Workaholic, alcoholic, father time: Stereotypes of Mexican/Chicano men commodified in film

This thesis examines the creation and perpetuation of two enduring stereotypes of Mexican and Chicano men displayed on films United States displayed during the 1940s through the 1960s. These two stereotypes: the lover, heroic macho man and the violent, dangerous alcoholic man will be analyzed by paying attention to how these narratives are shaped during key moments related to immigration and labor regimes, and discussions of citizenship and military participation. I analyze five films spanning two decades: The Ring, Three Godfathers, Salt of the Earth, Three Caballeros, and Looney Tunes which emphasis on its character ‘Speedy Gonzales.' I argue that film production fetishizes Mexican/Chicano bodies and stir up false narratives of the real-life experiences that Mexican/Chicano men face living in the United States. The films promote exaggerated depictions of masculinity that underrepresent Mexican/Chicano men's humanity and deep, intricate stories. My goal is to shed light on the pressing problem of appropriation and cultural dominance that the United States promote through popular culture as an easy way to target and spread bigotry and prejudice.

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the creation and perpetuation of two enduring stereotypes of Mexican and Chicano men displayed on films United States displayed during the 1940s through the 1960s. These two stereotypes: the lover, heroic macho man and the violent, dangerous alcoholic man will be analyzed by paying attention to how these narratives are shaped during key moments related to immigration and labor regimes, and discussions of citizenship and military participation. I analyze five films spanning two decades: The Ring, Three Godfathers, Salt of the Earth, Three Caballeros, and Looney Tunes which emphasis on its character ‘Speedy Gonzales.’ I argue that film production fetishizes Mexican/Chicano bodies and stir up false narratives of the real-life experiences that Mexican/Chicano men face living in the United States. The films promote exaggerated depictions of masculinity that underrepresent Mexican/Chicano men’s humanity and deep, intricate stories. My goal is to shed light on the pressing problem of appropriation and cultural dominance that the United States promote through popular culture as an easy way to target and spread bigotry and prejudice. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii INTRODUCTION 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (IMMIGRATION AND MEXICANS) 4 TYPES OF STEREOTYPES 15 CONCLUSION 25 REFERENCES 26 iii 1 INTRODUCTION A life in picture. Can it be captured accurately? The United States reinforces cultural dominance, partially by exploiting both the labor and cultural stereotypes of Mexican/Chicano men. Specifically, Chicano/Mexican men have been subject to segregation, labor exploitation, and stereotypes because of land displacement, immigration policy, and social prejudice.1 Examples of this exploitation and sentiments are shown by using commercial methods, such as films with overexaggerated caricatures, fetishizing through exotism in the body, and bringing light to tensions among the Police and Mexican/Chicano men. While it spanned from the 1940s to the 1960s, it left a mark on the 90s subculture. When understanding class’s ridicule of the actions that come from the land displacement of Mexicans and Mexican Americans portrayed in films, it becomes clear the ruling class continuation in methods to prevent labor and education opportunities. It is increasingly relevant to look at popular culture as a lens to understand the feelings people had and the way certain historical moments had been dealt with. For many people, artistic pursuits have been an outlet, or a reflection of anxieties felt within a community that does not see the light of day, sometimes because of censorship and often due to the lack of clear messaging. How did the disparaging portrayal of Mexican men in film contribute to biases towards them? Which were the role of class and race in the portrayal of Mexican men? Were there differences in how Mexican masculinity and white masculinity was depicted? 1 Jessie Kratz, “El Movimiento: The Chicano Movement and Hispanic Identity in the United States, “Pieces of History, accessed July 1, 2025, https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2021/09/23/el-movimiento-thechicano-movement-and-hispanic-identity-in-the-united-states/. 2 Capitalists released films introducing stereotypes and making fun of the class struggle felt by Mexican or Mexican American laborers. Such stereotypes include ‘the spicy Latina’, ‘the lazy Mexican’, overtly alcoholic and jealous man, and ‘the Latin lover’ that dominated the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema and left a false impression of the Mexican community.2 The jealous ‘Latin lover’ or the extremely masculine and alcoholic man are probably the most popular and widespread stereotype of Mexican men that corporations such as The Walt Disney Picture Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. shaped from the mid-twentieth century onwards. This form of entertainment caricaturized through lively, upbeat music and colorful, playful designs Mexican/Mexican American men as highly energized, alcoholic, violent, and even womanizers blur the lines of negative perceptions of the Mexican community. As such, it is more productive to examine the behaviors that are overexaggerated than to villainize Mexican and Mexican American men as fixed characters for entertainment. These characteristics of Mexican and Mexican American men come off as performances and cartoonish. Though these stories shown on film are not aligned with portrayals of other characters, who are white and are seen as tamer and more humane. I will be analyzing two stereotypes for this essay: the lover, heroic macho man and the violent, dangerous alcoholic man that is shown on five films: The Ring, Three Godfathers, Salt of the Earth, Three Caballeros, and Looney Tunes, with emphasis on the character ‘Speedy Gonzales’. Specifically, these were released between the 1940s and 1960s, a time where pivotal revolutionary political movements were occurring inside the 2 Gary D. Keller, Hispanic and US Film: An Overview and Handbook (Arizona: Bilingual Press, 1994), 48. 