The Use of Theatre in Mexican-American Culture Essay Example for Free

The Use of Theatre in Mexican-American Culture Essay Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the United States, and Mexican-Americans are the largest group within the Latino population. It may be unfathomable for the younger generations to think of the Mexican population in the United States as a silent minority group; however, it was not until after World War II that we see a rise in Chicano nationality and identity movements. What was the role of the theatre in this discovery of identity, and how did the theatre give social voice to this formerly unheard group? The clearest answer to this question can be found through the Teatro Chicano movement, Luis Valdez’s character El Pachuco in Zoot Suit and the performance art pieces and writings of Luis Alfaro. The name El Teatro Chicano is actually a blanket term used to describe an entire theatrical movement by the Mexican-American population in the United States. Established in 1965, Luis Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino (literally, Farmworkers’ Theatre) was the most famous of the Chicano Theatres; however it was hardly the only participant within the movement. In 1971 there were over 25 groups that defined themselves as Chicano Theatres (Huerta 15). The basic guidelines of El Teatro Chicano were simply to be a community-based movement committed to exposing social issues and injustices within the barrios, or hyper-segregated Mexican neighborhoods. The mission of Teatro Chicano was based on the understanding of the ancestral Mayan concept of â€Å"In Lak’ech†, which states â€Å"you are my other me, so I must respect you as I do myself. † The foundation of Teatro Chicano not only traced back to the Native American ancestors of the Mexican-American community, but it also sought to use this ancestry to restore a sense of identity and to encourage Mexicans in the United States to hold onto their roots (Huerta 16). Unlike other theatre and social change movements, El Teatro Chicano was not really interested in injustice as a whole, but rather injustice from the vantage point of the Mexican-American. The specificity of the movement also helped to distinguish the Mexican identity from a general marginalized group identified by the blanked term of ‘Hispanic’ or ‘Latino’ to a unique faction with a personalized perspective (Huerta 15). There has been little research done on teatros other than Teatro Campesino, most likely due to the fact that El Teatro Chicano was not a very organized or professional movement. Pieces were often performed outdoors, on street corners or in other high traffic areas. Little concern was given to production quality because the content of the message was the primary focus (Kanellos 65). Valdez felt there was a want for more unity and communication between participants as well as a need for more training of Chicano performers in El Teatro Chicano, so in the summer 1971 he held the first meeting of El Teatro Nacional de Aztlan, or TENAZ. The workshop was considered a â€Å"success†, and 15 participants were taught different Teatro ‘techniques’ and swapped ideas for topics and themes for new performance art pieces (Huerto 14). Ironically Valdez, the founder of TENAZ, was eventually excluded from the workshop because he was criticized for creating works that were too ‘spiritual’ and that avoided the real issues of poverty, employment and discrimination (Elam 116 – 117). The fundamental performance utilized by El Teatro Chicano was the acto, a term coined by Luis Valdez. Actos are performance are pieces that are used to â€Å"inspire the audience to social action† and put emphasis on the social vision (Broyles-Gonzalez 25). While they were usually scripted, they were never actually written down and performers often took a lot of artistic license with the pieces (Broyles-Gonzalez 22). The actos performed by various Teatros Chicanos often faced serious opposition, even by members of the Mexican community. In an effort to remain ‘true to reality’ the actos often contained extreme profanity, coarse subject matters and graphic violence. It was not uncommon for Teatro Chicano performers to be thrown out of venues because of the vulgarity of the actos, so performers constantly struggled between the choice of softening the pieces for the sake of the audience or remaining true their perception of the social reality (Huerta 17). Though it may have lacked in unity and professionalism, the El Teatro Chicano helped to instill pride in the Mexican identity and spur discussion of injustice and social action. In his essay Concerning Teatro Chicano, J. A. Huearta states: â€Å"Teatros are converting Chicanos who used to be ashamed of their heritage; teatros are bringing socio-political realities to the people in a way they cannot ignore; teatros are educating