Chicano
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This article describes the ethnic group; for the film of that title, see Chicano (film).
Chicano is a term for Mexicans living in the United States and their descendants (Mexican Americans). They thus belong to the group of Hispanics or Latinos.
The term Chicano, originally used in a discriminatory manner, is relatively new and is now used by Mexican immigrants to denote their particular living situation. The origin of the word probably lies in the period around 1930 and the following 1940s, when, as a result of an agreement between the governments of the two countries, poor Mexican agricultural workers were used as cheap labour in the United States to work in the fields with the help of the bracero programme.
The use of the word can probably first be traced to the fields of California. The verbalization of the workers' own name as "Mexicanos" is to be seen in connection with regional peculiarities of the immigrants' pronunciation: The "x" is pronounced as a sibilant, located between "sh" and "ch," so it sounds something like "Me-chi-ka-noss." Shortened to "Chicanos" as a swear word in English adaptation, it is taken up by Mexican activists in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s to self-confidently highlight a distinct Mexican-American cultural identity.
Todos somos ilegales - We are all Illegals ("We are all illegals"), protest against the policy of the Immigration Service (INS) in California.
Political movement
→ Main article: Chicano Movement
The term was taken up and became a fighting term for a distinct political movement with many localities and numerous subgroups representing the concerns of the larger population. Through oppositional political activities, however, it also comes to have a negative connotation among those who strive for the smoothest possible adaptation to the American way of life.
Chicano Cinema
Chicano Cinema is understood to be the entirety of cinematographic production by a director who sees himself as a member of the Chicano community. The resulting films trace the course of the Chicano movement's history of ideas, reflected in the medium of film. This can be understood as a continuum that moves from a pole of resistance and isolation to increased assimilation and rapprochement with Anglo-American culture. The last phase is increasingly accompanied by criticism from the proponents of cultural independence. The change described can be observed both in the thematic and film-aesthetic development of Chicano cinema over the years, in the form of a shift towards the tried and tested strategies or optics of Hollywood cinema.
