After reading Stephanie Smith’s Friday review of “The Mexican,” I found it quite sad and disappointing that the Lantern arts writer would praise a movie so filled with bad humor and, worse, filled with blatant stereotypes. As I sat in the movie theater with a group of friends, who had, may I add, paid for my movie ticket, I couldn’t help but notice the stereotyping of Mexican people that is used as a basis for most of the humor in the movie.
I found it quite horrible that the first we see of Mexican people is a group of drunk men in a bar watching a soccer game. Following that encounter is a scene in which a man dies as a result of drunk men in cowboy hats shooting bullets up in the air to celebrate Independence Day. This may suggest to the moviegoers, who may not know any better, that Mexican people are quite ignorant and don’t know how to act responsibly in times of celebration. Let me just say, this is NOT how Mexicans celebrate Independence Day.
And to put the icing on the cake, I found it quite convenient that the title of the movie was “The Mexican,” as though suggesting that the movie itself was a representation of a Mexican individual. I honestly believe that movies such as these don’t combat many stereotypes that people hold. I therefore encourage the Lantern arts critics to a look a little deeper into the “great” makings of Hollywood.
Nadia Anguiano Sophomore Mechanical Engineering