3 United States one of the key moments between these decades was the arrival in thousands of migrants from Mexico that influenced political and social considerations where these films portrayed themes surrounding labor and family life. 4 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF IMMIGRATION AND MEXICANS IN THE US This social and political relationship between Mexico and the United States extends even further back with the start of colonization and officially marking border territories with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, after the end of the Mexico-US war Here, former Mexican territory or present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and even parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming were lost and leading to a relocation of homes. One of the consequences was the American sentiment of Manifest Destiny which refers to the idea that it was a God given duty and right of European settlers in the 19th century to expand capitalistic and democratic ideologies at the cost of labor exploitation and land seizing of indigenous people.3 This ideology carries out beyond just foreign policy and may become internalized bigotry within average American people, but more violently through diplomatic measures. The Bracero Program and masculinity Due to tensions between Mexican President Porfirio Diaz and obreros (laborers) in the late 19th century, the economy in Mexico was in desperation and negotiations made between President Diaz and US President William Taft used working class people as a vessel to come out of financial stagnation.4 This was an enduring practice. The Bracero programs of regulated labor initiated in 1942 and extended to 1964, for example, brought two million Mexican men to the United States.5 Today, a huge proportion of agricultural 3 “The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,” February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, art.5. The Storm That Swept Mexico, directed by Ray Telles, aired May 15, 2011(Berkeley, California: Paradigm Productions) 5 Deborah Cohen, “From Peasant to Worker: Migration, Masculinity, and the Making of Mexican Workers in the US,” Cambridge University Press 69, (2006): 81 4 5 workers in some US states are still Mexican. It is important to note that these workers, often men, were migrant workers because most of them came alone.6 Without the emotional support of familiarity in a community, often by close friends and family members, these migrant workers sought a sense of belonging and a network of masculinity. Looking at these expectations in gender roles and the overt role masculinity plays arising problems of insecurity or exaggeration is a way to consider depictions in media of Chicano and Mexican men. In the Mexican community, a social problem are the pressures of masculinity and the gender role of a ‘provider’ man that transform into an even bigger problem: machismo. This harmful behavior of machismo has become interchangeable with manhood. It holds no truth but is now hi-jacked to be the spokesperson of a Mexican man. By noting ethnocentric scholarship during the 1940s and 1950s that made machismo a shorthand for hypermasculinity and used as an English language term because of linguistic and culture nuances, this research offers explanations for general anxieties due to influx of immigration and the consequences of the Cold War. As the analysis of the films demonstrate, machismo is seen with a stigma partially because of its attribution to immigrants and its use by Hispanic or Latinas. The depictions of Hispanic/Latino men have not always been considered carefully because studies had written off nuances in Hispanic/Latino behaviors as stagnant and adjacent to cultural behaviors. Such depictions were in the “behaviors, languages, and practices existing in specific cultural and organizational location and associated with men” that define what 6 Deborah Cohen, “From Peasant to Worker,” 81 6 masculinity may mean, depending on the culture and is not limited to just biological evidence.7 Navigating these concepts of masculinity in creative work pushes for questions regarding its validity, harm, and complicity in negative perceptions of Chicano and Mexican men. R.W Connell’s Masculinities is regarded to be a seminal text in Men’s studies, exploring and analyzing gender roles, sexuality, violence, and the expectations of a family home.8 As Connell explains, masculinity had been challenged by the emergence of gender politics and feminism who have stressed its connection to capitalist economies that emerged through land ownership during the 19th century.9 Specifically on Chicano and Mexican men, obvious personal narratives help elevate vital contributions to the discussions on hypermasculinity and machismo in its harmful consequences. Often, there is a pattern of negative effects that seem to come about systematically and not just individually. Certain narratives that are pushed may have been because of oppression of labor owners that could have launched a plan to suppress movements in labor strikes and certain hegemonies permeating the United States. Ideas and depictions of masculinity have been shaped by various factors, including war. During the 1940s and 60s, in particular, the defense of US interest pushed men to embody heroism “and patriotism was characterized by concern over communist aggression where this Red Scare enabled young Chicanos to participate in a tradition of martial citizenship that emphasized military service as a powerful avenue toward social 7 Andrea Waling, White masculinity in Contemporary Australia: The good Ol’ Aussie Bloke (New York: Routledge, 2020), Chapter Four. 8 R.W. Connell, Masculinities, (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995), 185-203. 