people† (Huerta 18). During his work with El Teatro Campesino, Luis Valdez was commissioned to write Zoot Suit by the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The play would tell the story of the racially biased trials of the Sleepy Lagoon Murders, where seventeen pachucos, Mexican gang members, were convicted of first-degree murder, and the Zoot Suit Riots that ensued due to the verdict (Jacobs 27). Through much opposition from the Anglo-dominated theatre world, the play debuted at the Taper, made its way to Broadway in 1979 and was later made into a film in 1981. Much of the opposition to the play was due to the unwillingness to change the character of El Pachuco, the prototype of the 1940s Mexican gangster and Valdez’s personification of the Chicano identity (Kanellos 97). In an interview soon after the release of the film Zoot Suit Valdez commented on the character of El Pachuco: â€Å"He is the rebel. The recalcitrant rebel who refuses to give in, who refuses to bend, refuses to admit that he is wrong. He is incorrigible. And the way that the Pachuco appears in the film and in the play makes a very strong statement. The stance is almost ideological, even cultural; it’s mythical. They know then, the Anglo critics†¦that what this figure represents is a self-determined identity; it comes from its own base. That’s been my argument all along through my work; that we have our own fundamental base from which to work† (Kanellos 98). To Valdez, the idea of the Pachuco was not to glorify the lifestyle of the 1940’s gangster (which many accused him of doing), but rather find an archetype within whom the Mexican-American community could find their identity. The pachuco refused to assimilate to the dominant white culture, and while he may inhabit some extreme character flaws, Valdez finds his struggle for identity worthy of acclaim (Kanellos 101). Valdez also argues that he presents both good and bad sides to El Pachuco, as to not present him as a villain or hero, but rather and â€Å"abstract person† who acts as a sort of â€Å"internal authority† for the Mexican-American (Kanellos 98). The pachuco is clearly seen as the symbol of Chicano identity in the second act of Zoot Suit. El Pachuco stands before the court and is stripped of his zoot suit, the representation of his new identity, and is reduced to nothing but a loin cloth, the representation of his ancestral Native-American identity (Valdez Act II, Scene 6). Despite the persecution, El Pachuco still refuses to give into the dominant culture. It is clear that Valdez sought to instill ideas of pride and heritage within the Chicano community through his character of El Pachuco, but his plight did not go unopposed, even by members of his own racial community. Along with the disdain held for the lifestyle of the pachuco, Valdez was also criticized for marginalizing women through the â€Å"machisimo† or male domination of his plays (Jacobs 28). In Zoot Suit and other Valdez plays women’s roles were restricted to four characters: mother, grandmother, sister and love interest. Women also strictly fell into the category of â€Å"good woman† or â€Å"bad woman† and never had the character complexity or struggle like that of El Pachuco (Broyles-Gonzalez). In her article Elizabeth Jacobs writes: â€Å"†¦Valdez promotes an exclusively male version of events and a perspective reflecting the essentializing tendencies of movement ideology which dichotomized a ‘monolithic’ male Chicano identity in response to Anglo-American domination† (Jacobs 29). It seems that though Valdez was attempting to fight the dominant group by creating a sense of identity for the Chicanos, he arguably did so by marginalizing another minority group. To this criticism Valdez has been cited as saying, â€Å"Anytime that a new identity is created, it emerges as a power that is raw, terrible and disgusting to some, and glorious to others† (Kanellos 99). A more recent example of the use of theatre to spur social change for the Mexican-American community can be found in the performance art pieces of Luis Alfaro. As seems to be a common thread linking Chicano theatre, Alfaro’s pieces have the tendency to disturb audiences with their subject matter and/or physical performance, but do not seem to be quite as offensive as the actos performed by El Teatro Chicano members. Through his writings Alfaro advocates â€Å"throwing one’s identity in the face of others, making oneself fabulous, daring to tell the truth, to tell one’s own story† (Bonney 296). In his piece entitled Abuelita Alfaro speaks from the perspective of a ten year old boy with an extreme disdain for his Abuelita (grandmother). As the piece continues it becomes rather obvious that Abuelita stands as a symbol for old Mexican heritage and tradition. He shows a bloody finger and tells of a time when his Abuelita stuck it in her noting that I was â€Å"the only