R2-D2 or Arturito: George Lucas-flavored Xicanosmosis

Gracias to super-cool painter, Izel Vargas, off whose facebook site I lifted this frontera-licked meme.

Rio Yañez on Herbert Siguenza! Chicano Nerds of the World, Unite!

Raquel Welch, Planet 9 and More: The Ethnic American Body in Science Fiction Cinema

I wonder if Mandingo was a work of science fiction--perhaps the whole experiment of human slavery is an episode of the same; predatory exploitation of subjected populations (i.e., ironically, populations that have been objectified) always bring with them some legitimizing argument of justification: deeming groups of folks inferior is one of the tropic (trope + ic) moves of science--from Lindbergh with his eugenics fantasies to Dobbs with his fear of "Mexican" leprosy, the sciences have always been there (and not in a small way) to buttress the pangs of hate that throb within the dark soul of homo sapiens.

There are no shortages of ethnic bodies when it comes to the history of science fiction film. From Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. to William Allen Young in District 9, this fruitful cinematic terrain in bestrewn with talented and not-so-talented actors. On the left and right, some classic images from the internet of Raquel Tejada, aka Raquel Welch.

Of course, the most important film in this genre is John Sayles Brother from Another Planet. Joe Morton is brilliant in the titular lead role:



...More on this to come after I re-screen District 9 later this week.

Latino Science Fiction Meditation from Lázaro Lima

The Yellow Peril and More from Mangobot

more here.