Immigration Issues In The Convenience Store: Film Analysis
1. Before Derrick robbed the convenience store, he narrated that America has immigration problems, Asians are taking over the land with Yen, Mexicans are flocking into the U.S, and overall that the government isn’t doing anything to solve issues but instead granting immigrants with jobs and welfare checks. I disagree to much of what was said but also don’t blame one for agreeing with them either. Many political views are based off of what is personally fed to us, or at least is based off of what the media focuses on and exaggerates. I do believe that we do have an immigration issue, but for a more opposite reason than what Derrick was referring to (huge influx of immigrants who don’t pay taxes and benefit from Americans), my issue with immigration is on the
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other spectrum that we should help illegal immigrants with schooling if they are confirmed to be applying for legal citizenship. While there may be some who abuse the opportunities given−like Derrick mentions, it is unfair to categorize every immigrant as the same case. I highly believe that many people migrate to America to begin better lives rather than just wanting an easy break like Derrick described it as. Derrick’s comment on Asian Yen may have came from the 1980’s referring to when the Yen was deflating, so Japan bought up on American stuff to the extent that it blew up the American dollar and created a huge trade gap as well as culture bringing in more Japanese culture into the United States. I can understand why he would believe that the influx of diverse culture would feel that Japan is “taking over”, but I disagree that it’s actually taken over by any means− Japan is now one of the largest trading partners with the United States.
Another point Derrick mentioned was that Mexicans are flooding into the United States, back in 1999 (the year the movie was released) and 2000, it was a fairly large peak in Mexican immigration into the U.S (Passel and Suro, 2005). For that, in that period of time, I can agree that there was an increase. Lastly, it was said that the government doesn’t do anything but just giving jobs to immigrants and giving them welfare checks. I disagree since the government does more than solely hand out welfare checks and use laws in benefit of immigrants. There are several laws marked in history that did the exact opposite, for example, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986− which put sanctions on employers if they hired undocumented immigrants (Wolgin, 2014). I can applause the way Derrick expressed his narrative entirely in the sense of starting a riot, since it was said with confidence and showed a sense of dedication towards his cause, it definitely rallied up his
peers.
Passel, J.S., & Suro, R. (2005). Rise, Peak and Deadline: Trends in U.S. Immigration 1992 – 2004. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.pewhispanic .org/2005/09/27/rise-peak-and-decline-trends-in-the-us-immigration-1992-2004/
Wolgin, P.E. (2014, January 9). 5 Major Immigration Laws that the House Passed in an Election Year. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ immigration/news/2014/01/09/81849/5-major-immigration-laws-that-the-house-passed-in-an-election-year/
2. There are many factors in my opinion that can lead up to someone’s beliefs. One person who was mentioned by Daniel within the movie was the father. Derrick seemed open to African American literature and studies taught in school, one instance was mentioned when the father made it clear that he believed that “affirmative blacktion” was alive and that great books are being traded in for black-books. It also must be noted that this was a single flashback, one could assume based on the language taunted back and forth from the family sitting at the dining room table that it was common to discuss topics and that the father shared his thoughts on the matter often, in which Derrick was fed anti-minority propaganda.
Another instance, the father’s death, may have solidified the idea of anti-minority. Being an adolescent and being told the negative stereotypes and ideas among other races may have not completely absorbed Derrick’s mindset until he visually saw something occur by another race his father talked about. Derrick never mentioned that he actually experienced seeing/being affected by some of the actions his father mentioned about other races as until the emotionally-straining event of the father being killed.
Cameron was another person who had a big influence on Derrick. He gave white-supremacy literature thoughout the group. A confrontation occurred with Derrick and Cameron after Derrick came back from jail, it seemed that Derrick blamed Cameron for manipulating him into the beliefs he had prior, saying “you f***ing use them [kids in general], to filter your insanity”. In perspective, imagine a kid who was given anti-minority propaganda all his life and was able to shrug off the ideology, then his father dies from a crime committed by a person of color and he slowly starts believing the idea that the minority is the major reason for issues in the U.S. Having a prejudice is one thing, but taking action upon it is discrimination. The father may have said negative things about minorities but he wasn’t said to openly praise one someone (Hitler) who killed off millions who weren’t considered the superior race. That influence of having faith in someone who greatly appreciates those actions done by Hitler, along with the propaganda of the anti-minority and his father dying from an act committed by a minority group could have led him to doing the physical acts (like raiding the convenience store and brutally killing the people robbing their car).
One major point to note out is that the media has a huge connection to our beliefs and values. For example, someone must have taught his father that ideology in some way, as well as Derrick. It reinforces ideology and may even leave out information to suit a certain belief. Derrick mentioned that some of the issues that were occurring weren’t “white problems” but only problems for minorities−which included AIDs and welfare. This is obviously false, since there are whites who are on welfare and are dealing with AIDs. The media could have potentially left out that information, or solely focused on the non-white demographic dealing with these issues.