way that Abuelita knows how to stop the bleeding† (Bonney 298). He later shows a bloody finger on his other hand and tells how other Latinos are afraid to touch his wound, alluding to the idea that they are afraid he is infected with HIV because he’s gay. He ends the piece by how he wishes for Abuelita in these times of â€Å"plague†¦loss†¦sorrow†¦mourning†¦and shame† (Bonney 298 299). This comparison between the Abuelita, or the Mexican culture and heritage of old, who embraces him even if the manner seems simplistic and crude and the modern Latino community who rejects his wounds serves as a more subtle call to the Mexican community to embrace one another as their ancestors did (much like the afore mentioned Mayan concept of In Lak’ech). In another performance peace entitled Mu Mu Approaches, Alfaro consumes an entire box of Twinkies while a voice over tells a story of the rejection of â€Å"Mu Mu†, another woman who seems to stand for Mexican heritage and culture. (Bonney 299 – 300). Both the words of Alfaro’s piece and the gluttonous consumption of an entire box of Twinkies, a very â€Å"American† food, convey the dangers of over assimilation and neglect of one’s heritage. While Alfaro’s theatrical pieces definitely contribute to the establishment of a Chicano identity, he does not fall directly in line with the movement of El Teatro Chicano or that of Luis Valdez. Alfaro’s pieces often rejected oppression and marginalization in general; he did not only concern himself with the struggle of the Mexican-American. The lack of continuity could be attributed to many different things, but I think it is important to note that Alfaro’s homosexuality could be a reason for his apparent deviation from the mission of El Teatro Chicano. Both the Teatro movement and Luis Valdez have received extreme criticism from both feminist and gay rights groups, and were even called â€Å"homophobic† by some (Elam 32). There is no present research linking Alfaro’s sexual orientation and his divergence from El Teatro and Luis Valdez; however the connection does seem possible. There is no denying that theatre has played a significant role in giving a social voice to the Chicano community as well as creating a distinguished identity for them in the United States. However, there also is no denying that the highlighted theatre movements are not without weaknesses, some more striking than others. El Teatro Chicano devoted itself entirely to the Mexican population, but in some ways it may have promoted the same type of ethnocentrisms that it was created to fight. Luis Valdez tried to create a sense of pride an identity for the Mexican-American through his character of El Pachuco, but it was arguably at the expense of the women of the Chicano community. Luis Alfaro’s performance pieces, while not without flaws, seem to have progressed some from those before him. Perhaps, as stated before, this has something to do with his sexual-orientation, or perhaps it is simply due to the natural evolution of learning from those who have gone before you. Alfaro’s work gives hope that future Mexican performers, writers and directors will develop even farther down the path of social enlightenment, and that perhaps one day oppressed communities will be able to find liberation without the marginalization of someone else.

The Partner by John Grisham Essay -- The Partner by John Grisham

The Partner by John Grisham The Partner is one of John Grisham's best books by far! There was a little more description in The Partner, then in The Firm, but this one had a very slow intro. The book opened with an anonymous man living in Brazil under an unknown name. Patrick Lanigan, now known as Danilo Silva, was living a normal life, not making a big deal about the ninety million dollars he had stolen from his ex-law firm two years ago. Danilo is wanted by his ex-law firm buddies, his client from whom he stole the money, and from the FBI. The people that want him the most were the men hired by the client that lost the ninety million, and they were the ones he was afraid of. He knew if the FBI found him he’d be busted, but also safe, if the other thugs found him, he was dead, all they cared about was the money. One day while he was jogging Danilo is kidnapped and taken to a place where he is tortured with electricity and other devious objects. The FBI received a tip that Patrick Lanigan had been captured, and when the FBI found this team of hitmen, and took Patrick, he had already received burns on his skin and charred his flesh. When Danilo returns to his home town, he once again is Patrick Lanigan, and is forced to face up to all the things he has done in his past. The first thing he does is he gets himself a good lawyer, one he knew from his first life, an old buddy from college. A judge friend, the one who spoke at his funeral, also came to visit Patrick in the ho...