9 R.W. Connell, Masculinities, 185-203. 7 and political equal” and thus brought about sentiments of a social contract.10 Films released in the late 1940s into the 1960s depicting heroism and masculinity, also demonstrate the exploitation of Chicanos and Mexican men through storylines of action that reflect the United States political interests pushing these men to join ranks during World War II and the Vietnam War.11 Through the struggles of Mexican men in their employment, education, and combatting prejudices, military service was seen as a social contract. In this, Mexican soldiers believed this social contract to be “one that offered the possibility of first-class citizenship and socioeconomic opportunities in return for dedicated service.”12 The United States model of imperialism and capital interests had grown during the years of the second World War because the push of industrialization and domestic labor. Competing countries such as the former Soviet Union and Vietnam brought additional political tensions and shaped a narrative of immigration. So, while the United States continued with political tensions amongst countries, this created an opening where Mexican men exhibited “warrior patriotism” that reflected values instilled by their own culture. The military also served as a potential solution to the barriers posed in other institutional spheres, like Education as Ricardo Castro-Salazar and Carl Bagley have explained. As they show, the “highest educational opportunities to which Mexican origin students could aspire in were vocational training intended to prepare them for labor- 10 Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation? 300. Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation? Chicano Soldiering, Sexuality, and Manhood during the Vietnam War Era,” The Oral History Review 40, no. 2 (2013): 300. 12 Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation?, 300. 11 8 intensive, low paying jobs.”13 The military was then one of the other few avenues by which Latin American migrants could pursue. This is because the military service offers a chance of civil duty encouraging heroism and also serving as a way move up in class by having a respectable occupation.14 This now further encourages limits of education for Latinos and intensifies labour experiences that are unfair and lowly, along with setting the standard and hierarchy on what Mexican/Chicano men should strive for. So, as the education system in the United States continues to adhere to maximum economic viability and placing fixed expectations, Chicano/Mexican men use their bodies, not only for profit to provide financial stability but seek the ultimate heroic figure that also uses their body in military service. This relates to the commodification of Mexican/Chicano bodies through the film industry in fetishizing and exploiting behaviors for profit.15 bell hook’s Desire and Resistance explores the commodification of the Other in that “ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture.”16 Through the efforts of picture studios, the liveliness of caricatures promoted more viewers to see a spectacle that in turn made more money. These instances through generational teachings and which racist or discriminatory practices constitute under with no real logic. In this, fictional stories and commodities, like film, follows the narrative of an “us” versus “them” and further antagonizes groups that just have different customs, but disregards nuances, similarities, and socially Ricardo Castro-Salazar and Carl Bagley, “Navigating Educational Borders: Barriers, Bridges and Paths.” Counterpoints 415 (2012): 70. 14 Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation? 300. 15 R.W. Connell, Masculinities, 193. 16 Bell Hooks, “Desire and Resistance,” Essay, Olympia., 366–80. 13 9 constructed ideas. Thus, it is necessary to differentiate how white masculinity is portrayed on film vis-à-vis Mexican masculinity. An episode of Ironside was aired on November 13, 1969, titled “the Machismo Bag” that depicts a Chicano character as a juvenile delinquent opposed to the paternalistic character who is a white, wise man. Here, this narrative shows that a white man is somewhat more intelligent, and his behavior is one sophistication and maturity. While on the other hand, the Chicano is not only infantilized through age and literally under the jurisdiction of the United States incarceration system but is shown to be a criminal. In studying those comparisons, it’s clear how Mexican masculinity is utilized for more comedic purposes or proper of someone who is an antagonist or villain. White men, on their part, are often depicted chivalrous and noble without overextending the violent part of their heroism. These feelings and portrayals in society can be explained by the changing demographics within the United States. Race/Chicanos The surge in millions of migrant workers in the mid-twentieth century began to disrupt the comfortability of white Americans and contributed to social tensions that manifested in