Lecture 11: Ethnic L.A. on the Ground and in the Cinema

Lecture 11: Ethnic L.A. on the Ground and in the Cinema Professor Michael Green Real Women Have Curves (2002) Directed by Patricia Cardoso

This Lesson “Ethnicity and Opportunity in the Plural City” Multicultural L.A. in the Cinema Real Women Have Curves

“Ethnicity and Opportunity in the Plural City” El Norte (1983) Directed by Gregory Nava Lesson 11: Part I

L.A. Demographics • Los Angeles County: 10,393,185 • City of Los Angeles: 4,065,585 • January 1, 2009 estimate • Since 1965, more immigrants have come to the Los Angeles region than to any other in the United States. • Historically, L.A. has not been hospitable to non-white, non-Protestant immigrants, who have not enjoyed the “full fruits of the region’s bounteous economy.”

Ethnic Make-up in 2000 • Year 2000 Total Population: 9,578,960 • White: 3,045,819 • Hispanic: 4,273,914 • Asian: 1,165,096 • Pacific Islander: 24,489 • Black: 910,077 • American Indian: 27,187 • Multirace: 132,378

Projected Ethnic Make-up in 2050 • Year 2000 Total Population: 13,061,787 • White: 1,587,993 • Hispanic: 8,405,036 • Asian: 2,109,318 • Pacific Islander: 49,101 • Black: 583,499 • American Indian: 37,316 • Multirace: 289,524

The Plural City • “There are now too many ethnic groups for the old undifferentiated category of minority to make much sense.” • “Los Angeles is not so much a dual as a plural city, in which the myriad new ethnic groups have created a segmented system, where each group largely lives and works in its own distinctive social world.” • Roger Waldinger

Class and Labor • “The demographic transformations . . . have created a new ethnic division of labor in which ethnicity intersects with class.” • The Chinese and Japanese make up a professional middle class. • African Americans work in public service jobs. • Immigrants from Mexico and Central America have been stuffed into the very lowest-level jobs, where they work in isolation from the rest of the region’s ethnic groups.

“The American Way” • Waldinger: “From a historical perspective, starting out at the bottom is the American way, as long as the newcomers and their descendants can gradually climb or even claw their way out of the socioeconomic cellar.” • Some groups, such as Asians, have done a better job than others of climbing into the middle class, while others have not done as well, as the gap widens between rich and poor.

Living the Good Life in L.A. • “For now, living the good life in Southern California has much to do with immigration. • It is not just anecdotal evidence that suggests there would be no gardeners, no garment workers, no hotel housekeepers, without the Mexican and Central American newcomers. • The census data tells the same story; the bottom tier of L.A.’s service sectors rests on a labor force that disproportionately comes from Latino ranks.”

Change • Maps of L.A showing the dispersal of Blacks from former ghettos, and evidence of Central Americans leaving one of the poorest neighborhoods in L.A, make it clear that many residents of poor areas do escape them.” • “The ethnic diversity and intermarriage dynamics point to the once-maligned and too-often-ignored suburbs as likely places where a more ethnically mixed and perhaps less racist America is evolving.” • James P. Allen

Multicultural L.A. in the Cinema Stand and Deliver (1988) Directed by Ramón Menéndez Lesson 11: Part II

Underreprentation • The representation of race and ethnicity in Hollywood and even independent movies is vastly disproportionate to the demographic breakdown of Los Angeles. • The same is the case for the moviemakers behind the camera. • However, it is proportionate to the lack of opportunities faced by non-whites and immigrants over the history of L.A.

Underreprentation (continued) • Consider just the movies in this lesson, which, diverse in many other ways despite their shared subject matter, almost invariably feature white, Protestant protagonists. • Sunset Boulevard – The Player • Singin’ in the Rain – Swingers • The Bad and the Beautiful – Boogie Nights • The Day of the Locust –Mulholland Drive • L.A. Confidential – L.A Story • Ed Wood – Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The Class Factor • This underrepresentation is tied to class, as well, since most Hollywood movies don’t dramatize the lives of poor people, and larger percentages of minorities and immigrants tend to be poor or working poor.

