blog 24

RACE: Sleep Dealer is obviously influenced by The Matrix (among other films). What connections do you see to The Matrix and like films? What differences do you see? What do these differences say about issues of race, for example Sleep Dealer is a Mexican-American production--What elements or themes in the film mark it as “particularly Latino” or “particularly Mexican”? What does Sleep Dealer have to say about the rural life versus urban life?

As mentioned above it is obvious that sleep dealer is inspired by the matrix.
however there are very few similarities. when it comes to comparing both films the only similarities would be the virtual reality theme they both carry both protagonist's had nodes implanted in their body. In the matrix people were living and working in the dream world. while in sleep dealer people were living in the real world and working in the dream world so to speak. In a way both characters were fighting to free something, Neo was fighting to free the people from the system known as "the matrix" and Memo was fighting to free his family from poverty and eventually his land from the opressing corporation that was holding his towns water.

The differences between the two are great. the matrix is an action film so there's alot to be gained for those looking for some philosophy and cool shootouts. sleep dealer has a deeper message so you get the picture im sure. another difference is that sleep dealer has a stronger focus on latinos even the american drone soldier was latino (minus the white t.v. announcer or that one guy who told memo where to place the cylinder), where in the matrix (although they didn't have much variety either)you at least see a couple different ethnicities placed here and there, so i guess these differences also relate to the focus on race. The matrix subliminally states that the system was a white mans world, (given the fact that in the film there's few black or spanish people visible in the world itself)im guessing the machines thought it would be funny to keep it that way. In sleep dealer it's focused on the mexican and latino population mainly because thats were the story takes place, it is acknowledged early on that other races do exist in this world but because of the setting and story it was appropriate and thats what makes it "particulary latino".

The matrix shows urban life as a slave life, constant repetition, and all you would expect from urban life and today's society.....bullshit, in sleep dealer although rural life seemed unacceptable by the standards of many people today there was opportunity the land had potential to flourish but the very people who come from a urban life (the corporation) held it hostage and deprived the land of it's necessary source. So in a way that's the subliminal message (that and the exploitation of mexicans for labor) in the story more can be gained with what we have, technology is just a dirty business.