the form of fictional narratives.17 Silke Hensel is credited in being a pioneer of studies seeing how different immigrants are categorized such as European Americans and Latino Americans. Descriptions of Mexican men shown in film (violent, ‘Latin lovers’, alcoholic) have placed challenges in looking at the race paradigm and finding a placement for Anglo Americans, not just Latino Americans within the United States. Indeed “racism [is] the determinant factor in Mexican American history” in Latino 17 Deborah Cohen, “From Peasant to Worker”, 83 10 studies and critical men’s studies.18 In relation, the surge of Mexican immigrants during the 1940s and 1950s had been the result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor Policy” that sought to renounce military force that had been seen in Central and South America and promoted trade agreements and economic assistance.19 According to Gary D. Keller, the development of big business regarding film productions and entertainment reinforced how immigrants are perceived and ethnic stereotypes. With such depictions, Keller notes that international protests on these films had not only occurred after 1930s, but many decades beforehand. During the World War II era, international protests helped the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America to produce an exoticized and ‘friendlier’ take on Hispanic or Latino people on film. This in part also had been because of the Good Neighbor policy of the 1930s where the United States needed as many allies as they could get amidst the Cold War.20 During the time of President Roosevelt’s policy, American media saw an explosion of color in the creation of Latin American stories that were through the lens of Americanized Latino characters. Among the list of these films was Three Caballeros and Looney Tunes’ character Speedy Gonzales, as well as making Latin entertainers like Carmen Miranda, Rita Hayworth, Rita Moreno, and Desi Arnaz more prominent in Hollywood pictures. This gave a platform for stories and figures from Latin America to have exposure to American viewers that impacted perceptions by creating false narratives and assumptions because of the character types that these entertainers would be subject to 18 Claudia Roesch. Macho Men and Modern Women: Mexican Immigration, Social Experts and Changing Family Values in the 20th Century United States. (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenburg, 2015), 6. 19 Gary D. Keller, Hispanic and US Film: An Overview and Handbook (Arizona: Bilingual Press, 1994), 48. 20 Gary D. Keller, Hispanic and US Film: An Overview and Handbook (Arizona: Bilingual Press, 1994), 48. 11 portray. Characters such as the Latin lover or the comedic relief that were made popular by household names.21 In 1953, ‘Operation Wetback’ refers to the search and seizures of immigrants living and working in the United States that lead to a mass wave of deportation of Mexican people. While the exploitation does not involve military measures, the use of capital exploitation is equally as violent because it leads to stagnation in countries that now rely on United States aid in terms of the economy and education opportunities. Socially because land displacement of Indigenous people, immigrants and their children building their lives inside the United States, felt an ‘in-betweenness’ or a Nahua word as Gloria Anzaldua puts it: nepantla.22 In this context, Mexican Americans identified prior to the 1980s as that: Mexican American, where the term ‘Chicano’ was used only as political.23As a result of the Chicano movement of the 1960s-1970s, the term ‘Chicano’ is now seen as an honor and reminder of the efforts of brown and black students, workers, and community members who resisted oppression in the United States Now, ‘Chicano’ and Mexican American are used interchangeably in the 21st century despite political tensions regarding identity and roots where “as a Mexican American, I was somehow different, culturally and racially, which placed me outside of the American mainstream.”24 Chicanos like other minority groups in the United States, felt the displacement as their place in society and are often granted lower opportunity levels than if they were Anglo American. Such moments of discrimination are reviewed behind the 21 Find footnote Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (San Francisco: Aunt Bute Books, 1987), 127 23 Claudia Roesch. Macho Men and Modern Women, 3. 24 Steven Rosales. Soldados Razos at War Chicano Politics, Identity, and Masculinity in the U.S. Military from World War II to Vietnam. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2017), 3 22 12 scenes of film production that produce these harmful narratives and also offer poor employment opportunities. In June 1943, Luis Verdusco was arrested on a false crime that plastered his image on the newspaper as a “vicious gang leader” when he in fact had not been one.25 These instances of racial profiling from the police stemmed from court cases such as the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Case of 1942 that convicted seventeen out of twenty four Mexican American men based on conclusions made from social scientists claiming “people of Mexican descent possessed an inherent proclivity toward criminality.”26 So, with the arrest of Verdusco, a riot broke out that white servicemen viciously beat and injured Mexican American and African American men who wore ‘zoot suits’. Wearers of these zoot suits shared a common political consciousness and resisted white American values that removed them from a dominant society. Deborah Cohen notes “the military did then what it does now, it sells sexual license, it sells sexual prowess ... to boys . . . sexual license is very important to young men and the idea of sexual prowess being equated to violence is very important to young men. And that's what they sold.”27 Zoot suit wearers or pacuchos rejected the war efforts and fronted their unpatriotic expressions through velvety and flamboyant style and with this, pachuquismo comes from ethnic or class-based aspirations. Due to war time rations of the 1940s, pacuchos overtly rejected patriotic ideals that did lead to a ban of zoot suits by The War Production Board in 1942.28 A common thread in the reality of the stories shown on film 25 Gerardo G. Mehera, “Historicizing the Zoot: Masculinity, misreading and Mexican American men’s perception of the zoot suit in World War II Los Angeles” The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 1, no.1 (2011): 78 26 Gerardo G. Mehera, “Historicizing the Zoot” 78. 