Peopling of New York City, Spring 2012

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.

Through this week’s two films, Brother From Another Planet and West Side Story, immigration, assimilation and cultural identity was explored. These two films gave a picture of the difficulties immigrants have to face once in the country. Some immigrant groups are unfairly treated. The immigrant definition of “American” differs from nationality to nationality. Assimilation is an important subject that both films touched upon. With these two films, along with the readings, we are given a glimpse of how our society perceives immigrants, and how immigrants perceive themselves.

West Side Story shows a love story on the surface, with racial, cultural undertones. While most of the film focused on the romance between Maria and Tony, the key conflict involved a group of White, Anglo-Saxon Americans (Jets), and Puerto Ricans (Sharks.) Using musical lyrics, the difficulties in being an immigrant are described. A double standard is shown. Leading up to the song “America,” Anita brings up factual and interesting points on the perception of immigrants, either speaking from her opinion, or mocking Bernardo.

“Your mother’s a Pole, your father’s a Swede, but you were born here, and that’s all that you need. You are an American. But us? Foreigners.”
“Once an immigrant, always an immigrant.”

This characterizes the difficulty that the Puerto Ricans in this movie, and the immigrants in our life, face. While the whites were born to immigrant parents, they are seen as American, assimilated, and dominant in culture. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans were viewed as foreigners. They were stereotyped in the film, seen as criminal, aggressive, and dark-skinned. Sanchez critiques this view of Puerto Rican immigrants, and Latinos in general, in his article on West Side Story. The scene in the dancehall shows the difference in cultures, a microcosm of the vastly different worlds of Jet and Shark. The Jets were vanilla, in both a literal and a dance sense, standard and expected. The Sharks danced with “flavor” (sorry), with an attitude and unorthodox-ness not expected from the Jets.

The conflict between White and Puerto Rican, American and Immigrant, can be seen with the relationship of Maria and Tony. They were not allowed to love, with each receiving significant criticism. The interracial love between them seemed to be impossible, ultimately coming to a tragic end. No matter how much they tried to have their relationship work, the cultures they were part of prevented them from loving each other. Assimilation for the Puerto Ricans seemed impossible as well, always brought down by the stereotypes mentioned by the Jets and the screen portrayal itself. Sanchez claims that the stereotypes brought upon by the film further create the perception of the difficulty to assimilate. The portrayal shown by West Side Story makes it hard to believe that one can successfully assimilate, through its songs and action.

While West Side Story directly showed the difficulties of immigrant life and assimilation, the 1984 film The Brother From Another Planet detailed the struggle in allegorical terms. The allegorical and symbolic devices used in the film are present everywhere. After reading Guerrero’s passage “Slaves, Monsters and Others,” I realized that the film critiqued not only immigration, but slavery, and life as an African American as well. The “Brother” was the immigrant, in a new world, unable to communicate. While he encountered many other immigrants/minorities throughout the film, he was still seen as different. One key image the film used was at the beginning. The Brother was standing in Harlem, with the Apollo Theatre in the background. While he was in an African-American community, he was still at the receiving end of bewildered looks. Though he visually looked like and resembled the other people (except the foot,) he was seen as an outsider, an immigrant. The odd view of the outsider was again shown when the Brother walks into the bar.

One important aspect of The Brother From Another Planet I noticed was the willingness of the community to help the Brother assimilate, and become part of the community. This is similar to the immigrant identity and sense of community detailed by Flores in “Citizens vs. Citizenry.” Although the brother couldn’t speak or communicate, the people of Harlem helped him find work, and a place to stay. This sense of community was further seen at the film’s conclusion. When the brother was cornered by the men in black, (who were white) a group of people, supposedly other aliens, came to his aid. The togetherness, and resistance to dominant forces is an aspect of immigrant life that was not seen in West Side Story.

I completely thought that The Brother From Another Planet was about immigration only. But “Slaves, Monsters, and Others” described the film as an allegory for slavery. The Brother was a runaway slave, and the Men in Black were the slave catchers. The article also mentioned how the ghettoes blacks live in create a new slavery, which is interesting to note. Furthermore, Guerrero calls the Brother an example of “The Model Minority.” These views are really interesting to me, as I originally saw it just as a film about immigration. The undertones and symbolism about the film shows careful planning and great attention to detail.

