What the frame is going on here!?

     One prominent issue that plagues many socially, economically, and politically concerned individuals is how information is presented to the public. Because of our innate tendencies to characterize certain phenomena or people based on our schemata, we often overlook our errors in judgement towards print, audio or video. To put it simply, we're quicker to judge than we are to analyze. This can be cumbersome to our enlightenment. However, if we are persuaded to look at information in a more constructive light, our preconceptions can be shaped so that we gather insight towards certain groups of people and their circumstances. That's why it's so important to understand of the concept of framing.

     Framing is understood to be the manipulation of information to achieve influence over the recipient's perception over a certain topic, issue, or ideal. In other words, it's "the Man's" way of telling you how to think about a certain subject. And most of the time it proves to be successful. Although framing in the media is not solely at the whim of the government or big corporations, most of the time it is. As a result, we see many of the same values and preconceptions fed to the public over and over again.

     However, it is refreshing to see when directors attempt to represent social groups in a new viewpoint. This does, I believe, help us to become aware our judgments and fallacies that go along with them.

     One of my favorite directors, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, directed "Amores Perros" - a movie about Mexican people depicting their social and economic status and, at times, the corruption of law enforcement. This movie attempts to transcend through most social castes and does its utmost to expose the barbarism that pervades the human and animal world; at times they're even intertwined. Iñárritu persuades the viewer to see how Mexican people and their problems are more complex than one would think and why sometimes they have to step outside their moral boundaries to reach their needs. It does well in deconstructing typical Mexican stereotypes even though this film may not represent every single Hispanic demographic. That being said, I believe the characters were presented very effectively and gives a small slant to what Latino culture can be like.



Being of Mexican descent and growing up around people who have been in similar situations like the characters presented in the movie, I felt this was a very powerful example of ethnic representation. However, I don't expect every Latino or Chicano to relate to the characters shown in this film. Rather, I used this example as to how framing can give a more insightful picture towards the conditions of certain Latino groups.