The Unmasking of Indian Slavery in The Mask of Zorro and in Chato’s Appeal to the President

JEMCS 1.1 (Spring/ Summer2001) The Unmasking of Indian Slavery in The Mask ofZorro and in Chato's Appeal to the President J.DouglasCanfield thepopular 1998 American filmTheMask ofZorro, directed byMartinCampbelland starring Anthony Hopkinsand Antonio Banderas, a groupofCaliforniaMexicandons are escorted bytheirformer royalgovernor, RafaelMontero, toan extraordinarysight ,thesiteofa goldmother lodediscoveredin Mexican California approximately sevenyearsbefore thestrike at Sutter's Millin 1848. Allofa sudden,from an orecar at the topofan incline,a raggedand batteredoldwhiteman accosts thegroup, proclaiming himselfone ofthe "disappeared/and startingthe car racingdowntheinclineas iftoprecipitate himself intotheir laps withone last defiant blowforliberty.A renegadeAmerican armyofficer, working hand-in-glove withthese Californios, one CaptainHarrisonLove,shootstheattacking oldmanat thelast instant. The mad whiteman is ThreeFingeredJack ,erstwhile partner of the Muriettabrothers,the Robin Hoods of California (thoughhistorically it was Joaquin who led the revoltagainst theproposedGreaserActin 1853, designedtoprecludeLatinos from owning mines).Jackhad beencapturedbytheblondAmerican officer, whoanswersthedisguisedAlejandro Murietta's question ,"Wheredidyou findall thesepeople"withthenonchalant "Anywhere we wantto." Thefirst implication is thattheminers are prisoners, and ifwewatchcarefully, we see thatoneofthem is the friarwho in the beginningofthe filmtriedto keep the Murietta boysoutofharm'swayand latergavesanctuarytothe pursued Zorro. Jack speaks fortheminers:"Nowtheycall us thedisappearedones. Butyoucan see,weain'tdisappeared;we just been a littlehardtofind.* Screenwriters TedElliott and Terry Rossiopeppertheirscript withthe Spanish word,desaparecidos. Peasants earlyin cut scenes wonderwhitherthe villagersare disappearingto. The 118 TheJournal forEarlyModern Cultural Studies writers obviously playoff thephrase los desaparecidos9 familiar to Americansas signifying vanishedpoliticalopponentsofoppressiveregimesin LatinAmerica, especiallytheArgentina and Chileofthe 1970s. These opponents - Leftists, unionorganizers ,journalists,psychologists, students - weredisappeared,the verbbeingdistorted intoan eerietransitive as ifthevictims were erased from life,from history. Butas weviewthisscene- as wellas thelateronewherethe minersare lockedin theirpens tobe annihilated, thuscovering theentirescam from MexicanPresidentSanta Anna - we notice thatthevast majority ofthesedesapareddos are indios. In the script,Alejandrosenses theenormity ofthesituationupon noticinga child'sfootprint in thedust. Thisis childlabor. In the film he senses itfrom watching an Indianchildcarry a headpack oforeup a ladderbehindanotherIndianwhosefeetare shackled . This is Indian slavery. Tellingly, the penultimatescript uses theterm"slaves"throughout thesescenes, butthisis lost in the finalscript,amendedapparently byJohnEskow,which uses such euphemismsas "prisoners" and "workers." YetThreeFingeredJack calls a spade a spade: People like himand the RobinHood Muriettasmerely steal things,butMontero and his lieutenantsand nowhisfellow dons,byenslavingIndians,"steal people'slives." In an important sense, Spain and Mexico's(andCalifornia's) dirty littlesecretis unmaskedbeforeour eyes - at least, before theeyesofa popularaudienceinAnglo-American mass culture. For roughlythreehundredand fifty years Spanish (as well as Dutch, French,Portuguese,and English)colonies in the New Worldsystematically enslaved FirstPeoples. Supposedlythe SpanishCrownoutlawedslavery, justifying itonlyintheinstance ofcaptivesofwar,so NuevaEspana called theslaves culledon Indian slave raids "prisonersofwar." Distinguishedhistorian JackForbesalmostforty yearsago attributed nearlyeveryoutbreakofhostilities between Spanishand Indiansoverthosethree and a halfcenturiestoresponsesto such slave raids. So scholarsknow. Well,somescholars. WhenI rana study groupon thistopica fewyears ago, severalwell-meaning colleagues invariousareas ofSouthwestern studieswereappalled at theirownignoranceoftheextentofsuch slavery.Andmost layAmericansare simplyignorant ofIndian slavery. To them, slaverymeansAfricanAmericans . Norarewe talkinghereabouta systemofso-calledpeonage. Spain builtitschurchesin theNewWorldwithIndianslave labor ,supposedlycompensatedforbythe"wage"ofbaptism. The Canfield 119 country workedits minesin particularwithIndians,whowere oftenworkedto death,thus creatinga constantneed formore slaves. Theydidn'tdie onlybecause ofEuropean diseases, but because theywereworkedand housed likethe Indians in The Mask ofZorro, underabsolutelyhorrible conditions. ThecharacterAlejandro Murietta wincesat theseconditions. Upuntilnowhe has beenmotivated primarily byrevenge for the murderbydecapitationofhis brother Joaquin. Even his mentor ,Don Diegode la Vega,theOld Zorrointhefilm, seemsmotivatedprimarily byrevenge againstMontero, whosesoldiersshot his wifeand who stolehis babydaughterand had himimprisoned ,evenas Montero himself was beingforced tofleeCalifornia in the face ofthe success ofthe MexicanRevolution in 1821. OldZorro'soriginal motivation, intheoriginal story and thefilm, had been tohelpthepeasants resistaristocratic oppressionand winthatrevolution.Montero, whohas Don Diegoand hisfamily in his power,calls theOld Zorroa "traitor toyourcountry and yourclass." Yetevenas DonDiegocounselshisprotege Alejandro, whomhe is grooming to replacehimas theNewZorroand help fight Montero 's nefarious plottocontrolCalifornia, thattherole ofZorroshouldbe morethanpersonalvendetta,he himself refusestohelpAlejandro free theslaves because hehas a personal agenda- avenging hiswife's deathand freeing hisdaughterfrom Montero.He arguesthatingiving thepeopleeverything he had as Zorro,he thereby literally lost everything he had. But now Alejandrobecomesmotivated by«altruism: "Whatabout theprisoners ?"he asks, havinglearnedthatMontero and Loveplan to destroy theevidenceoftheirplotagainstSanta Annabyblowing up theminewiththe"workers* sealed initssilence. "Whatabout thepeople?* Havingpassed his medallionto theMuriettasfor theirhelpingto save his lifein the openingscene ofthe film, Don Diego nowfully passes thetorch:"Theystillhave Zorro." Don Diego'splan toforce Montero toadmittherealpaternity ofElena toherfaceand to settletherivalry betweenthemin a personalduel failswhenshe pleads forMontero.Knowing now thetruth,however, she freesDon Diego,and all oftheconcludingaction ofthe filmfocuseson freeing the slaves beforethey are entombed. Don Diegoshowsup intimetodistractMontero so thatAlejandrocan defeatLove. In the middleofthese two duels, Don...