"Hollywood, Westerns and the Mexican Female": manuscript draft by Roosevelt Fitzgerald

Roosevelt Fitzgerald
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
HOLLYWOOD, WESTERNS AND THE MEXICAN FEMALE

Original 
2/28/89
In 1973, social historian Russell Blaine Nye reported that during the first of the twentieth century, Americans attended movies much more often than they read books. 1 During his term as President of the United States, Jimmy Carter commented at a New fork film festival that what the remainder of the world learns about the United States, it learns through the movies. In combining the observations of both Nye and Carter, it could be inferred that what learn about the United States and her people, they too learn from movies. 
This study will examine stereotypes of Mexican females as presented in selected films produced before 1965. 1965 is the chosen cut-off date because after that time, a new sense of awareness of minority people did indeed begin to be evidenced in Hollywood productions. These were not 
necessarily positive changes but the fact that there was more conscious attention given to the representation of minorities 
in film is sufficient to conclude that what might have been a natural tendency to stereotype was, to one degree or another, affected.
Films of the western genre ranked high in popularity through those years. The general themes of those films had to do with the westward expansion and the usual formulas of town builders, railroad builders, miners and claim jumpers, calvary and Indians and settlers, military exploits and land acquisition, ranchers and cattle rustlers and sodbusters and sheepmen, and lawmen and outlaws were the focus of attention. Within each, and especially the latter three, Mexican characters were prominent. Invariably, the Mexican characters who received the greater amount of attention were males and they were usually part of the lawless elements.
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Among such films made during the first quarter of the century were; Arms and the Gringo (1914), The Girl and the Greaser (J913), The Greaser (1913), The Greasers Gauntlet (19Q8), The Greasers Revenge (19.14), Guns and Greasers (4918), The Mexican (1914), The Mexican's Revenge (1908), 2
and A Mexican Spy In Arizona (1914).
The second quarter of the century brought some minor changes.
Introduced with Robin Hood of El Dorado in 1936, a new component of the western genre, the Mexican hero, would help dominate western movies
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through the 1940s. Even though the genre elevated the Mexican character somewhat, he still did not excape, totally, the image of the bandit or or someone who was at least marginally outside the law.
Mexican females, or anglo actresses playing those parts, appeared in the overwhelming majority of those films. They occupied supportive roles. Within those, they presented primarily four stereotypical characters; the harlot, the portly and priest-dominated fat mama, Castilian dark ladies 4
and decayed donas. The first two were seen most often and were most damaging. They occurred with such frequency that the stereotypical range usually allowed for only the madonna and the prostitute. It.should be noted, however, that the four types were introduced much earlier by
5 popular fiction writers of the eighteenth and early nighteenth. centuries. Because Mexican females had limited character development in cinema, the stereotypes which evolved from them became deeply embeded in the psyche of audiences wherever such films were shown.
The ease with which those stereotypes were able to take hold had a lot to do with the overall racial climate of the times in the United States. Continuing from the century before, Jim Crowism was prevalent in American
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society. In the south where there could be found signs on such places as public rest rooms, water fountains, waiting rooms, hospital wards and lunch counters which read; "Men," "Women," and "Colored" and also in the southwest and west which added "No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed," the racial temper of the times was evident. Distinctions were clearly made between anglos who were male or female and others who were genderless. That genderlessness was demeaning in and of itself and so pervasive that it carried over even to the silver screen where the treatment of such people did not appear to be abnormal. This reminder of a time long-since past allows us the opportunity to better understand the mentality of the times being analyzed. Until the protest movements of the late 1950s and the 1960s, Hollywood manifested little awareness or concern for the manner in which it depicted racial minorities. Compounding the problem for the subject at hand was the apparent disdain it held for women. Being a woman and a member of a racial minority group had catastropic results.
Molly Haskell provides a relatively thorough analysts of the manner in which women have been depicted in films over the years. "The anomaly that women are the majority of the human race, half of its brains, half of its procreative power, most of its nurturing power, and yet are its servants and romantic slaves was brought home with peculiar force in the Hollywood film."6 While Haskell’s book, From Reverence to Rape addresses the general treatment of women in the movies from the early years of Hollywood to the present, it fails to mention Mexican actresses.? Further, the films selected for this analysis were all but overlooked in Haskell's study. For those films such as Viva Zapata, The Outlaw, Duel in The Sun, and High Noon which are mentioned, the depiction of the Mexican female character is not included in her analysis.
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A distinction must be made with the Mexican female as it must with female characters who are black, Native-American, Asian American and others who represent racially different groups. The ommission of those groups in the above mentioned study may well be a result of possible carry-over racial tendencies or traditions established during the Jim Crow era which distinguished between "women" and "colored." Owing to the fact that there were so few other options for learning about Mexican culture, that depiction presented in film became the standard. Not only were the perceptions of non-Mexicans negatively influenced, so too were the self-concepts of the subject group. As the stereotypes of the Mexican female became more common, they became less noticeableand accepted as more normal as they appeared to represent that which is normal.
The 1934 production of Viva Villa was centered on the revolutionary character Pancho Villa.& Early in .the film there is an episode which, not only presented the stereotypical Mexican, harlot but presented it in such a way as to make it appear normal. In a scene following the execution of six peons by a magistrate in a small village for no apparent reason and the quick revenge of Villa and his band of "revolutionaries"--"two for one"--Villa rewarded himself by visiting a cantina/bordello where he planned to select a girl for himself for the night. No other women of the village are shown and, from all appearances, or so it seemed, the majority of the women of the village worked at that place in one capacity or another. The "girls" all posed or paraded or otherwise marketed themselves with the apparent hope that they will be selected by Villa for his woman for the night. However, the one he selected, Rosita, is. a "strong-willed" woman who demanded more than he expected to give. They were strangers to each other and there was no talk of love. There was
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not even the ordinary meaningless references to that subject which one usually expects to hear as part of the foretalk. Instead, there was merely a simple declaration; "If you want me you'll marry me. I don't go with g
no tramp." While it had been well established that Villa was a bandit and a murderer,Wt had also been established that Rosita was a "working girl." Her comment that she will not "go with no tramp" was intended as comedy and succeeded. Villa's response was equally humorous. "Sure I marry you--I marry anybody. Tomas, don't let her get away. I marry her tonight." 0 That exchange grew as the film progressed and it is revealed that he has "married" many women before. The wedding ceremony which soon followed was, at best, a parody. Officiating at the wedding ceremony was an anglo newspaper reporter who had be inadvertently caught up in the events of the day and who, at once feared Villa and saw him as a comic character who had little grasp of the English language and how, through nuance, it may be used to humiliate. "Do you take this, loveliest flower of all Mexico to be your bride? Do you promise to cherish this desert flower for better or worse and never come home after nine o'clock? Do you promise to obey this delicate girl?"11 Each of these ceremonial questions poked fun at both the bride and the groom but especially at the bride. Not only was she rediculed but the stereotype of the harlot as a vital part of Mexican culture was projected as audiences are permitted to see the degree of seriousness that the sacrament of matrimony held
1 ? for such people who profess, to be devout Catholics.
Jane Russell's portrayal of Rio McDonald in the Howard Hughes 1943 production of the film titled The Outlaw was one of the first feature length films which provided for a Mexican female character in a substantial 13
role. Her character was not new to the screen but it brought into clearer
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focus the image of the Mexican female as a person with little or no morals. Even though this film generated much public interest, the only reference that the Mexican female character received from Haskell was. that the film introduced "Jane Russell's pair to the world."14
The film did much more than that. While its cinematic qualities might be questionable, the image it projected was of much, more than Jane Russell's breasts. Five characters shared camera time; Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Gaudalupe (the aunt) and Rio. The underlying theme of the film has to do with relationships; Holliday and Rio, Holliday and Garrett, the evolving friendship between Holliday and Billy, the evolving relationship between Rio and Billy, Rio and Gaudalupe, Holliday and his horse Red, and Billy and Holliday's horse. Even though the film is described as a drama it is much, more of a comedy and this observation is supported even by the music score which would not be far out of place in a Three Stooges film.
Following a series of events, Billy is critically wounded in a shootout with the sheriff. Holliday brought him to his cabin to be cared for and nursed back to health, by Rio and Guadalupe. As Holliday left, hoping to draw off the posse, he instructed Rio to "...do your best for this boy."15 Rio is no stranger to Billy as she had attempted to kill him the night before for having killed her brother in another town, Billy foiled her attempt and they tusseled in the hay in the barn where the attempt was made. Rio's hot-blooded nature is well displayed in that scene. Additionally, the ease with which she is able to oscillate between anger and lust is made apparent.