In some cases, assimilation into American culture can be difficult. As shown in West Side Story, stereotypes can prevent others from seeing some immigrants as assimilated, and part of the American culture. In The Brother From Another Planet, the difficulty in living as an immigrant, even in a city full of them, was shown. Assimilation is the next step for immigrants living in America. Immigration is a step in becoming part of the American way of life, not the destination.

New York City is divided into five boroughs and each borough is divided into different neighborhoods. People choose dwell in these neighborhoods according to their race, language and culture. Because of social and economical inequality, people living in neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side are much wealthier than people living in the underprivileged neighborhoods such as Harlem. For years, social activists put plenty of efforts in solving the problems in the poor neighborhoods. To further increase people’s awareness of the problems of the lower class, different works were produced about these neighborhoods to portray these marginal citizens’ problems. “West Side Story” and “The Brother From Another Planet” were films that portrayed marginal citizens’ struggles in the underprivileged neighborhoods in New York City.

“West Side Story” showed the conflicts between white and Puerto Rican immigrants living in the West Side. The story centered on the cruel conflicts between the white and Puerto Rican gang members and the romantic love story between Tony and Maria. While I believe that this film is mainly about the struggles and the lack of resources of the underprivileged groups, according to Alberto Sanchez, “West Side Story” was highly discriminated against Puerto Ricans. In his article, he provided many examples about how the white gang members discriminated against the Puerto Ricans in this film. He also pointed out the ending of “West Side Story” implied that Puerto Ricans couldn’t assimilate with the whites because Tony’s death symbolized the total separation between the people of these two cultural groups. In my opinion, Sanchez’s view was a little pessimistic. In the 1960s, most of the minority groups were being discriminated against, not just Puerto Ricans. The conflicts depicted in the film could occur between any racial groups. Furthermore, the gang members’ actions shouldn’t be taken seriously since they were immature and almost laughable. Because they could hardly assimilate into the mainstream society, they wanted to be recognized in the society by “taking over” public spaces. “West Side Story” was not totally about racial discrimination. In the last scene, after Tony died, a white gang member put Maria’s headscarf back on her head, and they exited the basketball court not as members of two different gangs, but as individuals, which has greatly soften the racial conflicts in the film.

“The Brother From Another Planet” showed African Americans’ injustice and inequality, which have been the themes of many books and films. This film developed these themes by presenting different stereotypes against African Americans. For example, when two white men were walking on the street and saw many African Americans, they immediately thought they were in Harlem without asking and became very afraid. This represented the stereotype that African American populated neighborhoods must be very dangerous. Another stereotypical scene was when Brother went to an appliance store, he turned on every fan because of curiosity, but the storeowner, who was a white man, thought he was going to rob the store, so he gave Brother several dollars reluctantly. Brother didn’t know what that mean, so he took the money and walk away. This scene exemplified the stereotype that when an African American entered a store, he or she would be suspected of crime. Guerrero’s excerpt gave more symbols from the film that represented the discrimination African Americans have experienced. African Americans’ struggles have been a long concern in American history. The chapter of “In the Shadow of Slavery” described how African Americans have united together to form organizations to lessen the burdens of their fellows.

Both films have vividly portrayed marginal citizens’ struggles in assimilating into the mainstream society. In “West Side Story,” because the gang members lacked resources to better themselves, they had to establish their identities through fighting and “gaining territories.” In “The Brother From Another Planet,” African Americans’ difficulties are carried out through various presentations of the stereotypes people have toward African Americans. These films are great representations of the underprivileged people’s problems in New York City. They should be aware to all residents in the city in order to solve them and better the society.

Once an immigrant’s arduous journey to arrive in America is accomplished, the new issue that arises is how well that immigrant adjusts to a totally new environment. Either the immigrant retains his or her identity and religion as Gitl did or entirely leaves behind his or her old life to adapt to a new way of living like Jack did in Hester Street. America may be a place abounding with opportunities and spectacular sights for many. However, not every immigrant that comes here will experience the glorious life he or she originally imagined. Economic hardships and racist attitudes are inevitable for these newly arrived immigrants. These immigrants must cope with the difficult times they confront and work hard to achieve what we call the “American Dream.” The films The Brother from Another Planet and The West Side Story (1961) are quintessential examples of an immigrant’s struggle to adjust to the new lifestyle in America.

