Visions of Invasion: Alien Affects, Cinema, and Citizenship in Settler Colonies (Race, Rhetoric, and Media Series)

197 Pages·2023·11.408 MB·English

by  Michael Lechuga

VISIONS OF INVASION
Race, RhetoRic, and Media SeRieS
Davis W. Houck, General Editor
Visions of
Invasion
Alien Affects, Cinema, and
Citizenship in Settler Colonies
MICHAEL LECHUGA
University Press of Mississippi / Jackson
The University Press of Mississippi is the scholarly publishing agency of
the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning: Alcorn State University,
Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University,
Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University,
University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi.
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of
the Association of University Presses.
Copyright © 2023 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2023
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lechuga, Michael, author.
Title: Visions of invasion : alien affects, cinema, and citizenship in settler colonies /
Michael Lechuga.
Other titles: Race, rhetoric, and media series.
Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2023. | Series: Race, rhetoric,
and media series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022043331 (print) | LCCN 2022043332 (ebook) | ISBN
9781496844057 (hardback) | ISBN 9781496844064 (trade paperback) | ISBN
9781496844071 (epub) | ISBN 9781496844088 (epub) | ISBN 9781496844095 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781496844101 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Citizenship in motion pictures. | Immigrants in motion pictures. |
Extraterrestrial beings in motion pictures. | Criticism.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.C5128 L43 2023 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.C5128 (ebook) |
DDC 791.43/652691—dc23/eng/20221223
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022043331
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022043332

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
Dedicated to María del Carmen Carlos-Alarcón, mi abuelita

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter One: The War of the Worlds and Alien Making . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter Two: Predator Assemblages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter Three: Men in Black Assemblages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter Four: Sleep Dealer, Nomadic Assemblages, and
Deterritorializations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would briefly like to thank a number of people whose support and kind-
ness over the years made it possible to complete this book. Anais Lechuga,
my partner, and my daughter, Maia Zen Yaretzi, are my first community; I
love you and thank you. I would like to thank my mom, Hilda Alarcon, who
despite my most adamant pleas refused to pick me up from my dormitory
halfway through my first semester of college after I decided I wanted to
drop out. She convinced me to unpack my bags and finish that semester
then and has done so all the semesters since. She has always been my cham-
pion. My father and brothers—Tony Lechuga, Anthony Lechuga, and Chris
Lechuga—thank you for loving and supporting me, even though I am the
weird middle child. To the friends whose Zoom calls, texts, and chisme kept
me going—Oso, Fideo, Perrito, Fernie, El Cartero, Aaron, Elias, Atilla, and
Bo—thank you. Your support means the world.
I have had so many teachers in my life who have inspired me, both in
school and in community. I cannot possibly thank you all. I do want to thank
Darrin Hicks and Thomas Nail for their mentorship and guidance, and also
my friends and colleagues Christina Foust and Kate Willink. Also, Paula
Martin, thank you so, so much for being a light. Thank you, Guillermo Glenn
and Tierra es Vida Community Farm, for showing me how to reconnect with
earth. During my time at the University of Texas at El Paso, the University
of Minnesota, and now the University of New Mexico, I have had many
colleagues, students, and friends who have supported my work. I cannot
possibly name all of you, but I am grateful for each of you.
I have been lucky to come alongside two mentors in recent years. With-
out your support and continued encouragement, I could not have found
the strength to get through some of the more challenging parts of this
process. Catherine Squires, I want to say thank you in particular for the
immense kindness you have shown me and my family and for supporting my
ix