Zoot Suits

Media subcultures are created in opposition to the mainstream hegemonic culture and are, at their core, fundamentally antagonistic to the dominant culture imposed on them. Specific characteristics define subcultures in their distinct historical, political, and social contexts. Concepts of race, gender, age, class, and nationality each play a role in the shaping of a subculture and in its antagonism to dominant ideologies of these concepts. Most subcultures are eventually assimilated by the mainstream media as their characteristics dissolve in dominant cultural practices. However, some subcultures face extreme opposition from the hegemonic mainstream, and are annihilated from the culture for their extreme antagonistic ideologies. The zoot suit subculture of the 1940's arose as a defiant opposition movement to racial prejudices innate to the dominant culture. Its characteristics were shaped by minority groups who identified with and adopted the subculture, and by the mainstream media's stereotypical portrayal of its members. Historical, political, and social contexts explain the extreme opposition ingrained in the dominant culture, with events stemming from the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots leading to the eradication of the zoot suit subculture.

The zoot suit subculture originated in the United States during the 1930's jazz music era, and was most prevalent in Los Angeles' minority communities in the 1940's. The defining characteristic of the subculture is the zoot suit, which became popular in African-American Harlem jazz culture. This style of clothing was adopted by Hispanic, Japanese, Filipino, and African Americans in L.A. The zoot suit subculture was shaped and transformed from a bricolage of elements that each minority group added from the dominant culture. As different racial groups joined in, they added their own musical forms to the original jazz sound. Spanish music was integrated with African American jazz, and musicians of different racial backgrounds often performed together. The zoot suit subculture became extremely popular among young Mexican Americans called pachucos, in the barrios or poor neighbourhoods in the city of L.A. Pachucos belonged to a culture of second-generation, working-class youth in the Southwestern United States. The pachuco's experience is described by Catherine Ramirez in her journal article on pachucos: "Many were the first in their families to be born or reared in an urban setting and although they faced racial segregation, they were expected to assimilate." They were marginalized by their ethnicity and age, and rebelled against the white dominant culture and their parents' Hispanic cultural origins and beliefs. Pachucos adopted the zoot suit subculture as their own because its characteristics expressed their already-established ideologies. Pachucos incorporated their own unique style into the zoot suit subculture. The zoot suit consisted of high-waisted, pegged pants that had wide legs and were cuffed tightly, as well as long coats with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Often, felt hats with long feathers, French-style shoes, and long watch chains were also worn. Pachucos wore long ducktail haircuts and had tattoo body art. Pachucas were females of the same group, whom the media referred to as "black widows." They wore short, tight black skirts, fishnet stockings and lofty bouffant hairdos. The pachucos integrated their own slang, a hybrid of Spanish-English dialect, into the language of the zoot suit subculture. Combined with the swing language of the African American jazz culture, it became known as jive talk.

The historical specificity of the zoot suit era contributes to an understanding of the subculture's ideology. During WWII, rationing restrictions came into effect in the United States to support the war effort. In March of 1942, the War Production Board reduced the amount of wool allowed to be used to manufacture men's suits, making zoot suits illegal, as well as seemingly unpatriotic. During the same year, the zoot suit subculture was gaining increasing popularity. The demand for zoot suits grew persistently, and bootleg tailors in L.A. continued to illegally manufacture the suits. The zoot suits became a status symbol, as youth competed to see who could sew the most fabric into their suits. However, members of the zoot suit culture were doing more than making a fashion statement. According to Rosa Linda Fregoso's article on the cultural identity of the zoot suit, wearing a zoot suit was a "deliberate and public way of breaking the regulations of rationing." Members of the zoot suit culture were making a bold statement by wearing the zoot suits. They were publicly displaying their resistance to the regulations of the dominant culture.

The dominant culture's perceptions of the zoot suit subculture were shaped by the historical, political, and social contexts of the era. It was a subculture comprised mainly and originally of racial minority groups, and thus was discriminately opposed by the hegemony of the white, upper-class dominant group. Several historical occurrences contributed to perspectives of members of the zoot suit subculture. A contributing factor to Mexican stereotypes in the United States was the economic exploitation they experienced. During periods of economic growth, the U.S. would allow many Mexican immigrants to cross the border and fill the labour needs. However, during recessions, the borders became stricter and many were forced out of the country. Mass deportation and repatriation during the Great Depression reinforced Mexican stereotypes. This minority group was seen as inferior to the dominant group, and only welcomed when their labour was needed. During the years before the economic boom of WWII, an influx of Mexican immigrants entered the United States, and many youth became members of the zoot suit subculture. This economic exploitation influenced the hegemonic perception of this minority as part of a larger subculture.

