Transnationalism, Diaspora and Globalization in Contemporary Film (Essay Sample)

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6 April 2016
Compare and Contrast the Ways in which Attitudes Towards Immigrants are Exposed in "The North" by Gregory Nava and "María Full of Grace" by Joshua Marston
The goal of this essay will be to investigate the context of immigration through the US borders by examining two films i.e. The North by Gregory Nava and Maria Full of Grace by Joshua Marston. This is due to the increase in anti-immigration rhetoric that is depicted by media outlets today. Interestingly, most individuals admit that their constructs of immigration issues stems from what the media presents to them. Public opinion on immigration issues greatly influences immigration legislation in a country. Juan F. Perea posited that what the general public believes or is made to believe directly affects how a country effects their legislation to deal with border control (1). Therefore this justifies the analysis of The North and Maria Full of Grace and how it has affected the public sentiments on issues of immigration.
Films greatly influence cultural, political and social undertones of the public. James Monaco illustrated this by showing how the films created during the World Wars generated a belief in nationalism (262). Cinema influences the worldview and contributes to the sense of identity or national belonging. Films can reinforce or mould the opinion of the public through the messages they depict either ideologically or through mimetic devices. Moreover, since borders are completely linked to immigration issues and because films play a part in shaping public opinion which inevitably influences immigration legislation, analysing films where borders are a principal theme, like Maria Full of Grace and The North, comes a long way in suggesting what type of information is likely to be portrayed for public viewing.
In the current globalized world where goods and capital flow continuously between borders, human movement between the same borders has increasingly been curtailed. Most countries have lessened border enforcement for capital but the same cannot be said of human traffic but this has not reduced the amount of people immigrating to other countries. This large movement of people is encouraged by many factors including peace, search for better living and working conditions etc. Thus borders are integral to the protection of a country. The following section will engage US history of border control and its evolution of immigration policies.
Historical Context
The early immigration approach of the US consistently branded whole groups of people as unwelcomed. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first to institutionalize a category of illegal immigrants and the Chinese were branded as such (Sadowski-Smith 27). Similar to this act was the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 which branded Europeans into groups depending on geographical location and considered some from particular geographical locations as desirable (Odem 363). This Act also created the border control and criminalised the entry of persons into the US without inspection. This mode of branding leads to discriminatory practices against racial groupings and entire nations.
The overview of the historical context puts into perspective the standing of how US handles its borders. This classification of individuals into groupings and the branding of entire races or countries as undesirable will help illuminate a light on the issues that The North and Maria Full of Grace try to communicate to its audience. With this background let’s evaluate the current status of US borders as depicted in the Airport scenes of Maria Full of Grace and The journey of Rosa to the promised land in The North.
The North by Gregory Nova
The Guatemalan military was set on a path to destroy the Mayan-Indians through a scorched earth policy. This was in response to a growing militancy among the people of the Mayan speaking regions. This event was the setting for The North which portrayed a brother and sister who were determined to cross the border from Guatemala to the Promised Land in the north.
The first hour and a half of the film is communicated in Spanish and Mayan languages with English subtitles. This helps communicate the gruesome violence that Rosa and Enrique family encounters in their home country and helps maintain a realistic nature of the events and situation that other Guatemalans went through. The communication in their native language helps the audience immerse themselves in their world so that the American audience can understand the culture of the protagonists in the film.
Both start the journey to the promised land of the north where their grandmother had painted a life of abundance with even the poorest being able to access the advantages of a flushing toilet and a refrigerator. Enrique believes the promises of enriching themselves and being able to achieve the American dream. They believe that the North would be their salvation and that what they have heard as myths would actually be true. But both soon discover that the road to their redemption is like war in itself.
During their journey, passing through an abandoned sewer, they encounter rats which unleash hell on them and this can be seen as a metaphor depicting the dehumanization that immigrants pass through as they try to escape their countries. As they reach California they discover that it is truly a land to reinvent oneself but also bitterly exploitative. They look for work with Enrique working in a restaurant with Rosa working as a housekeeper depicting what they envisioned when they were in Guatemala.
As the film crawls on their vision of the American dream dissipates. The feeling of suffering that they encountered in their third world country also resonates in their American life illustrating that suffering is everywhere. Nava is successful in showing the courage and aspirations of the Latino community in the US through Rosa and Enrique and helps to bring into focus the marginalization of the community in the US which has become a defining chasm in America’s social setting.
The continued increase of immigrants at the US-Mexican border has become a thorny debate in American politics. The risks of making the long journey to the North have not improved since the release of the film with most people still experiencing the awful journey equal to crawling through a rat-infested tunnel. What has changed is the militarization of the border now with crossing routes moving deeper into the desert (Tobar).
The film also helps to portray of a character who is the outsider within. Latinos in the film are greatly shown as outsiders through the characters of Rosa and Enrique. Their jealous co-worker is pushed to call the authorities on them, after Enrique has been given a promotion, since they are undocumented immigrants. These two protagonists are in the lower echelons of social and cultural class compared to the other white Americans but are considered higher than the characters that are envious of them. Navas is able to invite the public to be empathetic with Enrique and Rosa more than the others i.e. the manager and co-workers, even though they are more Americanised than the former. Rosa and Enrique are considered by the audience as the outside of the inside since they pursue the same dreams and aspirations as all universal humans.
The North film still retains its ability to anger and move audiences. The story is a daily occurrence in America today. The film did not delve deep into policy issues of immigration since these issues are irrelevant to the characters as all they want is a better life for themselves and their children. This story of Rosa and Enrique is the same story that is experienced by Italians, Germans and other European immigrants. The realities of immigration haven’t changed since the release of the film but America at the end will still require the immigrants as a source of cheap labour.
Maria Full of Grace by Joshua Marston
This film depicts Maria as a young girl working in flower factory in her rural town. The girl is forced to quit her job due to ill-treatment by her male boss. She is at her early stages of pregnancy and since she can’t find a legal job she is forced to become a drug mule so as to provide for herself and her unborn child. The film at this stage is also depicted in her native language. This is similar to the North film which also tries to illicit sympathy from the audience and helps them to understand the culture and situation that the protagonist finds herself in.
For the majority of the global populace, border checkpoints are more than transient inconveniences and may make many feel in danger and devalued. The airport scene in this film illustrates this notion. Mark Salter posited that airports have become an integral part of a countries border security due to increase in technology and globalization (9). Therefore, by evaluating the policing of the airport in the film, Maria Full of Grace, this new border points can be understood in the context of immigration.
The border officer delayed in stopping Maria at the airport. Before she left Colombia she was instructed on how to conduct herself so as to not raise suspicion. The audience at this stage is exposed to the notions of how Americans view other races of nationals from countries that are not branded as desirable. The airport officer closely scrutinises Maria’s appearance and thereafter escorts her to the interrogation room. Border control officers scrutinize passengers without any clear regulations or rule but through the power of observation and the relative system of individuation which can be well illustrated by the films airport scene. The vagueness of US regulations on the inspection of aliens leaves it open to the interpretation of the airport officer who de...