Holliday's departing instructions to Rio, combined with her sultry appearance, the music score at that moment, and the cramped living quarters
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along with the suggested sexual overture which had occurred the night before in the barn between she and Billy could not be missed. Shortly thereafter, remembering Holliday's adminition to "keep him warm and not to let him take a chill or he'll die, Rio attempted to do as instructed by placing heated stones under the bed covers near his body. Gaudalupe, who was also in the room, commented; "I tried those hot stones with. Julio but it was just the same—he shook like a leaf and then he died.? Upon hearing that, Rio decided to take more drastic measures. She disrobed, to the utter amazement of her aunt. Her expression conveyed to Rio her disapproval I Rio remained undaunted. "You get out of here and shut the door. Just get out of here." Gaudalupe, fearing what might happen behind closed doors and ever cognizant that Holliday was their meal ticket, asked; "Have you gone crazy?"^ At that point, Rio's response had to do with the question of morality which clearly had no part in the matter due to her out-of-wedlock relationship with Holliday. "You can bring the minister here in the morning if it'll make you feel better about it."^ As Guadalupe left the room and Rio joined the badly wounded Billy in bed, she said to him; "You're not going to die. I'll get you warm.
The fade-out, the score and the setting were collectively quite suggestive. Audiences are left to ponder on her method of getting and keeping Billy warm.
Some time later, Billy is on the road to recovery. A sure sign of this was his desire for food. Guadalupe clearly bears resentment toward him and is not at all eager to be of help. Billy refers to her as "lollipop" and, not knowing its meaning, she asked Rio who informed her that it was "something sweet—like candy." Guadalupe's demeanor underwent a transfiguration with that revelation. She smiled, put her mantilla over
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her head and shoulders and as she left, Rio asked her where she was going 23 and her reply was; "To see if I can find a fresh egg or two. Rio entered the room where Billy was in bed and, after a brief pointless conversation, he grabbed her by the shoulders and gazed intently into her eyes. The extent of her resistance was verbal. "Billy, you mustn't— 24 D
you'll hurt yourself." If the intent of the embrace was to be only a kiss, such a comment would have been meaningless. Making it, however, suggested that she was not thinking only of kissing. Additionally, the comment suggested that they had been intimate—to one degree or another— before. She continued by saying; "But you've been so sick. You're not 25 m
well enough." One can only imagine what he was not well enough to do.
Not too many days later, Holliday returned to discover Rio and Billy occupying the bedroom. The aunt, seeking to smooth things over, said to Holliday; "He's a devil. He did the same to me. He can -charm a bird right out of a bush.Holliday's response was more in his expression, direction of his gaze and the tone of his voice than in what he said, as 27 his eyes traveled from Rio's face to her mid-section; Yeah, or a... Further, we can only guess at Guadalupe's meaning with her comment that Billy had done the same thing to her.
The scene immediatedly following defined quite clearly how each of the men viewed Rio. An on-going conflict between the two of them had to do with a horse named Red which had been owned by Holliday, stolen from him and allegedly bought by Billy from a third party. Both had insisted on ownership and, before being wounded, Billy, by virtue of possession, had claimed custody of the animal and Holliday had attempted several comic attempts to reclaim it. While Billy was incapacitated, Holliday reassumed ownership and rode off on Red to excape the sheriff's posse. Once'having
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eluded them, he returned, astride Red, where once again the question of ownership of the horse arose. It was then that Rio entered the equation.
Having discovered that Billy had taken certain liberties with his girl, Holliday's first impulse was to kill him. Upon reconsideration, he decided not to. However, Billy, who had been depicted throughout the film as both bold and sardonic said; "That reminds me of something else— 90
you ran away with Red didn't you?" As he raised the question, he glanced at Rio who was standing there quietly, rubbed his chin with his hand and, once again, his expression said it all—not only had Billy been unable to ride a horse but he had also been in no condition to mount Rio. Obviously, then, if any riding had taken place in that one bedroom, Rio had mounted Billy. The expression on everyone's face seemed to be in harmony. The conversation went on between the two men about the girl and the horse and she only interrupted twice and Guadalupe put in her two cents worth only once.
Billy: Just to show you my heart's in the right place, I'll let you take your pick.
Rio: You mean you'll trade me for a horse?
Billy: fit's up to Doc.
Guadalupe: And after all she did for you!!
Billy: Say, you should have seen what that little horse did for me, huh Doc?
Holliday: That's right. I hope you won't think too hard of me (to Rio) but, under the circumstances, I think. I'm going to take the horse.
Billy: You are?
Rio: (To Billy) You're not satisfied?
Billy: Listen Doc, I liked that little horse. U
Billy ended up with the horse and Rio because Pat Garrett killed
Doc Holliday. We are left to wonder, however, who would've gotten Rio had Holliday lived. In any case, as the verbal exchange between the principals unfolded, we were able to see that such women as Rio were not too highly thought of even by outlaws like Billy the Kid and that a good
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horse was worth more than they. Equating the value of such women to animals was a common occurence in the movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Such relations can even be seen in the “love" relationships of some of the singing cowboys of Hollywood of that era.
As stated earlier, the Mexican female character usually occupied only supportive roles. Many times the roles they played were not even visible. They were spoken about by others or there was some sort of other invisible reference. Interestingly enough, even such, references as those were important as they caused viewing audiences to conjure-up their own personal images of the person being spoken about. The image was, in large part, determined by images seen before in other films. A few examples of these are such films as the 1939 production of John Ford's Stagecoach. In an exchange between Chris, the Mexican relay station operator and Curly, the sheriff, the following was said.
Chris: Curly, my wife Jakima, she ran away. When I looked up she was gone.
Curly: You can find another wife.
Chris: Sure, I can find another wife but she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I never sell her. I love her too much I beat it with a whip and she never git tired.
Curly: Your wife?
Chris: No. My horse. I can,find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that one.
The scene was inteded for comedic relief and it was successful. The manner in which audiences' emotions were toyed with is somehow perverse. Initially, we are led to believe that Chris did not care for his wife when he agrees that he can find another wife. When he mentions using the whip we are alarmed and begin to dislike him for beating his wife. When it is made clear that he used the whip on the horse and not his wife and reiterates that he "can find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that one," we are more receptive of his treatment and perception of
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both his wife and his horse.
In the same film, Andy Devine, who plays the role of Buck the stagecoach driver, also degrades his unseen Mexican wife in yet another exchange with the sheriff.
I took this job ten years ago so I could make enough money to marry my Mexican girl Julietta. I've been working hard at it ever since. My wife's got more relatives than anyone you ever did see.
I bet I'm feeding half the state of Chihauhau. Yeah, and what do
I get to eat when I get home to Lordsburg? Nothing-^ut frijole beans that's all. Nothing but beans, beans, beans.
In a film made two decades later, Two Rode Together, little had changed. The film begins with a church bell ringing, a sleeping Mexican being roused from his position on the ground nearby and the sheriff, played by Jimmy Stewart, sitting in a straight-backed chair on the front porch of a saloon. A Mexican man, with apron on, approached the sheriff with a tray with a drink on it. His manner is very subservient. He informed the sheriff that "the widow Gomez has delivered a son this morning--a boy." Stewart, with a look that seemed to say that all sons are boys, only comment to the Mexican man was: "A boy for the widow Gomez." The Mexican man, seemingly anxious to impress and to condemn, and perhaps gain favor from the anglo sheriff, went on to say; "But senor, it has been more than a year ago since senor Antonio Gomez has been
35 buried at the church house." The Mexican woman as loose, is once again projected and without her having to appear on screen.
Another example of this occurence can be found in the 1959 John Wayne film Rio Bravo? COnsuela is the wife of the comic Mexican character, Carlos. The two are. constantly embroiled in one marriage difficulty after another. The arguements are not physically violent but the verbal violence is clear. Each time that they are on screen or off screen but can be heard, they are involved in an arguement. Wayne is always the settling
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force when those disputes would occur. In one scene, following yet another arguement, Carlos planned to placate Consuela by presenting her with a red petticoat. First, however, he modeled it for Wayne and the other men and they all have a good laugh about it. In showing what is planned to be a piece of intimate apparel for his wife to the other men, Carlos conveyed his opinion of her." The petticoat, incidentally, is an exact copy of that given by Rhett Butler to Mammy in Gone With the Wind twenty years earlier. As for Consuela, we only see her as she chases Carlos about with a broom as she screams incoherently at him in Spanish.