27 Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation?, 299. 28 Gerardo G. Mehera, “Historicizing the Zoot”, 83. 13 is that Chicanos and Mexican men believed “the possibility of first-class citizenship and socioeconomic opportunities in return for dedicated service.”29 Eithne Quinn’s work brings forth more behind the scenes and technical contributions to how race politics and the film industry was navigated outside of the screening and entertainment. Starting off with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearing in Hollywood, March 1969, was a win in progress for minority workers in the film industry. There had been complaints about the hiring process where workers who were not white felt that priority was given to white applicants and Senate Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen exclaimed “stop this harassment of the business community” to EEOC head Clifford Alexander.30 Noting that studios had legal power to force unions to include minorities, however, Quinn argues that in the industry union, there was a seniority system that was directly to keep Chicanos and Black Americans out. As Hollywood sought to push progressive interventionism, Quinn asserts that during the 1970s historians began to converge racial identity politics with modern conservatism and how that is looked at through the civil rights movement. This also had been reflected on screen with more politically and socially conscious stories emerging during the 1970s and into the 1990s. As shown in Birth of a Nation and Three Caballeros, politics and race identity always were in conversation with one another and Quinn notes the stereotypes of Black Americans. Quinn, however, fails to note this 29 Steven Rosales, “Macho Nation?”, 300. Eithne Quinn, “Closing Doors: Hollywood, Affirmative Action, and the Revitalization of Conservative Racial Politics.” (The Journal of American History 2012): 477 30 14 narrative in a way that does not use black and white or “us” versus “them” argument and only mentions other minority groups briefly. 15 TYPES OF STEREOTYPES: ANALYSIS OF FILMS While taking the step to examine popular culture on a deeper level, it is important to consider how film impacts audiences sociologically and not just for entertainment and profit. George Gerbner, dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communications in the 1960s developed the Cultivation theory that came from a mediaeffects research project. Through Gerbner’s research, the cultivation theory claims that perceptions of reality are shaped by depictions and stories we see on television through two types of effects. The first-order effect is usually just general beliefs about the world around us and the second order is more specific in that it impacts opinions about things such as family dynamics or morals.31 Understanding this theory becomes relevant when tackling the impacts of stereotypes regarding a specific group of people, especially in a historical context that serves as precedent for future rulings such as immigration laws and prejudges. Going hand in hand with this sociological theory is the spreading of stereotypes that may overgeneralize experiences that often-marginalized people endure while living in the United States. One of the biggest displays of widespread stereotypes is seen on digital media that is more accessible than day to day interactions or writing. Pictures shows had drawn audiences in much stronger numbers since its creation in the United States during the late 19th century and beginning 20th century that told stories from around the world and even reflected current events. However, more often than not, films 31 Shari Parsons Miller, “Cultivation Theory”, EBSCO, accessed July 1st, https://www.ebsco.com/researchstarters/communication-and-mass-media/cultivation-theory. 16 released reaching a wide array of people did not represent individuals who were not white American accurately. Of course, because these movies are not documentaries, but works of fiction, it is important consider the creation of stereotypes and who are the ones creating them, more closely who benefits or profits. Utilizing masculinity as a tool to assimilate, these methods can be seen on film such as The Ring, released prior to the Vietnam War, in 1952. This film follows a young Mexican American man, Tomas, who has been burdened with the financial responsibility and social change in becoming his family’s provider after his father loses his job. The movie takes place in Los Angelos or El Pueblo de Nuestro Senora La Reina Los Angelos (The Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) and points out two dividing sides: a metropolis from the mountains down to the sea showing beautiful cars and well-dressed people and the other: Olvera Street where eleven Mexican families live and work the street stands. Here this city is an example of the ambiguity