Naturalized exclusion: American cinema, United States policy, and the Chicana/o image in borderland film

The current dissertation examined how U.S. political attitudes toward Mexicans and Chicanas/os influence the promotion of negative stereotypes of these categories of people as they are portrayed in mainstream U.S./Mexico borderland films. The present study focused on contemporary Chicana/o cinema, which includes films produced between 1981 and 2001. I argued that the intersection between policy and Chicana/o film influences societal views of the Chicana/o culture. The perspective examined in the present study typically ignores the effects of institutional racism and places full blame on Chicanas/os themselves for their failure to attain mainstream success.; The films of study included Stand and Deliver (1987), Lone Star (1996), and Traffic (2000). I analyzed the films within a semiotic framework that uses Kellner's (1995, 1997) concept of a critical cultural studies perspective that incorporates a synthesis of critical theory and cultural studies. Stand and Deliver was analyzed as a critique of the educational opportunities available to Chicanas/os in la frontera (the border region). Lone Star was analyzed as a reflection of contemporary interethnic (African American, Chicana/o, and Euroamerican) relations along la frontera. Traffic was analyzed as a critique of the “War on Drugs.”; The present study focused upon issues of gender, ethnicity (race), and class in relation to stereotypes and U.S. policy ramifications for various social categories. I formulated six research questions that addressed these issues. The study provides readers with a history of the mexicana/o and Chicana/o image in film and the images associated with these categories from 1890 to the present through a review of the literature in Chicana/o political thought and communication theory.; The study argued that contemporary Chicana/o cinema addresses issues of institutional racism, the effects of poverty, and the negative aspects of patriarchy. The specific policies scrutinized in the current dissertation were: (1) education policy, (2) ethnic relations in the historical record, and (3) the “War on Drugs.” The study concluded with the argument that contrary to mainstream views of Chicanas/os as culturally deficient, the effects of poverty and institutional racism are to blame for many of the social ills in the barrio.