TAKING UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN


For Mixer, the "safeguarding of the Monroe Doctrine" investments-such as
the growth of commercial enterprise, the purchase of the Virgin Islands, the
granting of citizenship to a foreign nation-all have to be made to guarantee
the economic and political control of what was called "the American
Mediterranean:"

 So long as we have any responsibility, direct or indirect, for the safety or
 independence of Cuba, effective control of Porto Rico is essential. The
 relation of Porto Rico to Cuba, to the Canal and to the Pacific Coast has
 been compared to that of Malta toward Egypt, the Suez Canal and the route
 to India; but whether we consider Porto Rico from the military point of
 view or simply as an effective headquarters from which to maintain law
 and order in these waters, the logic of events makes it the natural, the
 inevitable outpost of American influence in the West Indies. (18-19)

 The year before The Americano was filmed, alongside the looming threat
of war in Europe, one of the hottest issues provoking Congressional and public
debates surrounded the issue of the need for permanent control of the Greater
Antilles by the United States. At the center of these debates was the idea of
sealing the fate of this relationship by incorporating Puerto Rico into the U.S.
nation by way of citizenship "partly to end separatist propaganda" (Mixer
88). After months of heated private and public debate: "The new bill of rights
for the Island, named for the chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs,
Mr. William A. Jones, finally became law March 2,1917" (88). Hence, in 1917,
Puerto Rico, the desired gateway for control over the Caribbean, a vulnerable
country with a high rate of illiteracy, became an official colony of the U.S.
with the majority of the populace on either side not fully understanding the
duties, expectations, and responsibilities implied. Taxation without
representation-that which fueled the Founding Father's overthrow of British
despotic rule, was imposed upon thousands of Puerto Ricans, who had no
right to vote for the nation's President, but would be drafted into the U.S.
military to participate in the First World War. No matter how high the cost
for either side-the people had to be brought to what Josiah Strong called
the necessity of "a new national consciousness, a new apprehension of
destiny" (19).
 It is not coincidental then, that arguments made in the Hollywood films
that catered to the imperial discourse would always include a young Creole
beauty as part of the prize won for the conquering and taming of the tropics.
Evangelina and Juana-are twin sisters, the "tidbits" used to lure sturdy men
into risky business. The actual dirty work of empire-war hesitantly declared,
invasion, and the actual occupation of lands even if "fairly won by the right
of conquest" (Strong 227), had to be pictured and sold, not only as a strategic
necessity for the welfare of the nation, but, in fact, needed, even desired, by
the very people to receive the blow. The power of newspapers at the close