Extreme oppositions to the antagonistic zoot suit subculture by the hegemonic mainstream culture culminated in violence between the conflicting groups. The extensive coverage of the Sleepy Lagoon Murder by the mainstream press contributed to racial discrimination of the subculture and led to the Zoot Suit Riots in L.A. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder took place on August 1, 1942, when a fight broke out between Mexican youth from rival neighbourhoods. Sleepy Lagoon was a reservoir on a Mexican family's ranch where youth of the minority group congregated when they were denied access to city-owned areas. The fight resulted in the murder of a young Mexican man, and consequently police began a violent clampdown against Mexican youth. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested over 600 Mexican youth, mainly those who were members of the zoot suit subculture, although many had nothing to do with the fight that caused the man's murder. In total, 22 were indicted for the murder, and one youth was sentenced to life in San Quentin jail. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder trial was in L.A. headlines for months, with the mainstream media portraying Mexican youth as "zoot suit hoodlums" and calling for such "criminal outbreaks" to be controlled by the police and city officials (Los Angeles Examiner). This incident and the following trial proved that Mexicans, whether they were zoot-suited or not, came to be singled out and associated with criminality by L.A. authorities as well as the press and citizens. Dick Hebdige discusses the "ideological effect of the media" in his article The Function of Subculture. The mainstream media's portrayal of Mexican American youths caused them to be seen as cultural rebels and delinquents by the dominant culture, and therefore the zoot suit subculture that they were a part of was strongly opposed.

The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 were a culmination of the historical and social contexts that developed the dominant culture's antagonism to the race-oriented subculture. An explanation of the violence that ensued can be found by addressing the conjuncture and specificity of the zoot suit subculture. The riots happened in L.A., which was a metropolis already congested with several different racial groups, all existing in close neighbourhoods. During WWII, many civilian patrols were established throughout the city, and military bases were set up along the Pacific Coast in Southern California. As a result, military servicemen were added to the already mixed racial equation that made up L.A. On the weekends in the summer of 1943, up to 50,000 servicemen could be found in the city. These young, predominantly white males emulated the hegemonic culture's ideologies and perceptions of racial minorities and the zoot suiters. They felt threatened by this subculture and its members, which had seemed to take over the city. The unofficial uniform of the zoot suit subculture, the zoot suit itself, became antagonistic to the dominant culture, and in turn, the servicemen in L.A. The characteristics of the zoot suit, its origins, and especially its defiance of wartime regulations made it a symbol of resistance to the hegemonic ideals. Alvarez states in his article that "the improvisational and exaggerated qualities of the zoot subverted the heroic American masculinity of patriotic sailors, who in their all-white, tight-fitting, starched uniforms were starkly juxtaposed to the colorful and oversized zoot." The servicemen felt threatened by these flashy, interracial zoot suiters and these feelings escalated into violent actions against the subculture.

The weeklong Zoot Suit Riots began on June 3, 1943, when a group of uniformed sailors claimed they were attacked by group of Mexican pachucos dressed in zoot suits. In retaliation, a mob of sailors entered the Mexican American community in East L.A. looking for revenge. Many zoot suiters were beaten by the mob and stripped of their zoot suits. While Mexican Americans were the primary targets of military servicemen, anyone wearing a zoot suit was targeted. Police were often present during the riots, but little was done to intervene. No sailors were charged, but police arrested over 600 Mexican youths without cause, labeling the arrests preventive action. Based on perceptions cultivated by the historical and social contexts of the era, and enforced by the mainstream media's construction and portrayal of the events, the dominant culture saw the riots as a necessary way to maintain control over the antagonistic zoot suit subculture.

After a week of rioting, the Navy and Marine corps command staffs finally intervened. With enforcement by U.S. Navy Shore Patrol personnel, servicemen were confined to their barracks and the city of Los Angeles was declared off-limits to all military personnel. After the rioting had ceased,the city council adopted a resolution that banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angeles streets, punishable by a thirty-day jail term. However, the servicemen had already done their part to ban the suits. During the riots, the zoot suiters were not only stripped of their clothes, but had been publicly humiliated, and disgraced. Their subculture was made a mockery of, and effectively annihilated. Rubinstein's article describes this: "The ritualistic stripping of zoot-suiters became the major means by which the servicemen established their superiority over the pachucos and indicated the servicemen's desire to terminate the pachucos' attempt at developing self-regard." After the riots, members of the zoot suit culture were no longer allowed to wear the clothes that had ultimately defined them and brought them together as a subculture. Without the zoot suit, their subculture fell apart, and was effectively eradicated from the hegemonic culture.

The zoot suit subculture was born from an attitude of defiant resistance to the racial prejudices that were inflicted on the minority groups who shaped it. The historical context of the zoot suit era contributed to negative and discriminatory perceptions of the subculture by the dominant culture, and the mainstream media's stereotypical portrayal of zoot suiters. Violence erupted during the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots, leading to the symbolic annihilation of the zoot suit and the eradication of the zoot suit subculture. City officials of Los Angeles reacted poorly to the riots in the summer of 1943, and their short-term public policy reactions were ineffective. Perhaps, if they had reacted with a knowledgeable and efficient response, the more serious and violent riots in Detroit and Harlem later that same summer could have been avoided.
Alvarez, L. "From Zoot Suits to Hip Hop: Towards a Relational Chicana/o Studies." Latino Studies 5.1 (2007): 53-75.
Fregoso, Rosa Linda. "The Representation of Cultural Identity in the Zoot Suit." Theory and Society 22.5 (1993): 659-674.
Hebdige, Dick. "The Function of Subculture." The Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Simon. New York: Routledge, 1999. 441-450.
"Police Must Clean Up L.A. Hoodlumism." Los Angeles Examiner 10 June 1943. 25 March 2009. .

Ramirez, Catherine S. "Saying Nothin': Pachucas and the Languages of Resistance." Frontiers 27.3 (2006): 1-33.
Rubinstein, Ruth P. "Individuals Who Protest an Inferior Identity." Dress Codes: Meanings and Messages in American Culture. Colorado: Westview Press, 2001.