3. If the film ended in an alternative manner, where Derrick leaves the scene and goes back home to shave his head bald, it would have an entirely different meaning for the film. If the alternative ending occurred− it would demonstrate that the 3 years Derrick was in prison and the message he learned along the way would have essentially meant nothing. Derrick instead of letting go of the excess anger would revert to back to the same track of racism that he said never truly fulfilled him. Also, the ending Daniel wrote in his paper summed up the meaning of the film: that he was able to let go of the anger towards minorities from learning about his brother’s experiences. It was a preferable ending to a movie in my opinion because not only did one person learn to let go of the excess negativity (like what would technically happen if the alternative ending was used) but it shows that deep-rooted beliefs can eventually change for the better. Although the alternative ending could have possibly pointed out as to why many white supremacists don’t change their belief and how many can’t seem to accept other races, the original ended is a more concise closing with being able to hear Daniel’s belief before he dies and how the paper about his brother led him to changing his mind. It also had this dichotomy of a sad and happy ending. Even though Daniel’s death was extremely saddening, the paper that Daniel wrote before dying described how the system of racism perpetrates in America.
other spectrum that we should help illegal immigrants with schooling if they are confirmed to be applying for legal citizenship. While there may be some who abuse the opportunities given−like Derrick mentions, it is unfair to categorize every immigrant as the same case. I highly believe that many people migrate to America to begin better lives rather than just wanting an easy break like Derrick described it as. Derrick’s comment on Asian Yen may have came from the 1980’s referring to when the Yen was deflating, so Japan bought up on American stuff to the extent that it blew up the American dollar and created a huge trade gap as well as culture bringing in more Japanese culture into the United States. I can understand why he would believe that the influx of diverse culture would feel that Japan is “taking over”, but I disagree that it’s actually taken over by any means− Japan is now one of the largest trading partners with the United States.
Another point Derrick mentioned was that Mexicans are flooding into the United States, back in 1999 (the year the movie was released) and 2000, it was a fairly large peak in Mexican immigration into the U.S (Passel and Suro, 2005). For that, in that period of time, I can agree that there was an increase. Lastly, it was said that the government doesn’t do anything but just giving jobs to immigrants and giving them welfare checks. I disagree since the government does more than solely hand out welfare checks and use laws in benefit of immigrants. There are several laws marked in history that did the exact opposite, for example, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986− which put sanctions on employers if they hired undocumented immigrants (Wolgin, 2014). I can applause the way Derrick expressed his narrative entirely in the sense of starting a riot, since it was said with confidence and showed a sense of dedication towards his cause, it definitely rallied up his
peers.
Passel, J.S., & Suro, R. (2005). Rise, Peak and Deadline: Trends in U.S. Immigration 1992 – 2004. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from http://www.pewhispanic .org/2005/09/27/rise-peak-and-decline-trends-in-the-us-immigration-1992-2004/
Wolgin, P.E. (2014, January 9). 5 Major Immigration Laws that the House Passed in an Election Year. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ immigration/news/2014/01/09/81849/5-major-immigration-laws-that-the-house-passed-in-an-election-year/
2. There are many factors in my opinion that can lead up to someone’s beliefs. One person who was mentioned by Daniel within the movie was the father. Derrick seemed open to African American literature and studies taught in school, one instance was mentioned when the father made it clear that he believed that “affirmative blacktion” was alive and that great books are being traded in for black-books. It also must be noted that this was a single flashback, one could assume based on the language taunted back and forth from the family sitting at the dining room table that it was common to discuss topics and that the father shared his thoughts on the matter often, in which Derrick was fed anti-minority propaganda.
Another instance, the father’s death, may have solidified the idea of anti-minority. Being an adolescent and being told the negative stereotypes and ideas among other races may have not completely absorbed Derrick’s mindset until he visually saw something occur by another race his father talked about. Derrick never mentioned that he actually experienced seeing/being affected by some of the actions his father mentioned about other races as until the emotionally-straining event of the father being killed.
Cameron was another person who had a big influence on Derrick. He gave white-supremacy literature thoughout the group. A confrontation occurred with Derrick and Cameron after Derrick came back from jail, it seemed that Derrick blamed Cameron for manipulating him into the beliefs he had prior, saying “you f***ing use them [kids in general], to filter your insanity”. In perspective, imagine a kid who was given anti-minority propaganda all his life and was able to shrug off the ideology, then his father dies from a crime committed by a person of color and he slowly starts believing the idea that the minority is the major reason for issues in the U.S. Having a prejudice is one thing, but taking action upon it is discrimination. The father may have said negative things about minorities but he wasn’t said to openly praise one someone (Hitler) who killed off millions who weren’t considered the superior race. That influence of having faith in someone who greatly appreciates those actions done by Hitler, along with the propaganda of the anti-minority and his father dying from an act committed by a minority group could have led him to doing the physical acts (like raiding the convenience store and brutally killing the people robbing their car).
One major point to note out is that the media has a huge connection to our beliefs and values. For example, someone must have taught his father that ideology in some way, as well as Derrick. It reinforces ideology and may even leave out information to suit a certain belief. Derrick mentioned that some of the issues that were occurring weren’t “white problems” but only problems for minorities−which included AIDs and welfare. This is obviously false, since there are whites who are on welfare and are dealing with AIDs. The media could have potentially left out that information, or solely focused on the non-white demographic dealing with these issues.
3. If the film ended in an alternative manner, where Derrick leaves the scene and goes back home to shave his head bald, it would have an entirely different meaning for the film. If the alternative ending occurred− it would demonstrate that the 3 years Derrick was in prison and the message he learned along the way would have essentially meant nothing. Derrick instead of letting go of the excess anger would revert to back to the same track of racism that he said never truly fulfilled him. Also, the ending Daniel wrote in his paper summed up the meaning of the film: that he was able to let go of the anger towards minorities from learning about his brother’s experiences. It was a preferable ending to a movie in my opinion because not only did one person learn to let go of the excess negativity (like what would technically happen if the alternative ending was used) but it shows that deep-rooted beliefs can eventually change for the better. Although the alternative ending could have possibly pointed out as to why many white supremacists don’t change their belief and how many can’t seem to accept other races, the original ended is a more concise closing with being able to hear Daniel’s belief before he dies and how the paper about his brother led him to changing his mind. It also had this dichotomy of a sad and happy ending. Even though Daniel’s death was extremely saddening, the paper that Daniel wrote before dying described how the system of racism perpetrates in America.