Robert Rodriquez’s new film “Machete” came out last weekend. I’ve been really excited to see it ever since its fake trailer was released in 2007 with “Grindhouse,” leading to my countless visits to YouTube to watch Danny Trejo chop people up and to watch Jessica Alba be hot.
I noticed a few months ago that many people were criticizing the film for being anti-American. Radio host Alex Jones insisted that the movie is an attempt to start a race war, suggesting that the plot talks about how “white people are evil demons, they deserve to die, they’re all racist, and armies of Hispanics have to hack up the gringos with machetes.”
I saw the movie the night it came out. Neither did it say anything like that, nor did any characters in the movie claim to have a desire to wage war against Arizona for Senate Bill 1070, as so many sources claimed.
For one obvious and logical argument, Rodriquez wrote “Machete” in 1993. If he did plan to wage war against SB 1070 by writing this movie, the bigger story is that he can tell the future. Even if Rodriquez intended to somehow vilify caucasians, think about how many times African-Americans, Mexicans, Russians and other minorities have been cast as villains in movies. Are all of us whities really that sensitive?
For those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet: Danny Trejo is cutting people up with his machete because they framed him for the attempted assassination of a United States senator, not because they don’t like illegal immigrants.
Why do people assume a film is going to inspire people to behave like its characters in real life? Because the Centers for Disease Control reported that more young people began to smoke after seeing portrayals of smoking in movies?
If you really believe that made-up characters smoking is a big enough deal to debate right now, please observe the immediate correlation between the morale of our kids in middle school and Miley Cyrus’ general lack of clothing at her shows — while she’s pole dancing. What our children need are role models.
Movies are not responsible for our generation. They are a product of their time. Oscar Wilde put it best when he said, in terms of literature, “The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” The horror films of the 1970s like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Hills Have Eyes” were produced in resistance to conscription during the Vietnam War. Rodriguez has admitted that he got the idea for “Machete” from hearing a rumor that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency sometimes hire Mexican federales to do dangerous jobs. Can anyone say “response to government corruption?”
I can’t finish without at least touching a bit on the illegal immigration aspect of the film. Michael Booth, one of the characters in “Machete,” said, “What our senator fails to realize is that this country runs on illegal labor. Thrives on it. Keeps costs down. Keeps the wheels moving.” From a solely economic standpoint in a free market, he is right about these things.
The current argument is that illegal immigrants are taking away jobs from American citizens, but it isn’t that Americans hate illegal immigrants from Mexico. Many people hate that illegal immigrants can get away with working for less than minimum wage when we’d do the same if the federal government didn’t force employers to pay us more.
You see, all of this economic protectionism is derived from the nanny state; it has transformed a lot of people from being individualists to being protectionists. Minimum wage mandates, welfare legislation and high income taxes are just a few of the things that have led to the desire for increased border protection.
Many of us are so focused on not getting screwed over tax-wise by illegal immigrants who use public services that we forget about our fight against the welfare system as a whole. It is only when citizens and immigrants, both legal and illegal, work together in a fight against the welfare system that we will find peace at the border. The government created this problem.
In Leo Tolstoy’s essay “On Anarchy” he wrote, “[Anarchists] are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a revolution. But it will be instituted only by there being more and more people who do not require the protection of governmental power.”
If you’re a college student who doesn’t care about making less than minimum wage, don’t follow the minimum wage laws. It really isn’t that hard to get paid under the table. Once everyone starts doing this, the cost of living will go down exponentially.
This is America. Protest the laws you deem unfair. Don’t set yourself on fire in the middle of intersection in Saigon, but openly disagree with public policy. There’s nothing wrong with civil disobedience.
If you get offended by blood splattering on the screen and people getting all sorts of chopped up by a Mexican named Machete, then stay home. But you’re going to miss out on both a great political commentary and Jessica Alba taking a shower.
Reach Brian at brian.p.anderson@asu.edu
