Assignment 3-3: My Favorite Movie

One of my favorite movies is Goal, the dream begins. It became my favorite movie because it shows how a Latin American guy overcomes obstacles to become a professional soccer player. The dream of all Spanish soccer players is to play in any important European soccer team like Manchester, Barcelona, Real Madrid and others.

The main plot in this movie is that Santiago Munez is an illegal Mexican-American immigrant and dreams to become a professional soccer player. He believes that being a soccer player will give him the opportunity to help his family and in the process be very well-known. Also, he dreams to play for Manchester, one of the biggest soccer teams in Europe. This movie shows how what seemed an impossible dream comes true for a Latin American guy.
The stereotype that this movie breaks is that Spanish soccer players are as good as European soccer players. It is very explicitly because this movie says what a soccer game means to Latinos in the United States, to their families and friends.

The stereo type that people have about Latin American soccer players is not good. According to Nadia Anguiano (2001), ” stereotyping of Mexican people that is used as a basis for most of the humor in the movies”. That is true, in many movies Mexicans are stereotyped as short, dark skin, drunk and violent people which gives a bad image to Latin American people.
This movie has contributed to the social and economic emergence of this stereotype. Most Latino soccer players had a poor childhood and they think being a professional soccer player will make them rich and help their families. I believe that these stereotypes emerge because they are related to each other. Also because Latin American people in the United States have more economic difficulties and the only solution is to become a professional soccer player. Latin American soccer players seem to compare themselves with European soccer players. According to James Hilton (1997), “stereotypes as a means of making themselves feel better through downward social comparison “.

The main function that stereotypes have in this movie is the social economic impact. It also involves the visual perception, for instance, if they see a Mexican and Brazilian soccer player together, European players will say that the Brazilian soccer player is better than the Mexican soccer player.

In this movie stereotyping has a negative effect, because the main character had to overcome those bad stereotypes that people have in Europe, for instance Mexican soccer players only like to drink and they are not good as Brazilian soccer players. I believe that this movie is a good way to change the stereotype of Latin American soccer players in the United States and Europe. However, this stereotype will continue until more Latin American soccer players become more popular and better than European soccer players, but will this happen someday? Only time will tell.

References:

Nadia Anguiano (2001) Movies unfair stereotyping of Mexicans. Retrieved on November 24, 2008, from, http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/ news/2001/ 03/07/Opinion/Movie.Unfair.Stereotyping.Of.Mexicans-53302.shtml

James Hilton. (1996). Stereotypes. Retrieved on November 24, 2008, from, http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=JrWbPG0F79M0Sz6Gwfr50LRlZYk7XczwlyQMhlHH4YTQP1npJZMj!857321274?docId=5000321907

Goal (2005). Goal Film. Retrieved on November 24, 2008, from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal!_(film)