What I found very interesting was how the bounty hunters in the movie The Brother from Another Planet were white, whereas the Brother was African American. We already witness the racial tensions between the two cultural groups here. I mean why did the director choose to make the bounty hunters in pursuit of the “black” brother white? Why couldn’t the director have made the bounty hunters Hispanic or African American, as well? The fact that the bounty hunters were white and the Brother (alien) was black is a good example of how the blacks and whites perceived one another. In addition, in the movie there was this specific scene in which the Brother and a cop were sitting on the porch. When the cop was trying to commence a conversation with the Brother, the Brother seemed like he was uninterested in what the “white” cop had to say. I understand that the Brother lacked the ability to speak, but he could have at least made a gesture to the cop indicating so. Instead of even trying to make an effort to communicate with the cop, the Brother simply walks away from him.

Moreover, I did not understand the significance of why the Brother took out his eye and placed it into the soil of the plant after he walked away from the cop. Essentially, the moment where the cop attempts to speak to the Brother illustrates to us the difficulty the Brother had talking with someone who was white. It’s like he wasn’t comfortable speaking to him and this indicates the racial tensions between the Africans and Americans. I may be digressing, but how amusing was it when the two bounty hunters meowed like cats? I almost fell to the floor laughing. Two strong men screaming like cats definitely emasculates them. I also observed how the Brother was comfortable to associate with his own kind, especially with that singer he admired and the people situated in the bar. Overall, this movie revealed to me how the Brother was able to assimilate with his own group rather easily, instead of the whites and the racial overtones between the African Americans and Whites.

The film The West Side Story (1961) demonstrated the obvious hatred the Jets (Whites) and Sharks (Puerto Ricans) had for one another. Alberto Sanchez’s commentary on the movie The West Side Story further exemplifies this manifest abhorrence the “PRs” and Whites possessed for each other. For example, Sanchez explains how the image of the shark drawn on the wall in the beginning of the film “emphasizes the criminal and barbaric potential of all Puerto Ricans.” From here we can see the Jets contempt for the Sharks because one of the Jets says “The Sharks bite hard and…we must stop them now.” In simplest terms, the Jets are referring to the Sharks (PR’s) as uncivilized like barbarians are. Furthermore, the acrimony between the two groups is witnessed when they keep throwing pejoratives at one another. For instance, the Jets call the Puerto Ricans “Spics,” a derisive and contemptuous term for Spanish-speaking people from Central America and the Caribbean. Also, the intense will each group has to overpower the other show the opposing group “who’s boss” exposes to us the racist attitudes between the groups.

While we can observe that Maria has finally fully assimilated into the American culture, Anita undergoes a drastic change and decides to stick to her culture. Initially, Anita felt that America was wonderful and that she considers herself to be American. However, the specific scene at the Soda/Candy shop with Anita and the Jets causes Anita to have an epiphany. For example, in this particular scene Anita tried to help the Jets and was simply fulfilling a request made to her by Maria. In return, Anita was greatly disrespected and derided by the Jets. The Jets toyed around with her and insulted her by saying “Por favor.” The Jets barely gave Anita a chance to speak and they just misbehaved with her and made her cry. This scene showed the Jets aversion to the Puerto Ricans. But this scene was also an important one in the film because Anita finally realized she wasn’t like “these” Americans and that Benardo was right about them. In fact, she even said if one of the Jets was lying on the ground in pain, she would literally walk by them and spit on them. Hence, Anita knew she was a Puerto Rican and not an American.

In my opinion, both of these films showed the rough experiences immigrants had to suffer while they remained in America and the troubles of assimilating into a new cultural background. While some immigrants were able to achieve that American dream, the others lacked the chance to improve the quality of their lives. The predominantly racial attitudes many Americans had toward the immigrants just made the lives of immigrants even harder. Going back to the reading of “Slaves, Monsters, and Others,” we can see some harsh racism when the African Americans were being compared to creatures, like the Gremlins. Unfortunately, even today racism of some form still exists in certain areas today and some individuals are so entrenched in their racist attitudes it’s impossible to remove them from it. America may emblematize opportunity and glamor, but for some people it serves as a symbol of economic hardships and suffering racial remarks.