Oh well, Crackers, No Plumbers!
Posted on 05/24/2004 4:52:39 PM PDT by chance33_98
Movie Asks: What if Every Latino Vanished from State?
May 21, 2004
Emily Bazar -- Bee Staff Writer
Picture waking up one morning to discover that all of California's Latinos - about a third of the state's population - had suddenly disappeared.
Restaurateurs would have to wash their own dishes, Major League Baseball teams would lose some of their best players and the lieutenant governor would be missing in action.
Those scenarios play out in director Sergio Arau's new film, "A Day Without a Mexican," which opens today in Sacramento.
Arau calls the film a "mockumentary" and employs an outlandish plot to make a serious point: Without the more than 12 million Latinos who live and work in California - originally a part of Mexico - the economy would crumble.
The movie is Arau's first feature-length film. The West Hollywood resident has worked in music and video and is the son of Mexican director Alfonso Arau, best known in the United States for the movie "Like Water for Chocolate."
Sergio Arau, 52, traces the roots of his movie back to 1994 and Proposition 187, the initiative that would have banned public services for illegal immigrants. Though its provisions later were gutted by the courts, it spawned a generalized anti-immigrant sentiment that focused on Mexicans and other Latinos.
Yareli Arizmendi, Arau's wife, co-wrote the screenplay and stars in the film. She hopes state lawmakers will listen to the movie's message, and that moviegoers will recognize the contributions Latinos make to society.
"This is a dialogue opener, to change the terms of the debate," Arizmendi, 40, said. "People fail to stop and think how many people of Latin descent or Latinos you meet in your regular day. It's not like you have to go to the Cinco de Mayo parade. It's day-to-day."
The point was driven home to state Assemblyman Abel Maldonado as he ran his mind over a recent morning's activities.
Arriving at the Capitol on Tuesday, Maldonado watched as he passed the men tending to the park and wielding leaf blowers. They were Latino.
The Santa Maria Republican then went to the Hilton to receive an award. The food servers laying out the buffet were Latino. "If you want to take it another step," he added, "who harvested all the food that was on the buffet table?"
Maldonado is of Mexican descent. Born and raised in Santa Maria on the central coast, he and his family grow broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and celery on 2,000 acres. During peak harvest times, the farm employs about 250 workers - mostly Latino.
The lawmaker said he likes the concept behind the movie and notes that he, himself, would disappear should "a day without a Mexican" ever come to pass.
"Latinos, Hispanics, Mexicans, we come here looking for an opportunity. We don't come here looking for handouts," said Maldonado, who is expected to win a seat in the state Senate in November. "What we don't have in wealth, we make it up with our values."
In the movie, there's no explanation for why Latinos disappear. They just do, as a thick fog surrounds the state's borders, cutting off communication with the outside world.
Without Latinos, the state descends into chaos.
It's a thinly veiled political statement cloaked in humor and hyperbole.
While the film may spur discussion and debate, it likely will have little effect in the political arena, said Eric Smoodin, professor of American and film studies at the University of California, Davis.
"It wouldn't surprise me if you could find some films that helped to establish or inspire a public discourse about things," said Smoodin, referring to movies such as "Erin Brockovich" and "Silkwood."
"But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find an instance when a film, even indirectly, led to some government action."
In addition to Sacramento, the film opens today in parts of the Central Valley and Texas.
It debuted last week in Southern California, promoted by an eyebrow-raising ad campaign that included billboards exclaiming "On May 14th there will be no Mexicans in California."
Glenn Garland, partner and creative director for Eleven-Eleven Advertising in Santa Monica, said billboards are expected to go up in Northern California in the next two weeks. The movie's radio and newspaper advertising started in Sacramento on Thursday.
An ad that is expected to hit Spanish language press will say "Un Día Sin Mexicanos 'La Movie': Los Gringos van a llorar" or "A Day Without a Mexican 'The Movie': Gringos will cry."
The film is opening in Sacramento even before it opens in the Bay Area, a strategy based on a view beyond box office receipts.
(Excerpt) Read more at hispanicbusiness.com ...
That's something I've always wondered. Who ever thought Lawrence Welk would be cool?
Un Día Sin mexicanos 'La Película' : Los Gringos saltarán de alegría y celebrarán
Well, Minnesota does have some good looking women. This Gringo would cry. *sniff*
I'd rather see a movie where every LIBERAL vanishes from every state.
Guess what, I wash my own dishes if I have to. And I've fired people that didn't think I would fire them because firing them would result in me washing dishes. Or cooking on the line, or doing prep work.
I don't want and will not hire illegal aliens from anywhere. Any person can walk into my kitchen and have a good job if: a) they are legal, b) have a desire to excel, c) and are willing to learn MY WAY of doing things. I don't even insist on English. But it doesn't hurt...
/john
Joe Hadenuf would dance a celebratory fandango...I mean a celebratory jig.
*wink*
I think that's their point. Conflate legal immigrants with illegal, and make a political point. It's a strawman arguement.
Besides. I like my brother-in-law a lot. He's latino, but born here. I wouldn't want to lose him.
/john
Carlos Shrugged...JFK
I'm Italian and I'm sick of Hispanics being called Latin, people thinking I'm from Mexico, or talking in Spanish to me in McDonalds. I would probably be obliged to disapear too, sigh.
Why do you find that so offensive? People think I'm latina all the time.
They're good at confusing the real issue. These folks know exactly what they're doing.
33% are Republican. We also took out Davis and put in Arnold... 50% voted for Bush in Texas.
Asians and Indians run power plants and the technical base.
Don't feel too bad. My brother-in-law (born in Chile) was in Egypt about 10 years ago, and the Egyptians thought he was local and were going up and talking to him in Arabic. I'd rather be Italian and mistaken for a Hispanic than a Hispanic mistaken for an Arab.
Oh well, Crackers, No Plumbers!
LOL!!!!
Because I'm an American. I am a citizen of this great land by birth; confuse me with a wetback illegal at your own risk because I won't let people label me and get away with it. This is America, we speak-a English here.
I consider it bad manners to impose upon your host, so I would offer illegals train fare back to wherever they came from so they can wait to get in here on a visa like everyone else who respects the Land of the Free, not cutting in line. There is a tremendous diffence between Roman/Latin History and Spanish/Hispanic History, and even to the Romans the Spanish were barbarian provincials, it's nothing new frankly. To even have to Q&A this for you is strange to me, and not pleasant but necessary.
That is a condition known as Plumber Butt, or alternatively, Carpenter Crack.
You read way too much into it but you have a right to your opinion.
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