Chicanonautica: !Joaquin Murrieta en Siglo XXI!

by Ernest Hogan

I grew up in a house where Joaquin Murrieta was considered a hero. He would come up in conversations between my dad and grandpa. Once Grandpa asked why there weren’t movies about Joaquin Murrieta. Dad said it was because Americans considered Joaquin to be criminal and murderer. Oh, the look of shock on Grandpa’s face.

Later, in high school–this would be the early Seventies at the start of the Chicano Movement--they showed us the film of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales’ poem I Am Joaquin. The teachers thought it was “unnecessarily arty”--gringos just don’t get how style is important in getting across your message. I thought it was crystal clear.

Granted, knife-wielding Joaquin is a bit heavy for modern pop culture, still he is compelling. He was white-washed into a Spanish nobleman, Zorro (who in turn inspired Batman), just as Bass Reeves was made into the Lone Ranger. There’s something about daring vigilantes, be they wild westerners or postmodern superheroes.

Also, apocalyptic times call for messiahs who have to be bigger than life, and who can leap across cultures–even civilizations–with a single bound.

So maybe it’s at long last time for Joaquin to step onto the stage of global corporate multimedia pop culture, and for Chicanos to be “discovered” (remember Columbus) in the process. After all, the legend of Joaquin Murrieta is essentially the origin story of the Chicano identity. Before that there were just Mexicans and Americans, and Latinx wasn’t even a dream in a distant future. 

So with Blood and Gold: Legend of Joaquin Murrieta, Jeffrey J. Marioette and Peter Murrieta crystalize it for the 2st century, in a way that will satisfy both aficionados of gory shoot ‘em ups, and scholars of ethnic studies and California history.

It starts out with the basic revenge story that can be seen in the origin of Batman, Star Wars: A New Hope, and tons of pulp fiction and action movies. Joaquin and his bride come to California, which has been recently acquired by the U.S. of A., to pursue a better life in the Gold Rush, and they run into racism. The bride is raped and killed, and Joaquin nearly killed, but after Tres Dedos/Three Finger Jack helps him recover and gives him some Obi-Wan Kenobe type training, he goes on a vendetta, killing some of his wife’s murderers.

How many movies have you seen with that plot? But this is only the beginning of the book. Joaquin keeps seeking out the murderers, while starting a career as a bandit. The newspapers tell of a moustachioed Mexican Murderer–the origin of the stereotype.

But things are never simple and stereotypical. He develops a Robin Hood-type relationship with the “Mexicans” of California, and runs afoul of those who want to establish a white-dominated state. Joaquin learns that avenging angels don’t get to live happily ever after. The lives of messianic folk heroes tend to end in bloody sacrifices.

It’s all told in an action-packed, rip-snorting manner that tears the western, and Aztlán, away from the white supremacists. There are also a lot of historical details that make it more than a bloody spectacle. They even manage the incredible feat of staying true to Harry Love displaying the decapitated head in a jar, and have a happy ending.

I’ve got a feeling that it will be a big part of  21st century Chicano myth-making.

Ernest Hogan is the author of High Aztech, and the Father of Chicano Science Fiction. He often indulges in guerrilla mythoteching.