Borders: Transnational Migration and the U.S./Mexican BorderYour task for Essay 1 is to (1) interpret the film A Better Life, (2) support your interpretation with specific scenes from the film and (3)

Mohamed Ajan Alhadeed

Eng 1B

6/25/2020

Response reading (A Better Life)

In A Better Life, Chris Weitz and Eric Eason, director and scriptwriter respectively, reveal the challenges and difficulties that illegal immigrants go through, thus avoiding any actions that may lead to their arrest, that helps them from being identified and being deported from the country, leading to making better choices. Citing the example of Luis’s father Carlos who is very careful with what they do to avoid being deported, such as choosing not to drive as he is not documented and any stop by a police officer would lead to his deportation.

The film A Better Life depicts the life of Carlos and his son Luis who are illegal immigrants from Mexico. The film focuses on the life of Carlos and Luis in particular. Carlos is a gardener while Luis attends school. At times, he skips school to hang out with his girlfriend. He sees his father as a poor and weak man and an irrelevant loser as he does not have a lot of resources. When he needs money he threatens his father that he will jack a little old lady to get the money if his father does not give him the money. On the other hand, his father works hard to make a living, take care of Luis, and to help him gain an education. The story takes a twist when a tractor he purchases is stolen by his driver. They embark on a journey to search for the lost tractor. In the search, they encounter various locations most of them characterized by gangs and drug abuse in Los Angeles. Luis hangs out with his girlfriend who is a member of a gang. The gang persuades Luis to join but he does not give in to their requests. 

According to Multiple Manhoods, youth in the community of South Riverside seek to be respected and recognized. That is identified as contemporary masculinity (Rios and James 72). In the case of A Better Life, Luis seeks to gain masculinity but in a different way. He avoids joining the gang, where his girlfriend is a member. He believes in earning respect and recognization but not through being a gang member. From his deeds, it is evident that his style of proving his masculinity is through providing for one’s family and taking care of one's family. That is evident as he sees his father as an irrelevant loser. The reason why he sees his father in such a way is because of his struggles to earn a living and he does not have a lot of money. We also see that he threatens his father to jack a little old lady if he does not provide him with the money he requires. That indicates that he recognizes masculinity as being in a position to do what a person wants and also to be in a position to earn enough money. Despite being pleased to join the gang, Luis resists and also gets money from his father when he wants to. Therefore, he portrays synthesized masculinity. On the other hand, his father practices his masculinity through the provision of the basic needs of Luis (Watson).

Different people seek different types of masculinity for different reasons. Carlos, Luis’s father depicts his masculinity through the provision for his family. On the contrary, Luis portrays his masculinity by gaining whatever he wants to gain. The masculinity that different people seek to determine how they relate and their standpoint about life. That is seen in the search for the tractor when Luis and his father have different things in mind.

Works Cited

Rios, Victor M., and James Diego Vigil. Human targets: Schools, police, and the criminalization of Latino youth. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Watson, Maurice Berger Brian Wallis Simon. Constructing masculinity. No. 11. Psychology Press, 2015.