Between 1946 and 1958, several films were released which had specific roles for Mexican females. The epic of the group had theleast to do with Mexicans but is generally thought of as being otherwise. Duel In The Sun,38 released in 1946, had nothing to do with Mexicans directly. The protagonist was a "halfbreed" daughter of an Indian woman and a Louisiana creole which wandered outside the marriage boundaries established by his family. Over the past six years, 514 students who have viewed this film in various media-oriented classed and asked to write an essay describing the character, Pearl Chavez, have identified 4er as Mexican.
Pearl Chavez is seen wearing what is apparently Mexican style apparel and that, along with her name and the color of her skin, is sufficient to define her as Mexican |n the minds of many viewers. On at least one occasion her mother is described as Indian and she is referred to alternately as a "papoose" or "Minehaha" by another character in the film. Her mother is further described as a "loose" woman and is ultimately shot and killed by her husband when he discovers her with another man. Throughout the film, audiences are assurred that Pearl will follow in her mother's footsteps. She is too beautiful, too "Mexican" and too unprotected by law not to. The more she protests to her new adopted mother, the cousin of her father
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who was executed for having killed her mother's lover and her mother, Laura Belle, that; "I'm going to be a good girl. I promise I will. I
3 9 want to be like you," the more we are convinced that she will meet with failure.
Pearl made an attempt to follow the straight and narrow but it was apparent at the outset that it would be just a matter of time before she would falter. Her descent began when she went swimming and Lewt, one of Laura Belle's two sons, played by Gregory Peck, appeared at the waterhole. Her sense of modesty,B^eal orafeigned, would not permit her to leave the water with him ther. She is apparently nude. Her only avenue of evading exposure was to Remain in the water until after dark and thereby be forced to miss supper and cause those at the ranch to wonder about her whereabouts. The ranch hands made their assumptions because they had seen Lewt ride off after her and Laura Belle, knowing of her mother, eventually did the same. She was so afraid that Pearl was headed down the path ofR-uin, even though Lewt was her own son and maybe because he was her son, that she sent for Jubal Grabble (Walter Houston) was a pistol- toting substitute for a preacher to help dense her soul.
Upon his arrival, Laura Belle sent the half-witted black servant woman, Flashtie, (Butterfly McQueen) to fetch Pearl. Pearl, for no given reason, did not bother to dress but merely almost covered herself with a serape. BThe manner in which she clutched the serape to her suggested that she did not have on a nightgown underneath. The exchange between Laura Belle, Grabble and Pearl was suggestive and, for 1946, bordered on being ponograph!c.
Laura: Thisms the child Jubal. Of course she isn't dressed quite properly but...Glose the door Pearl. This gs Mr. Grabble. We don't have a minister in these parts but Mr. Grabble...
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Jubal: Man doesn't have to wear the cloth to be a sin killer Laura Belle.
Laura: Oh, I know that Jubal. That's why I was so anxious to have you talk to the child.
: Come here girl. You call her a child Laura Belle? Under that heathen blanket there's a full blossomed woman built by the devil to drive men crazy.
Laura: Jubal. You mustn't frighten her. I'm sure all she needs is a little guidance.
Jubal: Guidance she needs and guidance she'll get or I ain't been the sin killer from here to El Paso for thirty years. Row girl, Pearl, you can be a woman of sin or a woman of God. Now which is it to be?
Pearl: I want to be a good girl.
Jubal: Now remember, the devil is always able to hogtie ya. Sometimes he come ghosting over the plain in the shape of a rustler and and sometimes, begging your pardon Laura Belle, he stakes out the homes of the worthy and the God-fearing. Pearl, you're curved in the flesh of temptation. Resistance is going to be a darn sight harder for you than for females protected by the shape of sows. Yessireebob, you gotta sweeten yourself with prayer. Pray til you sweat and you'll save yourself from eternal hellfire. You understand me girl?
Pearl: Yes Sir.
Jubal: Then on your knees. Now I'm going to start you toward salvation. Oh Lord look upon this Thy creature. She's a weak vessel of Aprocrypha as Thou has noticed but she wants to be Thy handmaiden. Give her the horsesense not to go wandering off in the tules with worthless cowpokes. Amen.
Laura: Amen.
Pearl: Amen.
Jubal: Rise gifM Here. I want you to take this. Its a hallowed medal and a good one. I took it off a thieving card shark (playing with his pistol) and sent him to the pearly gates as nice and pretty as any of his own faith could have done. You wear it giMWD
Pearl: Thank you sir.
Jubal: Part injun ain't ya (examining her face with his hands)?
Those ancestors of yours will be spinning like tops when they know you got this on. Just the same it'll keep you sweet and clean as the first milking. It won't get you into Heaven but it'll comforth you on the way there, that is if you use it right. Laura Belle, don't you think we ought to be saying a few words of prayer for them worthless cowpokes. I got a feeling they'll be needing consolation. On your knees again girl. 0 lord, have mercy on all men, young and old alike who gaze upon this (licking his lips) Thy regained servant. Amen
Throughout the entire episode, Jubal eyed Pearl's voluptousness like
a hawk might a chicken. He touched her quite frequently and Pearl, who had appeared apprehensive about being brought before him and the "holier
40’
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than-thou session of sermonizing which she came to expect, soon discovered that he was. just a man like any other man and that what was presented to Laura Belle as his attempt to give guidance was actually a poor attempt on his part to conceal how much Pearl truly affected him.
As the film progressed, Pearl became involved, alternately, with three different men. The older brother (played by Joseph Cotton), resisted the temptation and was able to do so because he actually looked down on her and seemed to convey a desire to elevate her to a higher level and maybe then he might yield to her exotic charms. Lewt, on the other hand, had no such high ambitions. He liked Pearl just the way she was and did
not take no for an answer from her. Still, he was anglo and she was not
and she was therefore something merely with which to toy. Pearl reacted
by marrying an older ranch, hand who was the typical, stereotypical cowboyshy
and bashful but heroic. Lewt killed the new husband and Pearl and Lewt ultimately killed each other because of that.
Pearl's character, while occupying considerable screen time, served only to give a more extensive look at the stereotype of the hot-blooded, loose, hot-tempered mexican woman.
The following year, in 1947, The Fugitive presented yet another
41 example of the Mexican female as loose woman. Delores Del Rio played the role of a beautiful Mexican woman who had borne an illegitimate child with the parish priest played by Henry Fonda. Throughout the film, she is shown in a very close relationship with the Church and with the revolution. She is presented as something of a bridge between the saloon slut and the madonna. One thing which this film accomplishes is that it conveys that such absence of morals is not limited to a particular class of Mexican woman but can be found throughout—even among those who are 42 God-fearing, church-going and more than a little devout.
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Many such women, as presented in Hollywood films, have children and there is no mention of a father. Even in those films where the woman is not actually shown there is. inuendo. Paul Muni is Johnny Ramariz in the 1935 film Bordertown. His. sojourn resembles a roller-coaster ride from his humble beginning in a Los Angeles barrio where he worked by day and attended a second-rate law school at night. Throughout the earlier portion of the film, audiences are made aware that he was once a street hood but through, the prayers of his mother, who was short, fat and with rosary beads always in hand, he somehow turned his life around. There is no mention of his father almost as though he was an unknown quality. Many films in which, there is a Mexican male figure who plays a prominent role, there is either no mention of a father or a comment to the effect that the father is unknown or the father left when the child was very young. The worse example of the missing or unknown father has the mother having worked, in her younger years, in a house of ill-repute. Examples of this can be seen in the character of the Mexican young man in John Wayne's The Cowboys,the young cohort of The Wild Bunch^ and that of The Magnificent Seven.All contribute to the stereotype of the loose morals of Mexican woman.
One of the all-time classic westerns is High Noon and one of the main characters in the film is a Mexican woman, Helen Ramirez, played by 47 N
Katy Jurado. Only one other Mexican was shown in the film and her appearance occurred during the opening moments; an elderly, portly Mexican woman, with crucific around nex, is shown making the sign of the cross as Frank Miller's gang of killers entered the town of Hadleyville. Helen Ramirez is just the opposite of the woman shown in that scene.
She owns a saloon and is a hidden owner in the trading store. She is
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al so the town tramp. With those two women, we cover the spectrum as far as the characterizations of Mexican women in film during that era is concerned—madonna to prostitute. At one point, Ramariz is the woman of Frank Miller, the outlaw. After he is arrested and sent to prison, she became the sheriff's woman. After the sheriff became engaged to a Quaker woman, Ramariz became the deputy's woman. It is apparent that she needed to be associated with someone who could take care of her and who was strong enough not to be affected or personally attacked by any of the other men of the town. A weak man, especially a weak anglo man, would be the butt of everyone's joke and all the other men would deride her in such a roan's presence without fear of his disapproval. It did not seem to matter to her on which side of the law that someone was. At one point in the film, she provided us with something of a reason for her behavior when she said: "I hate this town. I've always hated it. To be a Mexican woman in a town like this..She is a Mexican and a woman and neither is protected by any laws.
