Racism, Nationalism, and Scapegoating
In Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit, a play about discrimination against Los Angeles’s Chicano population in the 1940s, Henry Reyna and his fellow members of the 38th Street Gang face institutionalized racism and prejudice. Valdez makes it clear that Henry and his friends are at the mercy of a biased court system, as the men are held accountable for a murder they didn’t commit. As the gang go through the legal process, the judge presiding…
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Self-Presentation and Cultural Identity
Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit pays close attention to how people present themselves and the ways in which this presentation influences cultural identification. The play itself is named after a 1940s style of clothing known as the zoot suit, which many Chicanos saw as representative of their place in American society. From the very beginning of the play, El Pachuco—the production’s active, meta-narrative narrator—calls attention to the importance of self-presentation, urging audience members to…
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Public Perception and the Press
Although Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit is largely about how people present themselves, it’s also about what happens when they’re unable to control their own public image. Valdez spotlights the press’s unfair treatment of Henry Reyna, outlining what it looks like when the news media manipulates a narrative at the expense of people who can’t defend themselves because they don’t have a substantial public platform. To further accentuate this power imbalance, Valdez goes out of his…
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Advocates vs. Saviors
In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez studies the nuances of civil rights advocacy. Considering what it means for a white person to act as an ally to people of color, Valdez shows audience members that there are certain complexities inherent to relationships in which white people use their privilege to support minorities. This dynamic arises when George—a white man—offers to represent Henry and the rest of the 38th Street Gang in court, since they…
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