The Movie Ant-Man

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Chimamanda Ngozi’s Ted Talk regarding single stories is a poignant reminder to refrain from placing labels on people due to preconceived notions. As a minority of mixed ethnicity, a single story has often been attributed to me, and I find the single story quite prevalent in American Culture. Being Chicano, it is quite easy to identify the tired depictions that Mexicans are unintelligent, lazy, or somehow possess inherent criminal tendencies. These ideas have been thoroughly embedded into the American psyche and are manifested in many different ways. Recently, while watching the movie Ant-Man, I was dumbfounded how the movie played on racial stereotypes of Mexicans. A supporting character named Luis is the archetype of the “dumb” Mexican and …show more content…
After writing that sentence alone, I am surprised the movie never introduced a Mexican cook, Mexican gardener, or undocumented Mexican immigrant. Granted, comic books are not typically culturally sensitive, but a mass produced movie playing on stereotypes only serves to perpetuate these stereotypical attitudes. Additionally, I am of Japanese heritage, which often confounds people due to my appearance. The Japanese have been included in the so-called “Model Minority” population of the United States which paints the views of Americans towards the community. Often times they are thought to have inherent math skills or somehow inherently studious. However, as a dark skinned individual, I did not encounter these single stories growing up, thus, as a teenager I questioned my own …show more content…
However, it is much harder to resist becoming immersed in single stories. As previously discussed, single stories of Mexicans have permeated the psyche of Americans. Consequently, it would be quite hard for those people that do not regularly interact with Mexicans to not succumb to stereotypical views. Donald Trump is doing a great job of perpetuating the stereotype that Mexican undocumented immigrants are a threat to public safety. Yet, “Though a growing body of literature demonstrates that immigration is not related to crime, the myth of the criminal immigrant continues to permeate public debate” (Bersani, 2012). This does nothing to stop Trump from propagating the myth, and praying on the uninformed. As Ngozi states “. . . show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become” (Ngozi, 2009). To resist single stories, one must truly acknowledge there is not one single story for a person or group. Ngozi was once surprised that Fide’s family could create beautiful baskets because she was only told they are poor (Ngozi, 2009). In order to change her mind, Ngozi needed to take action. Visiting Fide’s community and connecting with them was the act that allowed Ngozi to see that Fide was more than just a poor boy. Action is important in not succumbing to single stories because one cannot tacitly conclude there are no single stories.
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