Helen Ramariz's character, along with that of Pearl Chavaz, well illustrate the limitations placed on Mexican women. In a west where anglos have taken over, the Mexican man is essentially barred from being able to hold a decent job and to head a household. He could lose his life without his murderer fearing reprisal from the established justice system. The Mexican woman who aligned herself with a Mexican man in such an environment, particularly if she was beautiful, placed him at risk. The risk involved any anglo man, with a mind to, being able to say and do anything with her that he wished and if her Mexican husband/boyfriend objected, he could be killed. Women such as Ramariz and Chavaz were often forced, by those circumstances, to seek out men such as Miller, the sheriff and the deputy. They appeared to be loose women and were perceived in that
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way by most others. Their self-concepts also took a beating.
Several films which illustrate the Mexican female being attracted to the angle male were produced during the 1950s. Vera Cruz, which was released in 1954, has as a background the Mexican Revolution.The-Mexican female is a Jurista and is first seen on the screen rescuing yet another woman from a rowdy group of "Americans" who had gone south of the border, following the American Civil War, in search of maney and adventure. After the rescue, she became the prey. Much of her bosom is revealed and she does not seem to fit in with the other peons there in the village. Of course she is very beautiful. She. is, in turn rescued by Gary Cooper. She repayed his efforts by picking his pocket of his wallet and the last of his gold pieces. As the movie evolved, she is thrown into contact with Cooper and the other "Americans" on other occasions as they attempt to steal a shipment of gold. The "Americans" want it for themselves and she wants it for the Juristas and the revolution. As the unparalleled action of the film takes place, she inexplicately, fell in love with Cooper. Even though, there were thousands of Mexican men available, none of them had appealed to her to the degree that Cooper did. Following a pitched battle involving the Juaristas, Maximilian's Mexican Army and the "Americans", the Juaristas ended up with the gold, the "Americans" were all but destroyed, the entire Mexican army began its trek down the road of defeat and, as the film ended, Cooper and the beautiful Mexican woman are seen standing side by side amid the ruins. The audience is left to 50
imagine what would happen next. Cooper had been an officer of the Confederate Army. He had fought partially because of his belief in racial superiority. How he would relate to a dark-skinned beauty of Mexico was determined by whatever prejudices audiences had.
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The Badlanders, which was released four years later, once again has Katy Jurado playing the role of the loose woman. Early in the film it is made clear that she is the town tramp even though she lives in the Mexican district. She is simultaneously depicted as being a kind woman whom everyone likes—especially the men. Earnest Borgnine became her hero even though he had just recently been released from prison. He is depicted as a tough man who is sensitive and is willing to help elevate Jurado from her lowly station and she is eternally grateful.51 Once again, there are literally hundreds of Mexican men in the town but none of them would suffice. In order to excape her Mexicaness she had to find an anglo man. Otherwise, she would be doomed to making a living in the world's oldest profession. In almost every scene she is shown to be remorseful. It is not clear whether, it is due to her profession or her race.
Cowboy, released that same year has Jack Lemmon as an anglo cowboy who, while passing through a small Mexican town with a trail herd led by Glen Ford, managed to woo the rich senorita, whose father owned the large hacienda where additional cattle were bought, away from her intended to the point that she has doubts as to whether she loved the Mexican man after all. In this film, the Mexican woman is not the town tramp but the very dignified daughter of the local don. It is made cl ear that she has led a very sheltered life and is always accompanied by her duena. Still, she is easily captivated by the roving anglo cowboy who owns no land, has no money and no clear idea of his future. What he does have, however, seems more than sufficient—his whiteness.
Finally, the 1958 version of Sierra Baron has Brian Keith playing a roving, illiterate gunfighter who captivated Rita Gam who is the sister of 53 the baron of the Hacienda. The baron had experienced great difficulty from
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anglos who sought gold on his property without his permission and who subsequently sought to drive him off that property. His. hundreds of vaqueros had proven unable to stop their inroads. Keith, however, is able to turn them back. He is more of a man than Gam's brother and all of his vaqueros. She fell in love with him and was prepared to do anything that he wanted her to. There are no reasons given for her having fallen in love with him. The only thing that he brought to the hacienda that was not already there was the color of his skin. Throughout the film, is is made obvious that part of the reason for the difficulties which her brother experienced had to do with his being Mexican. Further, there is great uncertainty as to whether the provisions of a treaty (probably Guadalupe-Hidalgo) would be honored in a court of law. Part of that treaty protected the ownership of land by Mexicans. Only one group of people were in a position not to have to be concerned about the enforcement of treaties and laws—angles. The safety net which an anglo man. whoever he was, provided a Mexican woman, whoever she was, was great.
The depiction of the Mexican woman in films during the first half of the Twentieth Century was based partially on historical events and the conjurations and misinterpretations of those events by first the writers of popular literature and then by the moviemakers who used that literature for the basis for their films. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, the pictures of Mexican woman in the cinema of the times were did much to shape the image of the Mexican woman in the minds of many who viewed
those films.
Endnotes:
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1.
Nye, Russell Blaine (1973), The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts In America. New York: Arno Press, p. 2.
2.
Pettit, Arthur G. (1980). Images of The Mexican American In Fiction And Film. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, pp. 264-269.
3.
Wellman, William, Director (1936), Robin Hood of El Dorado, B & W, 86 minutes.
4.
Pettitt, pp. 61-74.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Haskell, Molly (1987), From Reverence To Rape: The Treatment of Women In The Movies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 3.
7.
Ibid. pp. 1-402.
8.
Conway, Jack, Director (1934), Viva Villa, B & W, 115 minutes.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13.
Hughes, Howard, Director (1943), The Outlaw, B & W, 123 minutes.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31.
Ford, John, Director (1939), Stagecoach, B & W, 99 minutes.
32. Ibid.
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33.
Ford, John, Director (1961), Two Rode Together, Color, 109 minutes.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36.
Hawks, Howard, Director (1959), Rio Bravo, Color, 141 minutes.
37. Ibid.
38.
Vidor, King, Director (1946), Duel In The Sun, Color, 138 minutes.
39. Ibid.
401 Ibid.
41.
Ford, John, Director (1947), The Fugitive, B & W, 104 minutes.
42. Ibid.
43.
Mayo, Archie, Director (1935), Bordertown, B & W, 90 minutes.
44.
Rydell, Mark, Director ( 1972), The Cowboys, Color, 128 minutes.
45.
Peckinpah, Sam, Director (1969), The Wild Bunch, Color, 134 minutes.
46.
Sturges, John, Director (1960), The Magnificent Seven, Color, 126 minutes.
47.
Zinnemann, Fred, Director (1952), High Noon, B & W, 85 minutes.
48.
Ibid.
49.
Aldrich, Robert, Director (1954), Vera Cruz, Color, 94 minutes.
50.
Ibid.
51.
Daves, Delmer, Director (1958), The Badlanders, Color, 83 minutes.
52.
Daves, Delmer, Director 1958), Cowboy, B & W, 92 minutes.
53.
Clark, James B., Director (1958), Sierra Baron, Color, 80 minutes.
Endnotes:
-21-
1.
Nye, Russell Blaine (1973), The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts In America. New York: Arno Press, p. 2.
2.
Pettit, Arthur G. (1980). Images of The Mexican American In Fiction And Film. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, pp. 264-269.
3.
Wellman, William, Director (1936), Robin Hood of El Dorado, B & W, 86 minutes.
4.
Pettitt, pp. 61-74.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Haskel 1, Molly (1987), From Reverence To Rape: The Treatment of Women In The Movies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 3.
7.
Ibid. pp. 1-402.
8.
Conway, Jack, Director (1934), Viva Villa, B & W, 115 minutes.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13.
Hughes, Howard, Director (1943), The Outlaw, B & W, 123 minutes.
14 HI b i d.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31.
Ford, John, Director (1939), Stagecoach, B & W, 99 minutes.
32. Ibid.
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33.
Ford, John, Director (1961), Two Rode Together, Color, 109 minutes.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36.
Hawks, Howard, Director (1959), Rio Bravo, Color, 141 minutes.
37. Ibid.
38.
Vidor, King, Director (1946), Duel In The Sun, Color, 138 minutes.
39.
Ibid I
40. Ibid.
41.
Ford, John, Director (1947), The Fugitive, B & W, 104 minutes.
42. Ibid.
43.
