LAS 470 Discussion (Emma Link)

It seems to be like the Mariel boat lift created some super negative images and stereotypes of Cubans entering the US since many of these people came from jail. Fidel mentions that Cuba does not want them since they are unwilling to contribute to the revolution. Thousands of people packed onto boats to travel to the US in hopes of a better life. Based off of the interactions between the white US citizens and the Cuban immigrants and the reaction to the riots (as portrayed in the movie), the people of the US who are caucasian were never going to see the Cubans as citizens or even people with basic rights.  Al Pacino is from New York and his parents are immigrants from Italy (he has no Latin American heritage). I find it interesting that the first time we see Tony Montana he has on a floral shirt. Very tropical and exotic. He is a construction worker which is stereotypical. The questions they ask him when he gets to the US are extremely prejudiced. Tony's lines about Communism and ...

Eastman obituary My first though in terms of the type of media consumption mentioned in this article is the politically charged environment that is created through media creation and consumption. The words "control" and "mouthpiece" really emphasize how much media shapes public opinion on many topics (usually political it seems). The public gives so much power to these media outlets and allow them to "shape politics and policies". The Mercurio Project Even the media consumption is backed by money and financial consumption: "poured funds into Chile's largest...newspaper". In my mind, propaganda creates ideology and a "massive propaganda campaign" can lead to revolts. Reflecting on the political scene in Chile in 1973, I wonder: what is freedom of speech? Should opposition media and news be completely silenced? We also yet again see the US intervening directly with Latin American affairs through the CIA here, through funding they ...

The Three Caballeros and Goldman article The bird Joe Carioca speaks in Portuguese and is dressed elegantly in clothes that look expensive. The scenery of the city Baía is very rich in color and shows a beautiful church. Joe mentions all of the wonderful things they have in Baía and that they do the Samba. He even dances in a traditional dress. Yayá is a stereotypical woman of Baía. Donald (the bird from the US) seems to be infatuated with the Brazilian woman Yayá. Donald wants to take have control over the women and take them for himself just like the US wants to consume the goods and labor of Latin America and assert their privilege over places that are not theirs to claim. The movie paints vibrant and exotic picture of the Latin American cities it portrays. It is interesting that Donald what Donald takes away from his experience in Baía is the pleasant song that the people were singing. I found it funny that Joe did some type of “black magic” to make himself bigger. Of course Joe...

Galeano 156-65 Galeano calls petroleum “black gold” and a “magnet for foreign capital”. He says “no jewel in the diadem of capitalism is so monopolized”. He mentions that “with petroleum, as with coffee or meat, rich countries profit more from the work of consuming it than do poor countries from the work of producing it”.  The petroleum in the US “well enjoys high prices” and the wages are “comparatively generous” but the prices of petroleum in Venezuela and the middle east have been falling since the 1950s. The US is still the “biggest producer and the biggest importer of petroleum”.  Oil companies make people that live in the areas they taking petroleum from pay much more for their own resource than they were getting from sales in Europe and the US. For example, “the state buys Colombian petroleum from foreign countries at a price 37 percent higher than the world price, and has to pay in dollars”.  “Uruguay has to buy 40 percent of its crude petroleum from whom...

It seems to me that the opera represents the privilege and prestige of the upper class, the ability have the experience of seeing an opera. It may not mean anything to the rich as they are accustomed to receiving nice things and experiences, they have become apathetic to consumption of these. However, the poor are willing to row thousands of miles in order to attend the opera show for just one night. Fitzcarraldo mentions that his father was Irish, it seems to me that he comes from a poor background. He says his one dream is the opera which could have been why he wants to build a railroad. He wants to fit in with the rich and prestigious in Peru. “The rubber business is growing by leaps and bounds” and one of the characters said that the opera house could soon be too small for the growing city. The rich lady says that having natives as her house keepers is “much better than sending them out on the street”. It’s funny that Fitzcarraldo says “I can’t stand the sight of dandies who think...

Banana Wars The banana business has affected caused "profound ecological, demographic, cultural, and political changes" in Latin America. The banana business has also "procured some or most of their fruit through contact farming" and "take a wide range of formas and had varied effects on farming communities". In many regions "the cultivation of bananas was intimately linked to processes of nation building, capital formation, and internal and international migration" and its inception was "viewed as one of Latin America's most promising mechanisms of economic and social modernization". It changed because it "is now popularly associated with the brazen manipulation of national governments by foreign capital". The banana business in Central America is "where they have exerted their greatest influence over national governments and civil societies". In the Caribbean "the region's banana industry has always ...