Causes of Lying

How many people can say that they have never lied? In all sincerity, there is no one that could confess that. â€Å"A lie is an untruth, a deviation, big or small, from what is known to be real. It is a false statement deliberately presented as being true, thus misrepresenting a situation or giving a totally wrong impression about something† (â€Å"Why people lie†). It’s a natural feeling to want to lie or omit the truth to get out of a difficult situation. Most of the time people are dishonest because they fear that telling the truth will get them in trouble. The main motives that cause people to lie are the attempts to avoid punishment, to seek attention, and to protect others feelings. One of the most common reasons that people â€Å"tweak† the truth is to avoid punishment. The consequences of our actions can sometimes be frightful and in order to cover up a certain incident we find it necessary to blame someone or something else. A good example would be telling a teacher the dog ate your homework. This person blamed the dog to get away with forgetting to do their worksheet; therefore, they avoided getting a zero for the assignment. If a guy sees an attractive woman walk by while he is on a date with his girlfriend, it is normal for him to want to get a better glance. At this point it is reasonable for his â€Å"sweetie† to question if he was staring and if so, why? Of course the boy was admiring the lovely lady’s beauty, but in order to avoid an argument or even a break up the young man simply explains how he only has eyes for his divine girlfriend. In order to stay out of trouble people must do what they have to stay in the clear. If that means another person has to face the cost of another peer’s action, well so be it. Another instance in which lying is quite popular is when individuals want to seek attention. Sometimes people just want to fit in and be accepted by their associates, but in order to do that they must provide false information. â€Å"It boils down to the shifting sands of the self and trying to look good both to ourselves and others, experts say† (Lloyd). Some people lie in order to make their life seem more interesting. Saying that you met a famous celebrity or exaggerating about a social outing can make any social life appear exciting. Most of us want to be the center of attention and in order to get there we must make up stories to capture our friends interest. When a person really likes someone they pretend to be a fan of everything that individual favors just to capture their attention. A lot of times people just want to be perfect and act as if they know everything. In the article â€Å"Why people lie† it says: A person applying for a job may claim proficiency in a certain field he's obviously not very good in because the job requirements state it as a prerequisite. Another such person may similarly claim expertise in a particular area for the sake of impressing his boss, or in hope of promotion. This is called lying to gain an advantage over other people. This is where someone wants to present themselves as a well rounded person to be more qualified for a position. Pretending to be some your not can only take someone so far until their busted. In some cases, what causes us to lie is the need protect other people’s feelings. Lying is usually intended to help ourselves out, but sometimes we do it to keep us from dragging others into our problems. The medical reports are in and it says you have been diagnosed with cancer. The easy thing to do is to tell friends and family about the illness to gain their support. Lately, the people who love you the most have been really stressed out with problems of their own. Since they are having such a difficult time, some may think it would be best to keep the illness a secret. When loved ones ask about the results of the exam you say everything is â€Å"okay†. Dragging others into things that they should not worry about isn’t necessary; it is better if we look after each other’s feelings. When Moms spend a whole day preparing a special meal for their family it sometimes doesn’t turn out so great, but we realize that they dedicated all their time into creating something everyone could enjoy, so we tell them the food was delicious. A common question asked by ladies is if a particular outfit makes them look fat. Although what they are wearing may make them come across as chubby, you say it looks sensational on them to spare them the grief. â€Å"The study, published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology, found that 60 percent of people had lied at least once during the 10-minute conversation, saying an average of 2. 2 inaccurate things† (Lloyd). The truth is a rare thing to hear now and days, but it’s all in the purpose of creating less drama in our day to day lives. Everyone lies, it’s just another part of life, but behind every lie there is a purpose; whether it is to avoid getting a phone taken up or to make someone feel good. Many situations lead to one of these three causes of lying. Sometimes all people want is to protect themselves or to care for others with false reports. At the end of the day millions of individuals would have lied, but the world continues to revolve.

Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart - 1541 Words

Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories give insight to many of the dark emotions and thoughts that Poe could only express with a pen. Love and Hate is a common theme that runs through many of Poe’s stories such as: â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, â€Å"The Black Cat†, and â€Å"The Oval Portrait †. Although his thoughts were portrayed in morbid and malignant ways, the underlying tones embodied in his writings have to do with some of the internal struggles every human battles through on a daily basis. Love and Hate is just one example of the many themes running through Poe’s works, but it stands to be one of the more prominent messages that he was trying to voice. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is told from the point of view of an unknown narrator that tells the readers a story of his motives to kill an old man, while keeping his sanity intact. The narrator tells it in such a way to defend himself against the persecutions of his mental instability. Th e narrator claimed his love for the old man since he had no greed for the man’s wealth and no reasons for vengeance, but the fear and hate for the man’s vulture-eye drove him to murder. Although his intentions showed no relation to that of a murderous profile, he killed the old man, dismembering his body and forever ridding himself and the old man of the eye. Poe truly felt love for the old man and felt that his eye was not connected to his being. He was convinced that the eye was evil and illustrates a picture of paranoia for things that are abnormal andShow MoreRelatedEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart857 Words   |  4 Pagesfear what they can t control. Author, Edgar Allan Poe wrote short stories that evoked emotions of fear of the unknown in a way that speaks to the reader. Some of Poe s stories were not well accepted in his day because people were just not ready for them- they were scary. Poe s works The Tell-Tale Heart, The Premature Burial and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar evoke emotions of fear of the unknown for the reader Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell-Tale Heart, is a short story that illustrates theRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart1581 Words   |  7 PagesEdgar Allan Poe wrote many gothic stories with twisted themes and ideas. An example in his works is the conception of overthinking something that is not there. Many of these tales end with someone being killed due to the fascination of an unrealistic problem trying to be solved. Imagination is a main factor that drives the narrators to become worried. The obsessing narrators in Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, â€Å"The Black Cat†, and â€Å"The Imp of the Perverse† demonstrate the idea that guiltRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart1538 Words   |  7 PagesPotentially Mad, Potentially Genius: Edgar Allan Poe’s Style â€Å"True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?† Poe wrote this line in his â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† and he very well could have been speaking about himself. Many generations have debated on whether or not Edgar Allen Poe was a mad. Reviewers and readers have looked at Poe’s work for nearly two centuries, trying to pick it apart and see if it’s the ramblings of a mad man or well piecedRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart Essay1597 Words   |  7 PagesPoe’s Method to Madness [Hook] With his short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe has captivated the imagination and interest of readers all around the world. His creative talents led to the beginning of different literary genres, earning him the nickname Father of the Detective Story among other distinctions (Poe s Literary Contributions). It may be concluded he wrote such dark stories and poems because of the adverse situations he faced in life. Much of his life was surrounded by sadness, deathRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart888 Words   |  4 PagesEdgar Allan Poe has a dark sense of literary meaning. Within The Tell-Tale Heart it s shown when Poe incorporates dark elements of literacy through the guilt of a murder. Which became forced out by the hypothetical beating of a heart. Within the story, a sense of dreadful nervousness or sadness is portrayed by the way the narrator is seen within our minds as the story proceeds. As the story goes on we see the diseases that plague his body and mind. 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However, it is his Gothic narrative, in the short story realm he is greatest known for and is regarded as one of the foremost masters of horror that the United States has ever fashioned. The crucial component to these horror stories isRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s A Tell Tale Heart1289 Words   |  6 PagesInside the Heart There are many well-known poets, but not many are as unique as Edgar Allan Poe. By the age of 13, Poe had become a creative poet (Biographies). Many of Poe s works were horrific fictional stories. His first book was published in Boston in 1827, called Tamerlane and other Poems. More of Poe s major works include Tales of the Grotesque a d Arabesque, which included his most spine tingling tales such as Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher. Most of Poe s works haveRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart 1291 Words   |  6 Pagessecrets hidden in the story line that does it? Individually when each of you close your eyes and visualise a book that has been flicked by hundreds and has been adored what comes to mind? The famous Edgar Allan Poe stands out in the history of gothic texts, especially his novel the â€Å" Tell-Tale Heart†. However there is a numerous amount of contemporary texts based off this genre including Tim Burton’s â€Å" Vincentâ € . In this presentation I hope to engage you in the history of the gothic genre. GothicRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart957 Words   |  4 Pageswhether madness is or is not the loftiness of intelligence,† (Edgar Allan Poe). Edgar Allan Poe is a well known and beloved writer of the horrid and meticulous. Through emphasis on his personal life and personal insanity, we get a glimpse inside the world that might be our own minds as well as stories that teach us life lessons as well as make our blood curdle and ponder over the deep emotions of Poe’s life. Stories such as the Tell-Tale Heart teach us of these life lessons. In this story the narrator