Mayo, Archie, Director (1935), Bordertown, B & W, 90 minutes.
44.
Rydell, Mark, Director ( 1972), The Cowboys, Color, 128 minutes.
45.
Peckinpah, Sam, Director (1969), The Wild Bunch, Color, 134 minutes.
46.
Sturges, John, Director (1960), The Magnificent Seven, Color, 126 minutes.
47.
Zinnemann, Fred, Director (1952), High Noon, B & W, 85 minutes.
48.
Ibid.
49.
Aldrich, Robert, Director (1954), Vera Cruz, Color, 94 minutes.
50.
Ibid.
51.
Daves, Delmer, Director (1958), The Badlanders, Color, 83 minutes.
52.
Daves, Delmer, Director 1958), Cowboy, B & W, 92 minutes.
53.
Clark, James B., Director (1958), Sierra Baron, Color, 80 minutes.
ABSTRACT "HOLLYWOOD, WESTERNS AND THE MEXICAN FEMALE" ROOSEVELT FITZGERALD
This paper will examine stereotypes of Mexican females as presented in selected films produced during the half-century between 1915-1965. During those years films in the western genre ranked high in popularity. The general themes had to do with westward expansion and the usual formulas of town builders, railroad builders, miners and claim jumpers, calvary and Indians, military exploits and land acquisition, ranchers and rustlers, lawmen and outlaws were the centers of attention. Within each and expecially the latter three, Mexican characters were prominent. Invariably the Mexican characters who received the greater amount of attention were male. They were generally part of the lawless elements of those films.
Mexican females occasionally occupied second-degree supportive roles but most often they were walk-ons or they played bit parts. Those parts, however, were consistant in their representation of the subject group. Almost as an aside, viewing audiences came to expect certain behaviors from Mexican female performers. Because Mexican females had limited characters, their performances became stereotypical. Their restricted character development was aided, in part, by anti-miscegenation attitudes and laws in the United States and especially in regards to Mexicans in the southwest and west.
Because there were so few other options for learning about Mexican culture, that presented in the movies became the standard. Not only were the perceptions of non-Mexicans negatively influenced, so too were the self-concepts of the subject group. This paper will show how the frequency of those stereotypes in the medium not only created negative images in the past but how those images continue to influence through their being aired on television today.
This paper will explore and analyze some of the historical and sociological
implications of the role a component of electronic media has had in promulgating negative stereotypes of people of Mexican descent. Further, it will consider the impact which those stereotypes have had not only on the manner in which the subject group has been perceived by others but also on how those same stereotypes have affected the self-concept of the subject group.
Previous studies have examined the depiction of the Mexican character in film and we are able to determine that that portion of the problem, at least, is fairly new.’George Roeder's work of 1971 provides us with one of the earlier, more comprehensive efforts for the first half century of movie- makingJ Three years later/Allen L. WolH produced two studies of the problem. The one addressed the status of the Mexican in the United States and the othewhighlighted the international ramifications of Hollywood's treatment of Mexicans and its effects on our "good neighbor policy."2 The following year, Blaine P. Lamb went a step further in showing how the Mexican was a "Convenient Vi Ilian" for Hollywood producers.3 In 1980, ■/Arthur G. Pettit helped us better understand the connection between popular literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the movies and how Mexicans were presented in both mediums. The transition was important because the fiction of the time provided the basis for movie plots.
In each study, to one degree or another, we have been shown what the stereotypes are and even, in some cases, where and how they might have originated. In looking at Roeder's worW which takes us the farthest back in Hollywood film history, there can be discerned a consistent trend toward denigrating those of Mexican ancestry. The characters, males and female,
may vary but the images projected have been rarely positive.
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Early in his administration as President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, at a film festival in New York City, proclaimed, in effect, that what the remainder of the world learns about the United States, it learns through the movies. That comment could be expanded upon by adding that what many Americans learn about the United States, especially its multicultural /ethnic/raci al populations, is also learned through the movies.
The first motion picture to be commercial ly exhibited Bn the United States was shown at Koster and Bial's Music Hall of New York on April 23, 1896? From its earliest days the movies have been a major source of entertainment for Americans whose lack of sufficient hard data concerning the history of their country, has been a major part of the reasons why many have accepted that which is viewed on the "silver screen" as being more factual than it actually is. Even though the technology and content was fairly simple at the outset, it soon evolved to the position of serving very complex functions. "As do all mass media and to some extent all art, they mirror the concerns of their age, reflecting conscious and unconscious 2 aspects of the culture that shapes them."
1896 is marked by yet another singular important event which would have far-reaching reprecussions and lasting effects. It was during that year that the Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court decision was rendered. That decision gave federal sanctioning to a concept of "separate but equal" which would remain in effect until 1954 when it would be overturned by yet another Supreme Court decision. The 1896 decision reflected the racial mood of America at the time. That fifty-eight year period marked not only a deterioration of race relations in the United States, the arrival of many hundreds
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of thousands of EuropeanBmmigrants some of whom would fall victim to prejudices, a curtailment of Asian immigration accompanied by anBincrease of discrimatory against those already here, but also the appearance of a new medium which would nationalize and internationalize prejudicial behavior toward all those groups.
At this point in history, most of the early pioneers of American cinema possessed neither the minority consciousness, the artistic sophistication, nor even the awareness of the medium's power necessary to create well-rounded ethnic portraits that provide more than a burlesque of minorities. They themselves may have shared some of the bigoted conceptions commonly held at the time. Even those who wereWewish seemed little concerned with negative impressions of Jews in the movies, putting their pocketbooks before their pride. However, the early days of the industry found Jews more often as theater owners than as film producers. Though it may seem unfair to condemn early filmmakers foAsuch simplistic portrayals, the fact remains that they care little for the subtleties of minority character development. They never seemed to have even contemplated the potential, and in some cases the very real injury, such distorted caricatures did.
Those early films had relatively short running times. Generally they were one-reelers. In such an abbreviated form, there was not ample time for any character development. That condition created many problems for minority groups. Those problems were multiplied for racial minorities in those areas where they either did not reside or were Un such small numbers as to be ineffective in neutralizing harsh portrayals which the new medium presented to unsuspecting and unknowledgeable viewing audiences throughout the nation and the world. Readily identifiable groups are often stereotyped in their media representations. One reason for this is the need of
5 media to simplify reality. The subject group of this paper is indeed
victimized by oversimplification in media. The negative results of this is not off-set by text booksRised in the schools of the United States during the period of time under consideration.
The first quarter-century of movie making, which also encompassed the silent movie era, saw nearly one-hundred films released with either Mexican
-4-
themes or significant Mexican characters.7 The application of Jimmy Carter's observations to Americans is more than justified at this point. They become more meaningful in light of historian Russell B. Nye's conclusion of six years earlier, in 1973, that during the first half of the twentieth century, o that Americans attended to movies much more often than they read books.
Those who read the popular literature of the times encountered primarily
9 stereotypical descriptions of Mexican Americans. Serious students of history from the lower grades, through college and beyond fared little better. On the subject of Mexican Americans either after they became Americans or while they were yet Mexicans, there was not much to be found on the subject beyond military conflicts J As far as the people and the culture was concerned, there was an almost absolute void.
The absence of meaningful and relevant data in those more desired areas enabled the new medium of the movies to fill in, however erroneous, those gaps.
For most Americans, especially those living east of the Mississippi River, their acquired knowledge of the west was gained from the movies they saw. Bret Hart, Bronco Billy, Tom Mix and even Buffalo Bill's revelations in his "Wild West Show" became the models for the cowboy, the settler and the town builders of the west. Those individuals had to contend not only with an unsettled land and the ravages of nature but also with what was described as "savage Indians," marauding commancheros and bandits--most of whom were Mexican. The movies took great liberties in describing what the west was all about. The western genre made the west a place of great adventure. Tony Thomas, who was born in England and first learned of the United States from movies he saw there while still a child, received the movie version of what the west had been. "Of all the kinds of American life depicted on the screen it is the most exciting and the least accurate.
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It began In 1903 with the 'Great Train Robbery,' and in the first years of its life the western was a spillover from the real West."^
The final years of the first quarter century of the movie making industry witnessed astounding technological advances. No film epitomized those advances better than D.W. Griffith's 1915 production of "Birth Of A Nation." The film was based on Thomas Dixon's book, Bhe Clansman, published in 1905, and it glorified the origin and objectives of the Ku KIux 12
Klan. After concerting to preview the film before mts first public showing, President Woodwrow Wilson who had attended college with Griffith, 13
declared: "It is like writing history with lightening." That recommendation by a President who held a Ph.D. in history and had been a president of Princeton University, validated the outrageously innacurate representations of the Reconstruction period of American history. More, it validated the medium as a means of learning history.
