A lot has changed in America since 1993. We’ve
elected three different presidents, have gone through over two decades worth of
technological advances, and have evolved quite dramatically as a society.
However, despite all of the unquestionable change that has occurred, there are
a few things that have remained constant and we find this notion of consistency
expressed in an unlikely place, the movie The
Coneheads. Now you might be asking yourself, “What on earth does that movie
have to do with American society?” Well, through a zany science fiction plot,
it explores issues of immigration, Americanization, and assimilation that were
present in 1993, and are still very present today. The comedic aspects of this
film definitely distract from the underlying depth of the subject matter at
hand, but the oddly realistic and ever-present societal issues that take place
in the film are strikingly obvious and will always be relevant.
The 1993 film version of The Coneheads was an adaptation of a
Saturday Night Live sketch done in 1977, and that only goes to show that the
inspiration behind the film has continually been present in American culture.
America was founded by immigrants, and has made a name for itself as the “Land
Of The Free,” and the “Land Of Opportunity,” which is why people have migrated
to this “Promised Land” from the very beginning. When America was still the new
frontier, immigration wasn’t an issue—at least from the perspective of the
settlers—because there was still land to claim and establish, but as the years
went by and there was no longer an American frontier, immigration became a
problem that required a myriad of legal affairs before one could be deemed an
American citizen. Those who forwent the legal process were dubbed “Illegal
Aliens.”
In
The Coneheads, Beldar and his
life-mate Prymaat are actual illegal aliens from planet Remulak who become
stranded on Earth after the National Guard shoots down their UFO into the
Atlantic. Unfortunately for them, a rescue ship from their planet won’t be able
to reach Earth for seven “Zurls,” which is apparently a long time. Prymaat
learns that she is pregnant, and both she and Beldar know that they have to
make the most of their time on Earth in order to provide for their child.
Beldar gets a job as an appliance repairman, a blue-collar job that many
undocumented immigrants have, or are offered upon their arrival to America.
When Beldar’s employer, Otto, learns that Beldar is undocumented, he arranges
to get Beldar a fake identity and this raises the suspicions of an INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) worker
named Gorman Seedling. Besides some very unusual
behavior, like smoking a whole pack of cigarettes at once, “consuming mass
quantities” of food, and the conical shape of their heads, Beldar and Prymaat do
a great job fitting in and just tell people they are from France whenever their
eccentric nature is questioned. Beldar eventually becomes a respected cab
driver, which is such a stereotypical immigrant job, but it helps the family
climb the social ladder and move in to a nice suburban home. Once Prymaat gives
birth to her baby earthling girl, they give her an American name – Connie,
which is so outrageously normal compared to their own bizarre names.
The Conehead family seems to evolve in a way that mirrors the
typical immigrant family in America: clueless and scared at first, then
motivated by the reality of having to provide for a family, taking a couple of
blue-collar jobs to eventually climb the socioeconomic ladder, becoming more
Americanized and giving their children American names until they eventually dilute
their native culture. Most of us are familiar with this exact scenario and have
seen it play in our own lives, the lives of our friends and family, and the
lives of many fictional characters such as the Coneheads. Just because we’ve
seen this cliché play out in countless books and movies does not make it less
true, for the fiction is based on reality. Both Beldar and Prymaat worked
toward having the typical All American dream life. They aspired toward a middle
class suburban family with a white picket fence because it’s what they were
expected to have, it was the “norm.” Although Beldar and Prymaat retain their
eccentricities, their daughter Connie is a first-generation American who simply
does not see eye to eye with her parents (how very human of her!). When Connie
gets a temporary tattoo on her cone, her father immediately disapproves, which
results in a tiff between the two. Just as any first-generation teenager would,
Connie rebels because of her parent’s lack of understanding about what it’s
like to be an American teenager. Even in matters of relationships, Connie’s
boyfriend Ronnie is not too well received by her parents because they don’t
understand human love, let alone the American teenage version of it. As if
teenagers didn’t already feel misunderstood, with immigrant parents there is
not only an age barrier but also a cultural barrier that can significantly hinder
healthy communication.
Eventually the INS agents get all the information they need to
detain Beldar and Prymaat, but just as they were about to get arrested, the
rescue ship from Remulak comes and takes them back to their home planet despite
Connie’s displeasure. The INS agent’s insistence to catch the Coneheads causes
him to accidentally be taken back to Remulak along with them. Beldar’s success
on Earth gets him accused of treason from the Highmaster of Remulak, and for
that he is sentenced to fight the vicious “Garthrok.” Beldar uses skills he
acquired on Earth through golfing to defeat the Garthrok and is granted a
request from the Highmaster, in which he requests to return to Earth in order
to “oversee” its conquest. In reality, Beldar just wanted to go back to Earth
and continue the American life which he and his family had established and become
accustomed to. Beldar spared Gorman’s life, and Gorman gave him a green card to
show his gratitude. The fact that Beldar wanted to return to Earth really
portrays something that happens to a lot of immigrants who move to America.
Most immigrants are able to have a better life in America than they could in
their native countries and have assimilated so well that their native countries
become more foreign to them than America.
Overall, the humor in this film makes for an entertaining way to
watch the process of assimilation for immigrants coming into the United States.
You can watch it for sheer entertainment if you wish, but there is no avoiding
the stark reality embedded within the film. There is no end in sight for
immigration into the United States, and as long as immigration exists, this
movie will always be relatable and relevant to people living in the U.S. Just
like the Coneheads, immigrants do have their quirks and their customs, and
despite the fact that they may seem strange, they are a functioning part of
society that has a lot to contribute to the melting pot we call America.
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