just words
vol one : no one
04.01
present future past
08/23/99
PBS documentary series "The Border" updates image of controversial region
by Victor Payan
Since the darkest days of the Reagan administration, conservative politicians and the blithering billybobs of belligerent nationalism have repeatedly sidled up to the San Diego-Tijuana border with news crews in tow, drawing our national attention southward and brazenly pronouncing, like a church sermon recycled so many times it loses its impact, that the grand total of America's ills stem from one thing and one thing alone: the border.
But how many of the Pete Wilsons, Pat Buchanans or Duncan Hunters who have made careers out of maligning Mexico have ever crossed over to the other side to walk around and get to know their enemy? How many have gone into Tijuana for an afternoon of shopping, for an art opening or even for a light lunch? If they had, they would have seen that while they were busy barking hysteria to reporters and the far right, the area they were using as a universal scapegoat was undergoing profound changes.
And if they would have stopped yelping long enough to listen to what the people from the border region had to say, they would have been quite surprised.
It is precisely this, which the upcoming two-hour PBS series "The Border" attempts to do. The series, which airs Sept. 8 on KPBS-TV, uses six broadly different stories to update the image of the border and portray a binational culture that is both vibrant in its diversity and made strong by the challenges of its complexity.
"This is a region that is very misunderstood and very much clouded by cliches and stereotypes on the part of the national audience," says local documentary filmmaker Paul Espinosa who served as executive producer for the series and who also produced two of the segments in the program. "I think what we're trying to do is present some alternative views about the kind of experiences that are going on in the region."
The program, which was produced via a partnership among Espinosa's production company, KPBS-TV and three other producers and television stations from throughout the border region, offers a unique vision to public television viewers. By using producers from San Diego, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to tell stories about the region from their own perspectives, "The Border" provides a multiplicity of viewpoints that serves to demonstrate that when we talk about the border, we are really talking about a region whose history and future are the shared property of Native Americans, Mexicans and Americans alike.
And while there are cultural, historical and economic differences among the communities, they are united by a core of basic human values and needs. In doing this, "The Border" presents a glimpse of understanding to counter a litany of misrepresentations.
"One of the things that the series is trying to communicate is that the region has impact and influence on the two countries as a whole, both Mexico and the United States," says Espinosa. "And maybe in some ways that's not still so apparent yet to people who live outside of the region, that increasingly the kinds of things that are happening there, whether you're talking about global economy issues, whether you're talking about biculturalism or multiculturalism or multilingualism, the whole interplay of two or more cultures, that those are issues that are being unfolded all over both countries."
By intentionally sidestepping overdone subjects such as drug trafficking and illegal immigration, "The Border" lends an ear to quieter stories which deal with more positive aspects of life in the border region. In this modern border, injustices are met with political action, fear is fought back with understanding and interdependence walks arm in arm with mutual respect.
Evidence of this new understanding can be seen in other areas. American labor, for example, has realized that it must support the Mexican labor movement, because the exploitation of one permits the exploitation of the other. So rather than bitterly blaming Mexican workers for taking American jobs, the two groups are uniting to stop their mutual depredation by greedy corporations. This kind of cooperation is a prime example of the possibilities of contemporary border culture.
Stripping away the rhetoric and fearmongering allows us to see that as human beings, we all basically want the same things and that we have a place and a voice in this rapidly changing economic and political landscape.
So rather than presenting a fault line where two nations press against each other, straining to hold back social, economic and political earthquakes, the series looks at the border region as an area which permits a flow of populations and capital that ultimately manifests huge benefits both countries.
"I think there's greater tolerance about this issue," says Espinosa. "I think there's greater tolerance for the fact that, as we say in the series, that basically people, money and ideas are going back and forth both ways all the time, and the trace of that is having an impact in the momentum of the region."
In the first hour, one story points to a shining new model for economic and cultural exchange while the other two demonstrate that, while we move forward, some past issues remain unresolved.
In "Factory of Dreams," the series examines the birth of Fox Studios Baja and the significance of its first production, the mega-blockbuster "Titanic." Like the luxury liner in the film, the studio located just south of Rosarito was on its maiden voyage with this production, and the iceberg of disaster was averted by a combination of cooperation, trust and ingenuity that formed bonds between Hollywood, Mexican film professionals and members of the Baja community.
And although the segment mentions that James Cameron failed to recognize Mexico's contribution to the film at the Academy Awards (for one thing, it would have been prohibitively expensive anywhere else, especially with the cost overruns!), the experience created a positive model for long-term film production in Baja. Since the production of this segment, another summer hit was completed at the cinemaquiladora: the shark thriller "Deep Blue Sea."
In "Unfinished Business," Texas-based producer Hector Galan grapples with the issue of Texans who allege that their family lands were stolen from them due to the unscrupulous actions of crooked lawyers, judges, speculators and cattle barons. Galan tells the story of families descended from early Spanish settlers who are using historical records to challenge the Texas courts in order to receive compensation for the lost land, proceeds from mineral and oil wealth and, most importantly, the legal acknowledgement that their land was stolen.
"Not a Drop to Drink," by Albuquerque-based producer Matthew Sneddon, uses the daily experiences of one family to tell the story of maquiladoras and water management in the Juarez/El Paso region. In a summer in which drought has plagued the East Coast and raised issues of water rationing and scarcity in even the deepest heart of American suburbia, this segment's examination of water issues exemplifies that many of the problems that America faces are first identified and tackled in the border region.
The triad of stories featured in the second hour focuses on the diversity of the communities that call the border region home. In "Winter Texans," Hector Galan deftly uses two migrant communities to paint a portrait of life in south Texas. By comparing the annual migration to the Rio Grande Valley of upwards of 250,000 midwestern retirees, known as Winter Texans, with the return of migrant agricultural workers to the same communities, this segment shows how each group contributes to the economy, culture and viability of the region.
In "A People Divided," Tucson-based producer Hector Gonzalez takes us on a rare journey into the world of the Tohono O'odham, a Native American tribe whose three-million acre reservation is divided by a sixty mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border. While the tribe struggles to maintain its cultural identity and political autonomy, influences from both Mexico and the US either challenge or are adapted into their way of life.
The final story, "Culture Clash," documents the acclaimed Chicano comedy troupe Culture Clash during the development of their successful stage play "Bordertown," which was produced last year at the San Diego Repertory Theater. This segment provides a rare opportunity to peer into the comedy trio's creative process as it follows them through rehearsals in the weeks preceding the world premiere of their play. This is a rare treat for anyone who saw "Bordertown," as it gives insight into how themes and characters in the play were workshopped, discussed and refined.
The Culture Clash segment is the one which most exemplifies the significance of the series. While larger issues of economics and politics are dealt with in all of the segments, it is issues of culture which predominate. The series offers a fair amount of statistical information to provide context, but the human element is what is being examined here, and it is this positive human interaction that will provide the greatest lesson for the national audience.
"The border region is almost a laboratory of the future where you're seeing these things being played out in a way that will be in a certain sense a model for the future for both countries," says Espinosa. "It's a future that has many challenges and many opportunities that have to do with how we work out living together where we have different cultures and different languages and different histories and then finding a way to make that cultural and linguistic and historical mestizaje work for us, making that something that is a valuable thing and not something that is seen as a detriment."
The series examines the tremendous economic growth and development that has occurred in the border region over the last decade in relation to the impact of that growth on border residents, whether it is through the management of resources, the sharing of dreams or the reaching out across the artificial barriers and getting to know the good neighbors and not the good fences.
"The Border" airs in San Diego on KPBS-TV on Sept. 8 at 9 pm. Narrated by John Quiñones.
© 1999 Victor Payan