The silent movie era ended mid-way through the 1920s but not before Douglas Fairbanks immortalized Zorro. Zorro has appeared in feature length form in almost every generation since it was first released in ^920. There have also been serials, made for television films and cartoons. The theme of the film is one with which movie audiences could readily identify--good versus evil. The original was based on Johnston McCulley's The Curse of Capistrano published in Al 1 Story Weekly.
Among the many noteworthy characteristics of the silent film is its capacity to compel audience participation by having them both read the captions and the expressions and actions of the performers. During the "age of innocence," films introduced with lengthy script, shomehow were seen as more historical or at the very least, historically accurate. The 1920 version of Zorro had such a beginning by offering an interpretation of
oppression and a solution for it. "Oppress!on--by its very nature--creates
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the power that crushes it. A champion arises—a champion of the oppressed— whether it be a Cromwell or someone unrecorded, he will be there. He is born."14 The implied association of the historicalness of Zorro with Cromwell is significant particularly as the film unfolds. In describing the setting, it tells us: "In California nearly a hundred years ago, with its warmth, its romance, its peaceful beauties, this dred disease, oppression had crept in."15 California, at the time described, was part of Mexico which had gained its independence just a few years earlier from Spain. The drive toward independence had been started in 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla, a creole priest whose world view was anchored in the teachings of French philosophy and was himself desirous of bringing more equality to all of the people of the land. Originally joined by creole noblemen, who themselves had limitations on their ambitions, that association rapidly came to an end.
Zorro falsely represented the aims of the revolution. In the film, he is described as being the protector of Indians, peons and priests and anyone who injured of harmed in any way either received the "mark of Zorro" cut into their flesh by his sword. Zorro took on the attributes of Robin Hood—robbing the rich., who had come by their wealth illegally— and giving to the poor. With Zorro, the creole Spainard doing the robbing, the action received the blessings of the church—so long as the church got its share and the church, in the movies, always got its share either directly from Zorro or from the offerings of the poor. The governor was Mexican as were his soldiers and other representatives. While Zorro was busy doing his good works, the governor, the cause of the oppression, was in the north and was described as "greedy, licentious, arrogant," 5 His
character is best represented in the appearance of Sergeant Gonzalez.
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In 1920 audiences admired Zorro because he opposed oppression. Those same audiences had their perceptions of Mexicans diminished because throughout the film, they were shown to be cruel, drunkards, arrogant, of low morals, ravishers of women and otherwise generally reprehensible.
Zorro was remade in 1940 with sound and in color and it starred Tyrone Power.1? There was much, more Hollywood glitz and it began with, more background on the years Don Diego Vega spent in Spain learning all the things a Spanish nobleman needed to know in order to take his rightful place in society. Upon his return to California and learning of the changes which had occurred in his absence, not the least of which, was the removal of his father as governor by the mestizo "rabble" which had successfully rebelled against Spain, Don Diego, disguised as Zorro, overpowered the Mexicans, drove the Mexican governor out of California and amid the cheering of other caballeros re-installed his Spanish nobleman father as gover- 18
nor of the Mexican province of California.-
The process in which these changes occurred is quite remarkable.
Zorro continually outwitted sergeant Gonzalez and is a better swordsman than the captain. The entire detachment of Mexican soldiers proved unable to capture him and each time he eluded them, it is clearly the result of his superior intelligence and their unmatched ignorance. The soldiers are depicted as cowards, inept horsemen, poor shots, terrible swordsmen and are easily detoured from their duty by the nearest cantina or senorita. The progression of what is thought to be a drama is little more than a comedy and the Mexicans are the butt of every joke.19
Once again, as had been the case of the earlier 1920 version, Zorro presented viewing audiences with strong, negative stereotypes of Mexicans
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which they were compelled to accept by their having to accept Zorro as representing all that was right.
During the interim of the two Zorro feature length films were many others which had the subject of Mexico or Mexicans as major themes. Paul 20
Muni is Johnny Ramirez in Bordertown." His sojourn resembles a rollercoaster ride from his humble beginnings in a Los Angeles barrio where he worked by day and attended law school at night. Throughout the earlier portion of the film, audiences are made aware that Ramirez was once a street hood but through the prayers of his mother, who was short, fat and with rosary beads always in hand, he somehow turns his life around. There is no mention of his father almost as though he was an unknown quality. Here, we have a classic example of the creation of a stereotype simply by not saying anything. Many films in which there is a Mexican male figure who plays a prominent role, there is either no mention of a father—as in the present case--or a comment to the effect that the father is unknown or the father left, for reasons unknown, when the . 23
child was very young. The worse example of the missing or unknown father has the mother having worked, tn her youth, in a house of i11- 24
repute. The stereotype of Mexicans having loose morals and broken homes is projected and becomes part of our perception of the entire group. Further, and also on a subliminal level, we are once again given to understand that the Catholic Church condones such behavior among Mexicans (This perception of the Catholic Church is also projected with Italians expecially those who are presented as being members of the Maftai.
Ramirez, through, a series of events, is disbarred while arguing his
first case in court. From there, his tumble from grace is rapid, first
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he finds himself in Tijuana where he becomes a bouncer in a bordertown dive owned by Charlie Roark. In short order, he manages to parlay that job into an assistant manager's position. Roark's wife, Marie, played by Bette Davis, thinks "Johnny is swell and wishes to have an affair with him but Ramiriz puts her off. She is convinced that no man could resist her—expecially a Mexican--and convinces herself that the reason for Johnny's refusal has to do with her being married. This is an underhanded compliment to Johnny in that an illusion is created that he doesn't "fool around with married women." The fact of the matter is, Ramiriz is infactuated with another woman—the woman who was the indirect cause of his being disbarred. Marie does not know about her. In her lust to have Ramirez, she accidentally stumbled upon an opportunity to kill her husband and remove the obstacle which she imagined stood between she and Johnny. When Marie discovers that Johnny still will not have anything to do with her, she confesses to the murder and implicated him but the truth came out at the trial and Johnny is set free. He is free to propose marriage to his sweetheart who has only been toying with him. To her he was an exotic, a smoothie, a latin lover whom she would playfully cally "savage." She was not interested in marriage. Her social status was too high above his. It was too high for most "anglo" men. She thought he knew that it was all just fun and games. Following his proposal, she turned him down with the brutal truth: "Marriage isn't for us...You belong to a different tribe, Savage. Ramirez is angered by her refusal and grabbed her. She pulled away and, in running across a highway, is run over by a speeding car and killed. Ramirez is heartbroken and the movie ends with him going back to the barrios of Los Angeles and in his words, "where I belong...with my people."26
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One of the more telling stereotypes in the film is the suggestion that Mexicans, however hard working or bright, cannot succeed in the white world due to an implied genetic flaw. Johnny Ramirez was protrayed as being a tough, quick-tempered, pushy, flamboyant, cocky and--even with a law degree--uneducated person. He was devoid of class, unsophisticated, boisterous and obnoxious. His characterization gave credence to the saying: "You can take the boy out of the barrio but you can't take the barrio out of the boy.
The year before, in 1934, Hollywood presented it first version of the exploits of Pancho Villa. In a film titled "Viva Villa" audiences were introduced to a formula for such docudramas which would continue on through 27 the 1960s. As had been the case with the original Zorro, there was a captioned forward to the film. That introduction suggested authenticity that is greatly misleading in its wording. "The saga of the Mexican hero, Pancho Villa, does not come out of the archives of history. It is action woven out of truth, and inspired by a love of the half legendary Pancho Villa."28
The movie begins with a notice being posted at the town square of a small Mexican village and the people being summoned. Several hundred women, men and children, who've come in from the fields and elsewhere, simply stand there until a priest, who is apparently the only one among them who can read,Binformed the gathering that their farms and homes have been seized by the local padron. When one man speaks out against the action, he is taken away and given one hundred lashes by the local authorities. At this point, we are given a description of Mexico at that time. "Mexico in the 8O's....a land cringing under the long whip of Diaz the tyrant. Spain, long driven out of the country, had left behind an arrogant aristocracy."2^
By inference, audiences are made to believe that conditions were much better
-Ilin
Mexico under the Spanish.
When the man who spoke out has received his hundred lashes, he is discovered to be dead. One of the Mexicans involved in the beating only comment was: "a few too many." The dead man's young son observed the entire spectacle and, later during the night, stabbed the man who had used the whip in the back and disappeared into the darkness. Once again the screen is filled with a historical appearing caption: "The hills of Chihuahua swallowed the little avenger. Beyond the pale of the whipping post he grew up in the shadows of Mexico. Injustice was his nurse, oppression his tutor. Then slowly a new song came out of the desert night. It was La Cucaracha (The Cockroach). The song of an almost legendary bandit. His name was Pancho Villa!"
