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Film Notes:
LONE STAR
Credits are available in the review of Lone Star in your
course packet.
Study Questions:
- One of the central issues in director John Sayles's Lone
Star is the relationship between politics and power within
a multicultural society. This theme has been addressed by a number
of films we have already screened and discussed in the course,
but in Lone Star the relationship between dominant and
"minority" groups assumes distinctly pan-American permutations
in the context of the history of border politics between Mexico
and the United States. Indeed, the film's title points to the
importance of this theme by alluding to the most reknown of Texas
symbols--its badge of state authority. In general, how does the
film characterize social, political, and/or economic power in
its treatment of the history of Anglo-Mexican relations? Is the
"split labor market theory," as discussed by Vincent
Parrillo in an earlier course reading (chapter 4, Strangers
to these Shores) relevant to the film's representations of
dominant-minority relations? If so, why?
- In his chapter on the "American Mosaic," Vincent Parrillo
outlines some of the past and present manifestations of cultural
pluralism in the United States. Discussing American ethnicity
in relationship to ethnic consciousness, generational changes,
socioeconomic sratification, immigration fears, and other factors,
his chapter inevitably poses important questions about the future
of ethnicity in contemporary America. Using Parrillo's "American
Mosaic" as a conceptual tool, discuss how ethnicity--and
more specifically, ethnic self-awareness--is depicted in Lone
Star. Concentrate on any one of the African American, Mexican
American or Native American characters in the film.
- The interwoven family histories that constitute the past and
present storylines of Lone Star represent a mosaic of perspectives
on the meanings of American identity. Crafted like a complex mystery
story, Lone Star probes how the social identities of its
various present-day characters have been shaped by their relationship
to the histories of their own families and community. As one commentator
has noted, the film suggests "that our identities and moral
commitments depend...on the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves,
our family, group, and nation. Lone Star is about the levels
of storytelling we use to build and defend our own identities
and attack others'--"Remember the Alamo." Discuss the
theme of social identity in Lone Star. Concentrate on only
one of the central characters--Sheriff Sam Deeds, Colonel Paynes,
or Pilar Cruz. How have their social identities been shaped by
their own perceptions of their family's history, and, moreover,
by the end of the film, has their understanding of that history--and
their own sense of identity--changed?
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