surrounding identity as a Mexican American, where both exist in one place. As well as the class division resulted from United States dominance. As the film opens, walking through the los callejones (marketplace), a white couple points out a man sleeping against the wall wearing a sombrero (hat) and a sarape that resembles a stamp they have on their tablecloth.32 The couple laughs and says, “it’s the Lazy Mexican” and later revealing that the man sleeping was paid to do so. The man plays into the commercial character that is sold as decorations while continuing a perception that Mexicans are lazy and right after, shows another man refusing to work that job because it is humiliating. The man, who turns out to be Tomas’ father, asserts 32 The Ring, directed by Kurt Neumann (Hollywood: RKO Radio Pictures, 1952), film. 17 that he has dignity in his job and is determined to own his own stand.33 In this film, the most common stereotype played is the violent and prideful man that Tomas embodies all throughout. “The Lazy Mexican sleeping against the wall” 34 During a fight in a bar, Tomas catches the eye of a boxing manager and is hurled headfirst in the world of competitive boxing. The reason for why Tomas decides to take the job and ended up the bar in the first place was his unhappiness and anger that he now must work to fill the role his father had in the family. Playing into the perception that Mexican men are quick tempered and alcoholics, it reflects a very real problem in men’s mental health that force them to seek for ways to cope with their unhappiness and pressures in the family role.35 Along with that, Tomas’ girlfriend, Lucy, even offers to pay for their date which Tomas refuses and says he’s “not taking money from a girl” and 33 The Ring, directed by Kurt Neumann (Hollywood: RKO Radio Pictures, 1952), film (2:56). The Ring, directed by Kurt Neumann (Hollywood: RKO Radio Pictures, 1952), film. 35 Raul Caetano, “Hispanic drinking in the US: thinking in new directions,” British Journal of Addiction (1990) 85, 1231-1236. 34 18 thus leading with his pride.36 Here, Tomas’ behavior is affected negatively because he cannot fulfill the role of the idea man: the breadwinner. Tomas’ self-worth is largely based on the fulfillment of his masculinity in alignment with what his family expects from him, causing a crash of emotions even more so when he is disillusioned with the promises of success by his manager. At first, Tomas shows promise as a star boxer and even moments of racial discrimination led the audience to believe that Tomas or “Tommy Kansas” will reap success and make it out of the barrio. Unfortunately, despite the ambition, drive, and risks Tomas has, inevitably he is unsuccessful in his career as a boxer and returns home to his girlfriend with the insinuation that he is meant for a family life. He does not get the satisfaction of defying stereotypes and racial profiling by the police either. Throughout the film, there have been a handful of unpleasant interaction with the police and Tomas, along with his friends who are also Chicanos. The first scene showing these interactions was when two police officers question where Tomas and his friends got a new leather coach with suspicion leading their questions. The last interaction is when a police officer is called over to a diner in Beverly Hills where “a couple of pachucos” are expected to start some trouble. Tomas, though a fictional character, still carries the histories of survivors of the Zoot Suit riots and flamboyant pachucos on his back. While there are few moments in the film that clearly comment on social behaviors and assumptions of Mexican or Mexican American men such as phrases in “the lazy Mexican”, “pachucos”, and a clear presence of alcohol, the film also stresses structural problems such as generational poverty, discrimination and segregation. This film circles 36 The Ring, directed by Kurt Neumann (Hollywood: RKO Radio Pictures, 1952), film. 19 back to the same position that Tomas, a young man, had been expected to fill as a father, provider, and/or husband and during the 1950s after World War II, while most men had served overseas during the War, women started to fill these roles of homemaker and factory worker or any work outside the home.37 Feeling that work solely in the home and work for the children is unfulfilling, women began pushing for the opportunity to work outside the home, along with the crushing economy. Diminishing wages and a shrinking labor force was also a reason for more working women. The same way these working mothers felt a societal shift, so did the men during this time. As a form of resistance, black and brown men living in the United States refused to join the armed services and used their bodies as a tool. Tomas’ exploitation by his white manager led him to believe that he would have a chance of making it out of his financial situation with his family, suggesting there was a potential other avenue for social mobility. But to negotiate a place of acceptance, enlisting in the military service remained a way for better socioeconomic opportunities. George Mariscal, literary critic, writes on this trait being “warrior patriotism” that is responsible for a desire of Chicanos to fit in with American culture.38 In connection to race identity, Three Godfathers (1948) a western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne is key. Ford and Wayne themselves have been criticized for issues of cultural appropriation insofar as they popularized the “cowboy”. A successful picture show, Three Godfathers follows three rogue outlaws who had just robbed a bank and ended up in the desert hiding from the town Sheriff (again the Police 37 Research Starters “Women in World War II: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans,” The National WWII Museum New Orleans. 