The Spread Of Urban Myths In The 20th Century

The narrative of the violent undocumented “alien” serves a dual purpose of instilling fear into Americans and to view undocumented immigrants as criminals. The opening scene of the documentary shows dark, shapeless figures running across the border. This gives the impression of a foreign “thing” crossing the border with bed intentions. During another opening shot, a white male congressman with power talks over a scene

In the annual household survey, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics earlier this year, it was reported that 84 out of 100 incidents of rape or sexual misconduct were reported by women (FiveThirtyEight). In most cases, when women immigrate to the United States they are either alone or have paid a great deal of money to have a smuggler help them on their journey to reach the US and Mexico border, which means that they are in a situation where they are very vulnerable, which can lead to them getting raped, or even murdered. Throughout the novel “Enrique’s Journey”, Nazario writes about how Enrique witnessed the rape of a seventeen-year-old girl named Wendy while heading to America. She too was immigrating when Chiapas, a gang group, took her. “‘If you scream,’ he says, ‘we cut you to bits.’ Then he rapes her.” (97). Having Nazario write about the gang rape of a young woman immigrating to America has a very powerful effect on the reader because it shows the trauma that thousands of women go through when looking for a better

The myth is embedded into the fabric of Chicano culture to the extent that even women who have never heard of the myth experience the affect of its existence.

The buying and selling of these people shows the perception of Mexican-Americans as property that can be abused and manipulated.

There are many eerie stories in the Mexican culture. I didn't grow up with a grandma, so I didn't really know that story, till a few years ago. Well this is a short version of the story, la Llorona was a gorgeous young lady, she got married and her husband didn't give her attention. Her children got all the attention, and she got very jealous, so she drowned her kids in a river. So, to this day people say they hear her cry at night "oh my children, where are my children".The young woman walks along the rivers crying to find her children, La Llorona woman". La Llorona has many similarities to the Medea. She is one of the most is known in the Spanish language. The English language she is known as "the weeping known ghost in Texas. There are many stories about la

One believes that the border is attacked by the ghost. Hundreds of people die each year while running away from border patrol, and violence from smuggling. The immigrants move here and there of borders to find a way to wealth of the America and sometimes find their way to death. It shows the heart rending situation of poverty and people fighting for death to earn. Some immigrants go back when there is problem in their home, and can never come back due to border security. This

These negative portrayals of Mexicans fuels an already existing stigma. Griffin reinforces these archetypes through film and this in turn can lead to the

"The Pachuco is a symbol not of the guilt of an oppressed Mexican minority, but of a cancerous growth within the majority group which is gnawing at the vitals of democracy and American way of life. The Pachuco and his feminine counterpart, the 'Cholitas,' are spawns of a neglectful society - not the products of a humble minority people who are defenseless before their enforced humiliation" (Daniels 206).

The most that struck me about the myth of the Latinos was stereotypes and how these cause prejudice against this people. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary define stereotypes as “to believe unfairly that people or things with a particular characteristic are the same”. As we all know we live in a society full of stereotypes about Latinos, because they are mostly seen as vulgar, uneducated and very sensual individuals. Latinos are commonly rejected and criticized, in other countries like United States. I disagree with the stereotypes about Latinos, because stereotypes are absurd generalizations created mostly by the media, it creates prejudices and discrimination, and also leads to pessimism and devaluation of culture.

Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Never Marry a Mexican” deals heavily with the concept of myth in literature, more specifically the myth La Malinche, which focuses on women, and how their lives are spun in the shadows on men (Fitts). Myths help power some of the beliefs of entire cultures or civilizations. She gives the reader the mind of a Mexican-American woman who seems traitorous to her friends, family and people she is close to. This causes destruction in her path in the form of love, power, heartbreak, hatred, and an intent to do harm to another, which are themes of myth in literature. The unreliable narrator of this story was created in this story with the purpose to show her confusion and what coming from two completely different

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

Nowadays, the development of technology affects the way we search for the information. For instance, stories that have been told only within families or small groups of people can now be exposed to the internet, where these stories are shared amongst hundreds of people. Urban legend, by definition, is a humorous or horrific story that people usually believe, even when there is no proof of where it started from, or of the trustworthiness of that story. Urban legends have appealed to many ranges of audiences since this genre tends to attract many individuals. For instance, college students have taken an interest towards these legends, whether they like the strange stories or the actual messages behind it. Urban legends have taught college students the themes, which are based on the reflection of their conflicts or problems that they have dealt with. The two common themes of urban legends that represent the problem that college students are dealing with are the conflicts between college students and their professors and the paranormal and horror events that occur in their life.

This mistrust of American society promotes a sense of isolation and alienation from the community. Authority figures, such as police and other first responders, may unwittingly strike fear into the hearts of these children because they have been conditioned to believe that these figures have the power, as well as the mandate, to destroy families. This mindset tends to discourage assimilation into mainstream American communities and promote instead the tendency of these families to cluster into small, ethnically concentrated barrios, or neighborhoods. Within these barrios, the culture and lifestyle of Mexico is recreated, which often reinforces psychological and physical isolation from mainstream American culture. Alliances are formed with others in similar circumstances, where commiseration often leads to a rising sense of resentment. It is not uncommon for angry groups to rise up in opposition to the society that is viewed as the oppressor. Evidence of this can be seen almost daily as senseless gang violence permeates our news broadcasts, plagues our communities, and terrorizes our citizens.

“George W. Allport and Leo Postman, constructed experiments on how the content of rumors changes as the rumor passes from person to person. They concluded that as a rumor travels, it tends to grow shorter, more concise and more easily told: In subsequent versions [of rumor] more and more original details are leveled out, fewer words are used and fewer items are mentioned… As the leveling of detail proceeds, the remaining details are necessarily sharpened.” (Doorley and Gracia 398)

Myths serve as a basis of authority on ethical and moral issues regarded as facts, for example, why people behave the way that they do, but include supernatural elements. Myths tell the origins of the world and humankind by relating them to human traditions and understanding a societies values and norms (pg. 31). Human psychology deals with mental processes and behavior of an individual, group, or activity. Ways that human psychology affects the nature of myths and the way we tell and perceive stories is by interpreting an analysis of myths as being symbolic and, in turn, this symbolism is rooted in the human mind, behavior and emotions. Psychologists, Freud, and Jung believed that myths (e.g. dreams) are said to be symbolically expressing