Movies - A Day Without a Mexican

Since I really enjoy watching movies, I thought I'd post something about the latest one I've seen.

After seeing Star Wars Episode 3 in theatres twice already, Matt, my fiance, and I have been renting movies to see other flicks we've missed.

So a friend of mine recommended I see A Day Without a Mexican. I'm no movie critic, and although I agree with her that it's kinda funny - I wasn't really excited about the film afterwards.

There were a lot of things about the film that just didn't make sense, in a normal way (why is there a pink fog all around the state of California and just why did all the hispanics disappear?), it does bring to light a lot of points that I'm sure my fiance picked up on.

I'm Mexican-American/Native American/American I guess you could say. My father was born in Mexico, yes I speak Spanish, and my mother was born in the United States. My father's mother is somehow Native American, although she doesn't tell anyone which tribe which makes it impossibly hard to connect with that part of my heritage, and my mother's parents both have Native American blood in them, but we also don't know which tribe they are from either.

I was born in California and lived there for most of my life, but you could almost never tell when you meet me until something comes up.

I don't speak Spanish on a regular basis and will only do so for a limited amount of time. I'm weird like that. I speak Spanish on the phone with my father and when ordering at Mexican restaurants, sometimes I tutor math in Spanish to make students feel better and more comfortable. I understand almost everything that's said, but sometimes get lost when it comes to slang.

I do feel that Mexican-Americans and Hispanics in general get ignored and clumped together into one group. This movie presents that idea and many facts that tear down what others say about Hispanics, but are people paying attention to the movie??? No.

At my school we have WebCT, other universities sometimes have Blackboard in place of WebCT, but effectively it's a posting system. You post notes on your thoughts, etc. and the whole class can see it. They also have activatived the Student Lounge portion to get students to discuss whatever in a setting in which administrators and professors cannot see what you are typing.

One guy gets up there and starts talking about how we are dividing ourselves as a country by "labeling" ourselves as Mexican-Americans, Irish-Americans, Euro-Americans, or whatever other kind of Americans.

How else are people supposed to identify themselves?

He says you should identify yourself as an American - period. Some would say that's turning your back on your culture and heritage. I think it's being blind to the fact that, yes we are all HUMANS, but there are some differences that make us UNIQUE and if it weren't for that, there would be no flavor in life.

People are people. You should be able to make your own choices about how you feel about issues, what you think about certain ideas, what kind of ice cream you like and whether or not you want to make yourself a hyphenated-American.

A Day Without a Mexican is about much more than just being funny. It's about letting people know that not all people are the same and that in a society like the one we have, every part of it is important and you should not disregard anyone for what they do or who they are. We all matter.

There are many other themes in this movie, but I just wanted to write about that one for right now.

Is there any movie that you've seen lately that you think has a deep meaning? Comment about it, I'm probably like to rent it soon.