The remainder of the film offers a lesson in the history of the Mexican Revolution which was, at best, a parody. Immediatedly, now that Villa was a grown man, we are presented with his best side and his worse. Six peons are hanged by a magistrate for no real reason and Villa and his band of bandits get quick revenge--"two for one." Just as the peons had been murdered, Villa slew their murderers. When next we see him, just minutes later, he is in a cantina with all of the "girls" and he is seeking to pick one out for himself for the night. The one he selects, Rosita, is a strong- willed woman who demanded that he marry her if he wanted her. Villa's response was: "Sure I marry you. I marry anybody. Pedro, I marry her „31 tonight.' Similar dialogue was repeated on several other occasions throughout the film to the point that it became humorous. Villa's right hand man, Sierra, comment that,"He like get married. He get married all the time" is greeted by the response: "that's the way I was brought up—religious.1,32 The exchange always generates laughter but it also always suggests the disdain which Mexicans have for matrimony and the slap at CathoHctsmcfz-obsioils:*?'.:s-
-12-
Perhaps, more than anything else, the film showed us that the greater part of what became the revolutionary army was actually no more than a huge band of bandits who could neither read or write, murdered prisoners, took women and anything else that they wanted as part of the booty of war and that they did all of thisBin the name of justice and a perverted sense of democracy.
The formula introduced by this film would be repeated many other times over the next thirty-five years with movies having to do with social upheaval in Mexico from the days of the expulsion of the Spanish on into the twentieth century.
1939 might well be the year in which a high water mark is reached with films having to do with Mexico during the first half century of movie making. "Juarez," which also starred Paul Muniin the lead role, was very well re- 33
searched. The script follows very closely the actual historical events upon which the film is based. However,Bt is that very historicalness of events which is the source of its problems. In 1939, the Nazi war machine was on the move in Europe. Films of the era described the monstrous nature of the Nazi and the al mo angelic dispositions of their victims. The latter is not presented in a way which would detract from their human qualities or their patriotism. The same was not true of the film Juarez which, while it clearly spoke of freedom, justice and democracy and even, in one scene, questioned the imperial ism of certain European nations, not only presented the terrible conditions the revolutionaries lived under but it also could not resist showing their brutal nature and even their predisposition to mimic the behavior of their oppressors. Part of the cause of this perception and interpretation of what might have actually have happened, was the result of howvMexican revolutionaries had been implanted in the minds of audiences five years earlier with "Viva Villa."
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Other films which have gotten similar treatment have been such as "The Fugitive"(1947) which was about a revolutionist priest who broke his vows 34
and fathered a child. "The Fighter" (1952) was about a Mexican who crossed the border and became a prize fighter in the United States and used his 35
winnings to buy arms for the revolutionary cause. "Viva Zapata" (1952) chronicled the life of Emiliano Zapata and his rise from a simple peon to become a leader of the Mexican Revolution. This film was probably the more historically accurate of all.3 "Vera Cruz" (1954) romanticized the efforts 37
to overthrow the Emperor Maximi Ilian. "Bandido" (1956) was about angle oo gun-runners during the revolution. "Viva Maria" (1965) is about two beautiful women who are revolutionaries and also entertainers. "Villa Rides" (1968) presented Villa with gun runners and beautiful women entertai n- 39
ers. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) was the last film of the 1960s having to do with the Mexican Revolution. It centered around a band of angle outlaws who are hired by a Mexican general to steal arms from the U.S. Army.
Introduced with "Robin Hood of El Dorado" (1936), a new component of the western genre, the Mexican hero, would help dominate dowboy movies through 41
the 1940s. Even though the genre elevated the Mexican character somewhat, he stillBdid not excape totally the image of the bandit or of someone who is outside the law. In Robin Hood, the lead character seeks revenge on a "gang who ruined his life." His efforts to right the wrongs took him outside the law. For the dozen or so N1ms of this sort which were released over the following twenty years, each would follow the formula of a bandit figure who stole for a higher purpose. "The Gay Cavalier" (1946), explains 4-3 the lead character's, Chico, life of banditry in the very early scenes. Chico is seen standing near a grave and speaking to it: "Sleep well my father. Today, another debt will be paid."44 On a nearby hillside, his
followers wait for him and there#s an exchange between his right hand man
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Pablo, and a new man with the group. "Why does Chico make a notch on the cross?" Pablo explained by saying: "Not so loud. You are new to us,
Pedro, so I will tell you. Once a year, Chico come to the grave of his father. He was the greatest bandit of all California. Now Chico make up his mind and try to pay for his father's crimes. So he take from the rich people who are bad and give to the poor. That way his poor father can have the long sleep with clear conscience.- ®
By inference, we are told that Chico's father, during his career as a bandit, did not restrict his activities to those whom he knew had come by their wealth illegally. Were it so, Chico could not hope to undo his father's deeds or at least repay them by robbing the rich and giving to the poor. Chico is yet a bandit but not as ruthless A bandit as his father was. The image of the bandit, however, remained constant and continued to be a stereotype of the Mexican even when he is an alleged "good guy."
Duncan Penal do's earlier portrayal of the same Chico character was little better. "Guns and Fury" (1939) had Chico and Poncho as relatively "good guys." ? However, early in the film, it is established that his lifestyle did often bring him into conflict with the law. The crooked mayor of the town of Del Rio advised him that "his type" would not be welcome in that peaceful town. The fact of the matter is, the crooked mayor did not want to risk having to split any of the spoils of the 48 community with Chico.
More important than the simple plot of crooks stealing money and framing an honest citizen is the on-going procession of stereotypes of Mexicans which the film provides. This was particularly the case with Poncho who displayed an absolute inability to speak correctly. The fact
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that Spanish is his primary language is not taken into consideration nor is that of his being multilingual. What is presented, and humorously so, is how he butchers English. Throughout the film, he makes such utterances as, "we'll be looking you" rather than "we'll be seeing you."I don't read pretty good" islnade all the worse by his saying it to a small angle boy who 50 speaks perfect English.
Gilbert Roland, who assumed the Chico character with his sidesick Pablo after Duncan Renal do (Reynolds) moved on to become the Cisco Kid with his sidekick Pancho, greatly expanded the image of the latin lover. In "Robin Hood of Monterey" (1947), he complains that he "haven't seen a Cl
pretty girl in a whole day and a half." In "King of The Bandits! (1947),
during the opening scenes, Chico and Pablo find themselves being the targets of a firing squad. When asked if there are any last wishes, Pablo asked only that the Lieutenant trade places with him while Chico said: "There's a pretty girl in Las Cruces I was going to play post office with. Will you 52 say goodbye to her for me?"
Another group to be considered are those films in which the Mexican is not the central figure. There are a few in which Mexicans are sidekicks to anglo heroes. A larger category is that is which Mexicans do not play any significant roles but whose appearance, however brief, is detrimental to the image of the Mexican. In "Red River" (1948), as John Wayne enters Texas and prepares to claim all the land as far as the eye can see for himself, he is met by two vaqueros who informed him that he is trespassing. After a very brief discussion on the matter and the one vaquero being determined to protect the intrest of his padron, Wayne beats him to the draw and kills him. The second vaquero said: "It is not my land 53
senor and very cowardly slinks away. In the "Ox Bow Incident" (19431,
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the Mexican suspect of the trio of accused cattle thieves and murderers is portrayed as a lying, knife carrying con-man. Due in part to the manner in which his characterss developed, audiences, while inclined to believe the innocence of the other two are reluctant to do so because of a real need to believe that the Mexican is guilty. That same year, "The Outlaw" opened at theaters around the country.The film was yet another glorification of the legend of Billy the Kid. While this version centered around the Kid's amorous adventures with a lustful senori't.a played by Jane Russell, the effects of the perception and stereotyping of Mexicans is that they; male and female, young and old, greatly identified with the outlaw and considered him to be their friend. They provided him shelter and food and, seemingly, without their help, he would have been apprehended by the law much sooner. Four years earlier, in 1939, a similar example of identifying with and helping someone in trouble with the law occurred in the film "Stagecoach." Chris, the Mexican relay station operator, is stereotypically portrayed as short, fat, mustachioed and finishes every sentence with: "I theenk." He is married to an Indian woman who is described, even to him, as a savage—"one of Geronomo's people"—and when he discovered that she had run away in the night, he sounded the alarm with Curly, the sheriff. Their exchange is as follows;
Chris: Curly, my wife Jakima, she ran away. When I looked up she was gone.
