If anything, the Puerto Rican women were the ones who actually tried to assimilate to the American culture and believed themselves to be citizens of America.

When I think about “the other” in Brother From Another Planet, I immediately think about the scene where the two white guys get lost in Harlem and go into the bar for directions and more than a few beers.  The shot of the men and The Brother sitting at the bar is interesting because at the time two white men in Harlem would’ve been considered an oddity, but in the shot it is the white men who are given most of the shot while The Brother is marginalized to the edge of the frame.  In this scene the director is conveying the idea that even in Harlem, where The Brother should be “fitting in”, he is still as much on the outskirts of society as he was on his planet.  Then as the camera pans out, the racial divide is emphasized by the fact that the white men are sitting at the opposite end of the bar from the rest of the black patrons.

A similar shot is found at the beginning of West Side Story, when the Sharks and the Jets first confront each other.  The director frames the shot so that the invisible line between the Puerto Rican Sharks and the white Jets can clearly be seen—both gangs/races stand firmly apart.  This sets the tone for the racial tensions found throughout the entire movie and the feud that comes to a head with the death of Tony.  The film’s final scene ends in contrast to the beginning, as the Sharks and the Jets gather around Tony’s body and carry him away, representing the end of their feud.

Of course this feud is nothing new these day, since the play made its Broadway debut in 1957 and it is famously inspired by Shakespeare’s feuding Montagues and Capulets.  Still, both West Side Story and Brother From Another Planet serve as a reminder that even today we are living in a society where many communities still put up these racial divides. Although at least nowadays there aren’t any racist gangs doing ballet up and down the streets of New York.  (Maybe it’s me, but I’ve always felt that the Sharks and the Jets were more likely to get beat up than beat people up…)

The marginal migrant experience takes on one of two opposing views depending on the context of the experience conveyed. The first view is initiated by a mass general label on a minority (given by the majority) and the second view is the response to the general label by the minority. The latter of these views is indicated by the critique of Alberto Sanchez. Before actually watching West Side Story, I wanted to have a preconceived notion so that I can keep Alberto’s point in mind as opposed to watching the movie and then having a revelation through Alberto’s analysis. Much like Michael Rogain’s, Black Face, Alberto offers a shocking yet true critique of West Side Story. The use of romantic melodrama functions to shift the attention of the racist discourse as proposed by Alberto. The observations presented throughout Alberto’s analysis are appalling in that the examples he provides are downright outrageous! Personally, I found the quote from Stephen Sondheim (writer of the lyrics of West Side Story) to be the most powerful in Alberto’s argument, “I can’t do this show…I’ve never been that poor and I’ve never even known a Puerto Rican.” This makes it seem as though the Puerto Ricans depicted are just “simply literary products, ideological signs, and cultural discursive stereotypes.”

Paralleling that of Alberto Sanchez is William V. Flores. Flores also offers an inside view of a minor group. Just as Sanchez dispels the social image of Puerto Ricans, Flores dispels our own preconceived notions regarding how we label others. On his personal account, Flores was named Mexican though he was a resident of the United States, had never gone to Mexico, and knew very little Spanish. He notes that the term ‘Mexican-American’ is divided; the hyphen represents the Mexican and American world he lives in. [It is interesting when we realize that William Flores is composed of both an American (William) and Mexican (Flores) name so he himself is an example.] However, the more important idea is presented when we see that racism is essentially an “impassable symbolic boundary.” Even though Flores is American he still is not looked upon as an American.

Aside from dispelling the labels, many marginal migrants have an optimistic side. In Crossing The River I found what is perhaps a reference to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The narrator says, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” He remains optimistic although he carries a tremendous guilt as a father when he sold his children. The optimistic attitudes of migrants are also expressed In the Shadow of Slavery. The malarial land that was disease-ridden and used as a dumping site turned away wealthy New Yorkers. However, “for the black people, it was an area in which they could settle in relative independence.”

Speaking of settling, the mute alien in The Brother from Another Planet lands on planet Earth, more specifically New York. In my opinion, this is the most prominent scene of the movie. Even though the mute alien is from another planet, he still is an immigrant. Traditionally, this means that he must pass through Ellis Island first. This is seen when the sign ‘Ellis Island Immigration Center’ flashes for a few seconds.  The dub here is of the past immigrants who are anxious since they were not sure they would be accepted to New York. In order to achieve this anxious like feeling, there is a low-key lighting which makes the room seem to have a history behind it.

