The Americas Movie Analysis

A. Watching this movie was very eye opening. I knew it was bad in Mexico but never like that. I learned a lot of new things that I never knew prior to the movie. The first term I linked the movie to would be Absolute poverty, the condition of having too little income to buy the necessities, food, shelter, clothing, health care. The people would have very little money if any and wouldn’t have anywhere to work at. It was sad seeing them get caught by boarder control or the police for trying to sneak over the border. If you look at it you will see that it was their only choice. They are doing what any other human would do if they were in that situation. It’s human nature to want better for yourself. Half the people that tried sneaking over the
boarder had no choice. If they didn’t come to the United States then they would most likely starve and die. They would only have enough money to buy crackers and sardines sometimes. None of the Mexicans have health care or a lot of clothing. When they try and come to the states they only bring one change of clothes and some food to keep them from getting weak and not being able to go on with the trip. When you see people struggle with money like this and live in poverty it makes you take a second look at your own life and realize how good that we really have it. Most people here think they are entitled to things and it’s their right to have something. It’s the complete opposite we are blessed to have everything we have and lucky enough to be in poverty or be starving. //294//

B. This world is very big with a lot of people in it. There is only a certain amount of money and jobs to go around. In places like Mexico if you have a job then you might as well get some sardines and crackers and head on your way to the USA. With that being said the next term that I related the movie to is competition. Competition is a goal-directed form of social interaction in which the goals or objects pursued are limited, so not all competitors can attain them. Competitive behavior is governed by rules and limitations. I didn’t see it just in this movie I see it everywhere. From school to jobs to businesses even in sports there is a high amount of competition. In my personal opinion I think that it is a great thing. It brings out the best in people and always keeping them on their toes. When the Mexicans would come to America people would get very angry because they were taking all the jobs away from the Americans. The thing is the Mexicans would work for next to nothing. How are you going to blame companies for hiring people that do good work for cheap pay? It’s the same thing you and I would do as well. They want to make a living and be able to eat food and live a life just like we do. They pay taxes just like we do and never benefit from any of the money they put in social security. SO actually they are doing us a favor by helping our economy out a little and giving our government free money. I’ll take that any day! Cheap labor and free money you can’t beat that. If you want to be great in this world you need to be at least a little bit competitive. //310//

C.
There are a lot of things we do similar to Mexicans but there is also a ton of things that we do completely from Mexicans as well. Our norms and their norms are a lot different. From the way we live, work and even look is completely different from each other. When they take a chance for a better life and come over to America there are a lot of things they need to learn beforehand. The movie showed us a couple of ways they would have to adapt in order to fit in. A good term to match this up with would be Conformity. Going along with the norms or behaviors of a group. When the people would pack a bag to come to the United States they would bring water, fish, crackers but one thing that stuck out to me was hair gel. I wondered for a second about why they would need to have hair gel but then it all hit me. When they finally made it upstate in Texas they would need to look clean cut and fresh like most Americans so that they would fit in and not look like an illegal alien from another country. It’s actually smart if you thing about it. They have to adapt and live up to our standards so they will fit in. That is why I connected it to that term because if they come to the USA they need to learn how to live like an American and adapt to our standard of living. They really have to conform quickly and that is hard to do coming from a beat down place like Mexico and coming to one of the nicest countries in the world. It takes patients and a little bit of smarts to do.
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D. When you think about where you live and the family and friends you have it’s probably a good thought. We all grew up in a good place better than most people in this world did. Speaking in general the United States as a whole is a pretty wealthy country and we have nice things. We have a lot of run down places in this country but nothing like some other countries have. When I saw this movie and saw how some of the Mexicans lived it was actually sad. The term Culture of poverty, a distinctive culture thought to develop among poor people and characterized by failure to delay gratification, fatalism, and weak family and community ties, related to this movie a lot. When you think of the USA you never think bad place where everyone is poor. You think of happiness and people living the American Dream. On the other hand when you think about Mexico you think of crime, hate, gangs and poor people. People who don’t have much at all so they try and come to the States to live how we live. When watching the movie it was clear to me that the Americans and border control knew what Mexico was all about and how poor and rundown the culture and society is there. People don’t have anything against Mexican people it s the fact of what they do. They get stereotyped because all the poverty and gang violence over there nobody wants a part of that over here. We like to be safe and not have to think we are in danger. A lot of that has to do with the culture they people came from. There are many other cultures out there that struggle with this not just Mexicans. //303//

E. Let’s face it when it comes to illegal aliens in the United States we hate them. I’m not saying its right or wrong I’m just stating facts right now. A term that fits this movie and connects this together is Informal sanction, a social reward or punishment that is given informally through social interaction, such as an approving smile or a disapproving frown. You might think how I found this term to fit the movie but I did in a couple ways. If Mexicans get caught trying to cross it may or may not be by border control. The Unites States has a few tough people who try and stand up for their country. We call these people vigilantes. Even know it is completely illegal to pull a gun on an unarmed person, doesn’t matter if they are illegal or not is completely wrong and not legal in this country. The people will get physically and verbally punished if caught or seen by the wrong person. In the definition it says a punishment such as a frown. That is only something very small if you would compare it to what people do and say to these people. Calling them racist names like spick, wetback, and border hopper. No matter what they do there will always be a negative look on the people of Mexico and they will never be treated equal to us. There are different ways to go about turning someone in rather than threatening them or pulling a gun out on them. You don’t do that I don’t care if they are here illegally or not, that is illegal and should not be tolerated here in the Unites States. //293//

F.
A lot of people come to the United States to make money for their friends and family back home. The main goal is always to make money and feed the family. A term that describes this is Global economy, an economy in which the economic life and health of one nation depends on what happens in other nations. More than 30% off all the income in Mexico come from the Unites states. That is crazy to think about. Thirty percent of the money they have is our money that illegal aliens sent home for them. To me that is not right they should not be able to do this. We should tighten up our border control and make them enter the Unites States legally like they should have to. That is hurting us by giving Mexico 30% of all the money they have we need all the money we can get. We need to keep the money in the US and rebuild our economy not tear it down. If people did not send Mexico money from the United States they would really be hurting. That is not our responsibility to keep their nation up and running. Its one thing if they were doing it legally. Earning the money and paying taxes on it and then bringing it back to Mexico. But they are doing it all illegally and that is what is wrong. We need to crack down on this is the future and make sure our money isn’t leaving the country with illegal aliens. This is something that I learned from the movie that I never known before and it makes me kind of mad knowing that. That needs to be changed in the future and I hope they USA acts against
it before we keep losing all our money to illegal people. //306//

Illegal alien- An "illegal alien" is a foreigner who does not owe allegiance to our country
Vigilante- a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate.

Undocumented workers- are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers in America. They are often victims of unpaid wages, dangerous conditions and uncompensated workplace injuries, discrimination, and other labor law violations.

1. How many people immigrate to the US a month?
a. 1,000
b. 5,000
c. 3,300
d. 4,400
2. How many People can fit on one train?
a. 2,500
b. 300
c. 500
d. 950
3. An average worker in mexico make about________ a month.
a. $200
b. $70
c. $90
d. $150
4. In 2003 how much money was sent home from undocumented workers?
a. $10B
b. $300M
c. $30B
d. $65B