Curly: You can find another wife.
Chris: Sure, I can find another wife but she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I never sell her. I love her too much, I beat it with a whip and she never get tired. Curly: Your wife?
Chris: No, my horse. I can find another wife easy yes but not a horse like that one.57
Even as Chris plays the part of the buffoon for the entire entourage,
he has concern and warning for Ringo, the outlaw, who has recently excaped
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prison, with the intent of avenging his younger brother’s murder.
Kid, I know why you want to go to Lordsburg. I like you. I' know your pop. He was good friend of mine. If you. know who in Lordsburg, you stay away I theenk. Luke, Ike and Hank all there together. I saw them. I can tell you the truth, I know. You crazy if you go. I think you stay away Kid. Three against one is no good.5°
One of the more devastating examples of the impact of stereotypes on Mexicans may be found in the walk-on, bit parts that have little or nothing to do with the film. In "Two Rode Together" (1961), the film begins with a church bell ringing, a sleeping Mexican being roused from his position on the ground by it and the sheriff sitting in a straight-backed chair on the porch of a saloon. A Mexican man, with apron on, approached the sheriff with a tray With a drink on it. His manner is very subservient. He informed sheriff Guthrie McCabe, played by Jimmy Stewart, that "the widow Gomez has delivered a son this morning--a boy." McCabe's only comment was: "A boy for the widow Gomez." The waiter pushed on; "But senor, it has been more than a year ago since senor Antonio Gomez has been buried in the church house." Once again, a child is born to a Mexican woman and there is no clear accounting as to who the father might be. Similar characterizations may be found in other films released during that same period. The examples to follow will also have another element in common; each wigp present the Mexican as buffoon. In "The Big Country" (1958), in each appearance on screen, the Mexican is shown to be a clown. The most memorable has to do with the scene of Gregory Peck, the ex-sea captain who has come to marry the ranchers daughter, attempt to ride the wildest horse on the place. The Mexican's, who has been drafted to assist him, dialogue and mannerisms are hilarious and expecially his obvious cowardice when he continually warns; "but senor, teees horse is mean. Eet
is a killer. Eet is crazy to get on such as horse. Why do you seesh to
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do it now. No one will see you."^ That same year, in "The Sheepman" with Glen Ford, the weakness of the Mexican is highlighted as it is juxtaposed with the strength and courage of the anglo.^ Once again, the MexicanEis a very diminutive figure by comparison. He is in cattle country with a herd of sheep whichgllustrates the extent of his stupidity. Constitutional rights have not gotten to that part of the country and one needed to be brave, strong and forceful to enjoy any rights at all. The Mexican could only play the guitar well. Ford, from the outset, beat the biggest and toughest cowboy in town just so all would know that he was serious about exercising his right to raise sheep. He did not get chased off and once he had established that he could raise sheep if he wanted to, he sold the herd. The Mexican, meanwhile, was slain while guarding Ford's sheep. "Rio Bravo" (1959), shows John Wayne at his benevolent best by his wi1Qngness to associate with Mexicans and the Mexican character at his worse. Carlos is a comic character who constantly experiences marital problems with his wife Consuela. In one scene, following yet another
friendly" arguement, Carlos sought to placate Consuela by presenting her with a red petticoat. First, however, he modeled it for John Wayne and pirouettedEin a quite feminine manner which was magnified by the fact that a great deal of tension was present surrounding the impending shootout with the "bad guys." The fact that he would later participate in the battle, by firing blindly and thereby creating a distraction for Wayne and the other men, is of no consequence. Actually, that activity served only to exacerbate the perception of him as a weakling in that with that he was most inadequate and with the "unmanly" tasks, he was most remarkable.
Between 1946 and 1958, several films were released which had specific roles being played by Mexican women. The epic of the group had the least
to do with Mexicans but is generally thought of as being otherwise. "Duel
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In The Sun" (1946), had nothing to do with Mexicans, ■'he protagonist was a "halfbreed" daughter of an Indian woman and a creole man named Chavez. Unlike the creole Don Diego Vega (Zorro), this was a Louisiana, French creole who had wandered outside the marriage boundaries his family might have wished. His daughter, Pearl Chavez, Ms seen wearing what is apparently Mexican style clothing and because of her name, in spite of her being referred to as a papoose or Minehaha, she comes across in the film as Mexican and is therefore reacted to similarly. Her mother has been described as a "loose woman" and is ultimately shot and killed by her husband when he discovers her With another man. Throughout the film, audiences are assurred that Pearl will follow in her mother's footsteps. The more she protests that; "I'm going to be a good girl. I promise I will. I want to be like you" to Laura Belle, her new adopted mother, the more we are convinced that she will meet with doom.
One of the all-time classic westerns is "High Noon" (1952) and one of the main characters in the film is a Mexican woman, Helen Ramirez, played by Kathy Jurado. Only one other Mexican was shown in the film and her appearance occurred during the opening moments; an elderly, portly Mexican woman, with crucifix around neck, is shown making the sign of the cross as Frank Miller's gang enters the town of Hadleyville. Helen Ramirez is just the opposite. She is the town tramp. At one point, she is the woman of Frank Miller, the outlaw. After he is arrested and sent off to prison, she became the sheriff's woman. After the sheriff became engaged to a Quaker woman, she became the deputy's woman. It is apparent that she needed to be associated with someone who could take care of her and who was strong enough not to be affected or personally attacked by any of the other men in the town. A weak man, especially a weak angle man, would be
the butt of everyone's joke and all the other men would deride her in such
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a man's presence. It did not seem to matter on which side of the law that someone was. At one point in the film, she provided us with something of a reason for her behavior when she uttered: "I hate this town. I've always hated it. To be a Mexican woman in a town like this...She is Mexican and she is a woman and neigher is protected by any laws.
The 1950s closed with two very similar films having to do with Mexican women. "Cowboy" (1958) has Jack Lemmon as an Anglo cowboy who, while passing through a small Mexican town, managed to woo the rich senorita whose father owned the large hacienda, away from her intended to the point that she has doubts as to whether she loved the Mexican man after all."Sierra Baron" (1958) has Brian Kieth playing a roving, illiterate gunfighter who captivates Rita Gam who is the sister of the baron of the hacienda which experienced great trouble from angles who sought gold on (his property and who also sought to dri ve mm off. ®
In many of the movies setWn the old southwest, Mexican women are portrayed as almost standing in line waiting to get at the blonde "gringo" men who were just passing through. It did not seem to matter what their occupation or plans were. Such men were always, by inference, more desirable to the women of those places than were the Mexican men who were there.
In recent years, there have been some improvements in the depiction of Mexican Americans in Hollywood films. In many ways, the positive results of these efforts are restricted to the young and to future generations. The effects are, in many ways, influenced by the age of the viewer. For those who are still of an age when their basic values are being imprinted, perhaps the greatest positive effects will be realized. For each successively older group, the positive results will be less. Those beyond the mid-forty mark would be affected the least. Dr. Robert Massey contends that "What You Are is Where You Were When"--when one's value system was put into place.
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In short, the manner in which a person see themselves and, more to the point, how they see others is greatly influenced by where and when they were value implanted. If it is true that basic values are in place by adolescence and that media does have an impact on those values, then it is fairly safe to say that the movies produced and released during the period between the 1920s and the 1960s didBindeed have a detrimental effect on how Mexicans and Mexican Americans are perceived by those whose values were implanted during those years.
The average age of corporate executives in the United States is fiftyplus years old. The President of the United States is in his mid-seventies. People of his age grouping might have seen D.W. Griffith's "Birth of A Nation" (1915), probably saw the original, silent movie version of "Zorro" (1920) and many of both groups saw such early westerns, either when they were first released or during re-issue, as: "Arms And The Gringo" (1914), "The Girl And The Greaser" (1913), "The Greaser" (1913), "The Greasers Gauntlet" (1908), "The Greaser's Revenge" (1914), "Guns And Greasers" (1918), "The Mexican" (1914), "The Mexican's Revenge" (1908) or "A Mexican Spy in Arizona" (1914).
Fortunately, with the exception of the first two mentioned, the remainder of these films are not available for general public viewing today. The fact that there are still many who viewed those films when they were available and that they maintain whatever perception of Mexicans they derived from such films is unfortunate. Those from the target period have done their damage and they are currently in the process of redoing it through their showing on television. Whether their effects are as diastrous to today's generations as they have been in the past, will be determined, in part, by newer roles for Mexicans in films and a more complete description of Mexican
history and culture in the textbooks and popular literature of today.