Stereotypes • Of course, ethnicities are often represented in mainstream film as stereotypes. • For example, Charles Ramirez Berg names six basic Latino stereotypes: el bandito, the harlot, the male buffoon, the female clown, the Latin lover and the dark lady. • Examples of these can be found in such L.A. set movies as Falling Down, Colors, and Training Day.

Subverting Stereotypes • Of course Los Angeles racial and ethnic stereotypes are sometimes subverted or avoided in Hollywood films. • Many see Cheech Marin, in films such as Born in East L.A. (1987), as working to comically subvert stereotypes. • Other films that attempt complex and realistic portraits include Stand and Deliver, Bound by Honor, American Me and Mi Vida Loca.

Crash • Paul Haggis’ Crash – Oscar for Best Picture of 2005 – deliberately represents a multi-ethnic cross-section of Los Angeles. • Some find the film progressive in its examination of racism and representations which do not marginalize ethnic characters. • Others see the film as liberal piety, trafficking in the same old ethnic stereotypes, dressing them up in the guise of social criticism. • Pause the lecture and watch the Crash clip.

A Multi-ethnic Canvass

Gregory Nava • Director Nava has made a career out of careful, nuanced representation of Latinos, depicting a wide range of experience. • El Norte (1983) • My Family/Mi Familia (1995) • Selena (1997) • Bordertown (2002) • Pause the lecture and watch the clip from El Norte

Blade Runner • Blade Runner famously depicts a vision of a predominantly ethnic Los Angeles future, devoid of middle class WASPs, more Asian than Latino – with no black people. • “Much has been made of the city's ethnic diversity (encompassing Asians, Latinos, Arabs, and various non-ethnically marked whites) and its connections to an increasingly outnumbered and threatened white minority.” • Robert Barringer

Racial Make-up of LA in BR • “Clearly, the dangerous, dark city dominated by nonwhites and both crowded (at street level) and desolate (in Sebastian's apartment building) marks a middle/ upper-class white nightmare, from which those who are able have fled to "a better life” in the off-world colonies [which the movie suggests] are safe, clean, sunny, and predominantly white. The colonies seem just the latest suburban location for white flight.” • Pause the lecture and watch the BR clip.

Better Luck Tomorrow • Coming of age/crime film about Asian/American teenagers directed by Justin Lin. • “One of the best aspects of this movie is its attempt to break away from the stereotypical, politically correct presentation of Asian Americans as hardworking, well mannered, “model minorities.” Lin is not interested in creating socially acceptable characters, but rather in making real, three dimensional personalities that show Asian Americans as real people.”

At the Center, not the Margins Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) Directed by Justin Lin

Real Women Have Curves Real Women Have Curves (2002) Directed by Patricia Cardoso Lesson 11: Part III

The Movie Directed by Patricia Cardoso, who was born in Columbia and earned her MFA from UCLA film school. Stars America Ferrera, of Ugly Betty and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants A coming-of-age story about 18-year-old Ana, that examines family relationships, cultural clashes and the often-grim socio-economic reality of life for Mexican Americans. Our only non-self-reflexive Hollywood film. 26

Director’s Agenda Presenting the characters in Real Women Have Curves in a realistic and fair-minded manner was very important to Cardoso. She says she wanted to give an accurate depiction of working-class Mexican American life in Los Angeles that avoided stereotypes. The movie represents sweatshops, working class East L.A. neighborhoods and other spaces normally avoided by Hollywood. Pause the lecture and watch the clip.

Avoiding Stereotypes • Cardoso says that she went out of the way to make the film as realistic as possible. Her background in anthropology helped her with research in East L.A. • She and her co-screenwriters took particular care to avoid stereotyping Latin men as violent and insensitive. In the movie, Cardoso portrays Ana's father, grandfather and cousins as gentle and understanding men who love and support Ana. 28

To Assimilate or Not The film turns on whether Ana will take a full scholarship she has earned to Columbia. She is torn between her mainstream ambitions and her family/cultural heritage. In her mind she strikes the compromise essential to the success of someone in her generation. The movie also dramatizes cultural clashes regarding family, career and body image. 29

End of Lecture 11

Lecture 11: Ethnic L.A. on the Ground and in the Cinema