38 Steven Rosales. Soldados Razos at War, 5. 20 is the enemy) and searching for water. While this film is entertaining with the shoot outs and chases, looking into the character traits is equally as satisfying. Specifically, comparing portrayals of masculinity between the outlaws: Robert, a white man, and Pedro, a Mexican man. Examining the stereotype of the violent, lover macho man that Pedro demonstrates is also useful. Pedro is the Mexican outlaw, shown as short tempered, and who prefers alcohol over water and offers a chivalrous character even through his death towards the end of the film. Robert is the white outlaw who is calm, strategic and still demonstrating a noble character but is seen as a brave leader. In moments of crisis, it isn’t Pedro or William who takes the steps to form a coherent plan and rather it is Robert who carefully evaluates the best course of action while maintaining spirits high and motivating the others. Pedro is quick to lash out on his emotions and even spits out curse words in Spanish while Robert in the same frame is calm and pensive. Here this further shows the cultural dominance in the United States and the distinctions between an American macho man who can be more forgiving versus a foreign macho man who is seen on a more negative image. 39 These array of movies, more specifically The Ring, Salt of the Earth, Three Godfathers demonstrate examples of alienation as a Mexican or Chicano man in the United States. The social theory of alienation developed by Karl Marx comments on how individuals may value themselves based on the success of their labor and their experiences living under capitalism. On film, at least one character from the three movies embodies how alienation presents itself in real life situations. Tomas from The Ring 39 The Three Godfathers, directed by John Ford (Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1948), film. 21 shows behaviors of unhappiness and unfulfillment because his family’s financial situations is in trouble and in makes him turn to any form of labor whether it is quite literally using his body for entertainment. Those paying to see his body beat have the means of spending on leisure activities and can afford to go out without worrying about the repercussions while Tomas does not even have the opportunity to be picky with his employment because it is out of necessity. While Pedro from Three Godfathers means of survival is through bank robbing and scrambling from place to place, this still shows the lack of employment options and also could explain his temper when things turn out horrible. As the connection of behaviors to labor progress, a film about labor strikes in New Mexico challenges but also reinforces stereotypes of Mexican men more subtly. Salt of the Earth is an independent film released in 1954 that offers a perspective on gender roles and labor, and it is closer to a historical or biographical picture because of the events that transpire. This film follows Mexican mine workers in New Mexico and their journey through protesting and standing at the picket lines to demand better work conditions, negotiations, and equal pay- a real-life incident. The main character is Esperanza Quintana, a miner’s wife who is pregnant and has two young children with her husband, Ramon. Esperanza notes that the town she grew up was called San Marco which later the Angelos changed it to Sink Town in the state of New Mexico. While the storyline of this film is extremely inspirational where the wives of the mine workers take it upon themselves to stand at the picket lines to demand better contract deals, there are some instances of the depictions of these Mexican men. Ramon is known to have an interest in drinking, he also is very erratic and resorts to violence when having marital problems. While Salt of the Earth is based on a true story, Ramon and Esperanza are 22 fictional characters that reinforce American assumptions of how a Mexican couple behaves especially when it comes to labor problems and family life. This also shows alienation amongst Ramon in that he cannot fully provide for his family and often acts out by drinking or abusing his wife, stressing a simplistic depiction of masculinity. Aside from harmful behaviors resulting from class struggle, another portrayal of Mexican/Chicano men is the overexaggerated and fetishization of Latin American man. “Speedy Gonzales” Looney Tunes, 1953. The character Speedy Gonzales in the cartoon Looney Tunes is particularly telling. American cartoon launched in 1930, Looney Tunes, shows ill descriptions of various ethnic groups. More notably, Speedy Gonzales, is a renowned and highly criticized. Speedy Gonzales is mischievous, and often even feared by characters despite his small statute. Gonzales is always seen screaming “yeehaw” or “arriba” that can be seen as annoying and even a nuisance, although he is unaware of his disturbance to other characters. Speedy Gonzales is not shown in every episode and now in the 21st century has been removed from its series cast. Several conversations regarding the accurate representation of Speedy Gonzales have been more contemporary when analyzing this character, specifically amongst college 23 students who argue that he resembled the revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata.40 Emiliano Zapata, was an extremely influential revolutionary leader during the decade 1910-1920 of the Mexican revolution who advocated for land reform under President Porfirio Diaz.41 This further pushed the heroism narrative that Mexican men were supposed to follow not only historically and socially, but now on screen. And