Lastly, West Side Story expresses the experience of being among New York’s permanent others and marginal citizens. At the beginning there is an establishing shot which overlooks the territory which the Sharks and Jets will fight for. The film then uses continuity editing to show how the two gangs fight each other, but more importantly how the Sharks/PR’s are forced out. This establishes the rivalry between the gangs, especially when the officer sides with the Jets, asking Bernardo (the minority) to stay out of the park. As for the camera position, we see that the gang leaders – Bernardo and Riff are at the center of most of the film in the first fifteen minutes signifying that the action is centered on them. This not only shows that the film will continue to revolve around them, but also that New York’s marginal citizens has to be prepared for tough conditions.

Immigrants face many challenges and experiences when they come to America, whether they came here freely or not. Often they must fight to stay and prove that they belong here. They have many barriers to cross such as differences in language, race, culture, and most importantly people that don’t want them to be in the area that these immigrants found themselves in. The movies Brother From Another Planet and West Side Story portray such challenges very clearly and through analysis we can see many historical issues being addressed, such as slavery and ethnic tension.

Brother From Another Planet is famous for its analogy to the experiences of runaway slaves. We can see this when “Brother” finds himself in a place that he is unfamiliar with (Harlem) and has people searching for him for the purpose of bringing him back to where he is from, just as the runaway slaves from the South did. We can see examples of the challenges that Brother faces all throughout the movie. The first example can be found when the police officer chases him after he unknowingly steals from a store. Because of his unawareness of Earth’s culture, he finds himself in such an unfortunate situation. However, that is only one of the unfortunate situations he finds himself in. The next example can be found in the bar scene when Brother’s lack of speech causes a false assumption from the men. They wrongly assume that Brother must be either crazy or mentally retarded. This shows just how much stereotype immigrants had to confront. The most dangerous challenge that Brother faces, however, isn’t from the people that he is surrounded by, but instead from the people that are looking for him. He is constantly on the run from these people but luckily with much help from those that he can call friends, he manages to avoid them. The mise-en-scene that I decided to practice for this movie can perhaps put a lot of things into perspective. The museum scene does the best job at openly acknowledging the issue that the movie addresses. There are three key elements at the museum that can be used to show the issue of slavery and how it applies to Brother. The scene begins with the tour guide introducing slavery by speaking about Harriet Tubman and her efforts in helping runaway slaves. The movie then shows one photograph that depicts a man bound with rope and the words “Am I not a man and a brother?” This is important in showing the exclusion that the African Americans, as well as other ethnic groups, had to face from the rest of society when they came to America. The next photograph is significant as well because it shows a Black man running away which Brother points to first and follows by pointing at himself, essentially explaining to the boy that he too is a runaway. Brother From Another Planet does an excellent job of demonstrating to the audience the difficulties that immigrants had to face in fighting for their freedom, which is one of the fundamental reasons that many of the immigrants came to America for.

Another major challenge faced by immigrants is demonstrated in the movie West Side Story and is also discussed in both Sanchez’s and Flores’s work. That challenge would be ethnic tension and conflict. By that I mean both violence over territory and the sense of threat that can arise for some from differences in ethnicity and culture, both of which are shown through the actions of the gangs in WSS. Sanchez explains to his readers that there is a lot of separation and stereotypes found in West Side Story. The separation he speaks of is found between the Jets (Anglo-Americans) and the Sharks (Puerto Ricans) and the stereotypes are directed towards the Puerto Ricans (Sharks) because of the way that the Anglo-Americans (Jets) look down upon them with disgust. A few examples of such stereotypes are available to use, such as, portraying Puerto Ricans as violent and criminal individuals. Even the name given to the Puerto Ricans in the movie (Sharks) is a strong example of the stereotypes associated with Puerto Ricans. Flores examines a different aspect of difficulty faced by Latinos. In order to be a full citizen, he says, one must be welcome and accepted as a full member of the society with all of its rights. However, full citizenship rights have systematically been denied to Latinos, which in turn results in Latinos fighting to claim space and rights, which once again is shown in the movie when the Sharks have to fight the Jets in order to defend their way of life. This territorial fighting between different groups can be seen in the “knife fight” scene where one member of the Sharks gang and one member of the Jets gang pull knives out and begin to fight. We can also see that not all are in support of this violence (ex: one guy from the Jets jumps on the Jets member that is fighting), however, they allow it to happen anyway. Perhaps this indicates, in a broader sense, that not all Americans were against the Latinos or other immigrants but, because the majority of the population was, they decided to not stop the conflicts, knowing that they most likely wouldn’t stand a chance.

* These movies provide a great deal of insight into the challenges faced by immigrants of the past, however challenges are still present today.