Mexican American Studies: Tour of Tucson
The Tucson Convention Center is an interesting place. It houses the Tucson’s Musicians Museum. Latinx people make music and are interested in music in the same way people of all ethnic groups are, so it is possible the exhibits at the museum will appeal to them. Latinx people may also want to attend one of the many shows or conventions that the Convention Center holds every year. For instance, several holiday events are schedule throughout December that anybody, including Latinx people, may be interested in. There are sure to be aspects of these events such as the “Shop Local Mingle and Jingle” on December 7 and the Southwest Nutcracker on December 14th and 15th that will appeal to the Latinx culture as well as to other cultures. If in no other way, then they will appeal commercially, which is what marketers, manufacturers and retailers are hoping for. They want to appeal to all ethnic groups. Jose Alamillo asks, “How have marketers and advertisers used Latino/a culture to sell products? Has increased Latino/a consumer power contributed to increased attention of Latino/a cultural traditions?” (Alamillo 218). The answer to the first of Alamillo’s question is marketers and advertisers appeal to the things they believe Latinx people like such as certain types of food and music. Both of these things make up a great deal of the events that occur at the Tucson Convention Center. The second question is a rhetorical question it seems and the answer is yes: Latinx in recent years have become a big segment of the consuming population because they have become a large portion of the population of the United States. Alamillo says, “Latino/a buying power is expected to increase from 5.2% in 1990 to 9.6% in 2008. Another report estimated that Latino/as currently spend $400 billion annually in the United States” (Alamillo 219).
Alamillo goes on to talk about how advertising agents and marketers perpetuate stereotypes of Latinx culture so they can appeal to the socially constructed image of Latinx culture without having to acknowledge inequities in areas such as employment, education and health care. Alamillo lists several commercial stereotypes of Latinx people such as Latinx loving hot, spicy food, being family oriented, and preferring to watch television or listen to the radio over reading. “These stereotypes are continually being reconfigured by marketing agencies to explain Latino/a consumer behavior and to tap into their buying power” (Alamillo 219). However, there is really no predicting what will appeal to a Latinx person because they have the same likes and dislikes as any person might have. The issue is their purchasing power, and the Tucson Convention Center can appeal to that especially at this most commercial time of year.
The Pima County Courthouse is a building with lots of history. It was the home of various Pima County courts from 1930 until 2015. In that time, it was also used in movies and at least one famous person, Johnny Depp was a defendant in a case which took place inside the courthouse. Depp was accused of reckless driving. Since 2017 the building has been vacant, but there are big plans for it. The plans include a memorial to the victims of the 2011 shooting in Tucson that severely wounded Gabby Gifford. It will also be home to a museum and a café.
If I had my say in what type of exhibits should be in the museum portion of the Pima County Courthouse, I would say there should be at least a section of the museum devoted to visual media such as television and film. There should be exhibits that specifically address the films and television programs that were made in the courthouse. One film was a newsreel made about the capture of John Dillinger in Tucson and the courthouse featured prominently because that is where Dillinger was held before he was extradited. A 1970s television series was filmed in the same courtroom where Dillinger made an appearance. Tom Prezelski of the Pima County government says, “[The courtroom] appeared again on screen, the small one this time, in 1974 with the premiere of Petrocelli, a legal drama that ran for two seasons. It starred Barry Newman as a crusading defense attorney in a fictional southwestern city that looked suspiciously like Tucson” (Prezelski). Even though Barry Newman is not Latinx, the television series he starred in has a connection to Latinx culture in Tucson.
Charles Ramirez Berg in “A Crash Course on Hollywood's Latino Imagery” talks about the stereotyped images of Latinx people that filmmakers have employed over the years. He says, “This WASP way of life is asserted as a norm worth fighting for, as what must be regained if the film is to deliver its happy ending. In such a scheme, not just Latinos but all people of color represent an inherent threat to the status quo simply because they are markedly different from the established WASP norm” (Berg 67). It is interesting to think about the 1970s mindset of a television series about a lawyer in the southwest part of the United States having a white lawyer (Newman is not WASP since he is Jewish) play the starring role. Today, that role would be played by Jimmy Smits (Puerto Rican) or another Latinx character. However, the 1970s was not as enlightened as they are today.
Another Latinx connection to the importance of the courthouse shows how the lawyer and the judges in the television series should have been played by Latinx. The person who is leading the preservation efforts of the Pima County Courthouse is Jose Luis Castillo, the last judge who presided in Courtroom 8—the Dillinger/television series courtroom. Prezelski says, “He joined others in arguing that that the courthouse is part of our ‘national patrimony,’ not only for its history but also for its unique layout and elegant furnishings. . . .These efforts have assured that this beautiful and unique piece of history will be available to future generations, and maybe a film-maker or two as well” (Prezelski). I will be looking for films made there.
Works Cited
Alamillo, Jose M. "Cinco de Mayo Inc.: Reinterpreting Latino Culture into a Commercial Holiday." Studies in Symbolic Interaction 33 (2009): 217-238. Web. 7 November 2019.
Berg, Charles Ramírez. "A Crash Course on Hollywood's Latino Imagery." Berg, Charles Ramírez. Latino Images in Film. Austin: U of Texas P, 2002. 66-86. Print. 8 November 2019.
Prezelski, Tom. "The Way We Were." 2019. Pima County. Web. 8 November 2019. < https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/On... >.
