American cinema, since its creation was meant to entertain and transport audiences into the lives and worlds of people that differed from themselves. To give a slight glimpse into the unknown truth of peoples from all different ethnicities, races, social classes, or so audiences are made to believe. American entertainment has and continues to use film as a way to stereotype Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans to further perpetuate superiority and fear amongst Anglo Protestant Saxon men. To perpetuate these stereotypes is to devalue the culture and beliefs of these people and to further agenda-size the notion that the “white” way of living is the true honest way to be an American and anything different…show more content… John Huston the father of western films in the mid 20th Century used the Bandito in many of his films and banked on the the misfortune of the Mexican people after the Revolution. In his film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre he uses the group of bandits who are terrorizing the people of Mexico after the revolution to get rich when everyone is struggling for a piece of bread. The main characters Dobbs and Howard are two men who are swindled out of pay for work they have completed but luck changes when when they discover gold in the mines. Throughout this film every time the main characters are struck with the good fortune the Banditos appear to steal it from them and they are forced to start again. This emphasizes the view of Mexicans as an “other” a dark cloud that hovers over the “innocent” people to take anything from them at anytime. The American government after taking control Mexican land labeled the Mexican people as an “other” a people lazy and unwilling to make a living the American way. So when westerns show Mexican American men as Banditos or bandits it is further solidifying the notion that Mexican men are lazy and will kill anyone to make a quick dollar without actually having to lift a single