so, Speedy Gonzales, for many Americans had been their first introduction to a Mexican character, likewise for Mexicans seeing themselves portrayed on film that posed questions on the representation of Mexican culture and how Americanized his depictions are. Speedy Gonzales’s first appearance was in 1953, a time where the political relationship among white Americans and Mexicans was extremely rocky. In addition, during the enactment of the ‘Good Neighbor policy’, film studios and creators produced a mass amount of content that told stories of Latin America and had Latino characters as a highlight in most stories. Walt Disney’s Three Caballeros depicts three characters- all birds- in a musical cartoon that relies on geography and international stories involving religious activities and traditional musical sounds. In Three Caballeros, there is a warning before its screening on the negative descriptions of the characters. Three Caballeros starts off exploring the Americas and specifically, the United States, Mexico and Brazil. This movie is geared to show an educational framework on international stories and uses three amigos (friends) to represent three countries that outside of fiction had real life foreign relationships under the Good Neighbor policy. The scenes are captured through over the top musical performances and completely ridiculous 40 Gustavo Arellano, “Why do so many Mexican Americans defend Speedy Gonzales”, LA Times, accessed on July 1, 2025, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-17/speedy-gonzales-cancelledhollywood-mexican-americans. 41 Samuel Brunk, Emiliano Zapata (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999), pg. 24 objects like cacti dancing, bulls, sarape, etc. seemingly anything that can be seen to represent Mexico. Mexico City is the landing place of the three amigos, and the film systematically silences indigenous people stories. Three Caballeros exoticizes Mexico by making it seem like being Mexican is a costume and even a caricature. In one beach scene, it offers no substance to the culture because it creates a fictional story of the experiences living and feels like a fever dream where it seems that the movie was created to be just the most over the top spectacle without any real research of Mexico’s history. This beach scene shows dozens of white Mexican women, all fully glammed out with makeup, high heels and pinup hairstyles surrounding Donald Duck while playing a game of hide ‘n seek. It shows Donald Duck singing to these women and trying to impress them and leaving off fulfilling the dream of being in a sea of beautiful women. This scene further shows the fulfillment of a lover man that is shown through the American (Donald Duck) and not the Mexican. Rather, Panchito Pistoles, a rooster meant to resemble Mexico, has high energy and is, gunslinging. This is also similar to ‘Speedy Gonzales’ where even the tone of his voice is seen to be comedic and created to suit a caricature. As mentioned before, Speedy Gonzales is also a gunslinging animal who is seen as womanizer with a short statute. While picture studios most likely did the most to draw in viewers, Mexican individuals had to see their culture made a spectacle and watered down to just a comedic show. In one scene particularly, the bird, Panchito, comes exploding in with a grito (scream) and shooting two guns. With an obvious accent and Spanglish, this bird, Panchito, recounts a very accurate story of posadas that occur in December and a 25 very popular tradition in the Catholic faith. Not all descriptions are malicious, but it does set up perceptions of the Mexican/ Mexican American community. CONCLUSION Following a deeper analysis of what film has to offer, especially how the United States plays to make believe that what is being shown on television and made into a billion-dollar business, and seeing how Mexican/Chicano archetypes are commercialized completely erases a long history of culture and land displacement. The representations of Mexican/Chicano men are eroded from any real substantive storyline and rather diminished into an array of stereotypes. Some of these stereotypes analyzed more closely are the lover, macho man that simply exoticizes and perpetuates a false expectation of Mexican/Chicano men and the violent, alcoholic man that creates a prejudice and unexplainable mistrust. Such portrayals of Mexican/Chicano men on film are deeply rooted socio-political contexts that are due to the history of Mexican immigration, a strong labor force of Mexicans in the United States and systemic prejudice of law enforcement. Considering the timeframe of the five films: The Ring, Three Godfathers, Salt of the Earth, Three Caballeros, and Looney Tunes’ character ‘Speedy Gonzales, societal changes were occurring inside the United States and combining Mexico with the Bracero Program, The Good Neighbor Policy, and social injustices that lead to social-political movements lead by black and brown activists pushing for racial and class equality. Overall, on screen, Mexican/Chicano men lacked complexity and any meaningful part in the stories that involved labor, family, and overall self-fulfillment creating harmful perceptions. 26 REFERENCES Belot, Monica. “Speedy Gonzales: The Mouse That Outran Cancel Culture.” Mexico News Daily, July 29, 2024. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/speedy-gonzalesthe-mouse-that-outran-cancel-culture/. Brunk Samuel. Emiliano Zapata. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. Connell, R.W. Masculinities. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995. 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Name of Candidate: Veronica Lizbeth Martinez Nava Date of Submission: July 30, 2025