In the altar’s center is “a plaster image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, quarter-life size, its brown Indian face staring down on the woman” (Paredes 23). The implication of the stare is of criticism as the Virgin, symbolic of an ideal Mexican womanhood, looks down on Marcela, whose Anglo features starkly contrast with the Virgin’s, and whose actions are in opposition to the values that she represents. This carefully constructed scene is meaningful. Marcela’s lifeless body lies between the bed and the altar, and opposite to the altar is Marcela’s shrine dedicated to Hollywood movie stars. These are the visual images of the opposing forces that characterize the Mexican-American struggle for resistance against American cultural hegemony.
Blanca Quinteros Ms. A. Aramillo English IV Honors 29 October 2015 How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent The transition the girls made from Dominican Republic to the United States was imbued with struggles – cultural, linguistic, and gender-related. In the 1960s American women were limited in various ways, including family roles and equality in the workplace. The way gender roles were set retained them from expanding their abilities in their homes and jobs. Women had one path to follow: marriage at their early 20s, and subsequent servitude to their husbands and/or children. A feminist movement in the 1960s to 1970s focused on breaking down the gender inequality.
The Bronze Screen introduced both positive and negative portrayals of Latinas and Latinos in film. While there are plenty of positive Latino roles in films, Latinos and Latinas should be included in more positive roles because the negative roles Latinos have in films cause negative stereotypes. Positive and negative representations of Latinos in films has always fluctuated throughout history, however the more negative ones seem to always overpower the good ones. The film, “The Bronze Screen”, gave many examples of the negative roles Latinos played in films throughout film history. Early films included Latino actors, however they did not always have a lead role or even a positive one.
The exotification of Dolores del Rio is evident in an article published by a Photoplay issue in 1934, as she is described as possessing “golden skin, smooth as mellowed ivory and her dark, flashing eyes bespoke the lue of those maidenly ‘senoritas’ who peep at life from behind cloistered shutters… When the young man comes to call on a senorita in Mexico… he brings his guitar” (38). Through the exotification of Dolores del Rio, Hollywood found great success in the United States and in Latin America, one of the most profitable film markets in the cinematic industry. As a white-passing Latinx woman, del Rio was “more easily able to move in and out of ethnic roles” (33). Because Dolores del Rio was a Latinx woman that held “upper-class roles” and a Eurocentric standard of beauty while nonetheless, identifying with her Mexican heritage, she not only appealed to the white American public, but to Latin American audiences as well (Hershfield
The women's reactions, although were affected “positive” from their upbringing were still formed within the confines of society. The chapters show the different ways which Latinas interact and the perception of sex. Often the voice of Latinas is lost and losing this voice means losing a part of history. It is important to record the way which Latinas are socialized about sex since it is reflected in the nature of their
Carmen Miranda was a Portugeses-Brazilian beauty who rose to fame in the 1930s and 1950s as a South American cultural icon. Her distinctive fruit headpiece and flamboyant costumes captivated audiences, and her life had both accomplishments and disappointments, making her a diverse and distinctive character in entertainment history. My intent with this essay is to prove that Carmen Miranda had a major impact on Latin America, introducing the world to samba and other Latin American rhythms. She also challenged preconceptions about Latina women on cinema by playing strong and independent characters. She was also a forerunner in the entertainment world for women, being one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors in the 1940s and campaigning for improved treatment and opportunities for women in the business.
Crowds traditionally came out to view male performers, but were now coming out and turning towards Selena(Jones 25). She became such a hit in Tejano music now that she was becoming more popular than her male counterparts. In an industry filled with male performers and all male bands, Selena was making a name for herself and taking the spotlight. Part of her success came from standing out, which she did through her “ability to reinvent basic Mexican cumbia”(Acosta and Winegarten 298). Many Texas Latinos at the time did not have the ability to do this or were either persuaded that it would not produce success.
Carmen Miranda's celebrity grew during the 1940s and 1950s and continued to be the popular entertainment icon in Brazil and the United States while spreading her fame around the world also. Carmen Miranda was known for her high-energy performances and distinctive style (Bishop-Sanchez, 2016). Her Hollywood films such as "That Night in Rio" and "The Gang's All Here" made her a household figure in the United States, introducing many Americans to samba and other Brazilian musical forms. Despite her portrayal of traditional Latin American characters, Carmen Miranda is still a cultural icon in Brazil, and her music and style continue to inspire artists and audiences worldwide. Her success in both Brazil and the United States demonstrates the importance
The crossing between fashion and media can have a powerful impact on the perception of subcultures and marginalized communities, as seen in the case of pachucos and their signature fashion statement with the zoot suit. In the book “Zoot Suit and Other Plays” by Luis Valdez, he explores the experiences and struggles of Mexican Americans and Chicano culture. With one of his plays surrounding the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Murder case, we find out that the zoot suit was a way to express their cultural identity, also how the media created negative stereotypes about the Mexican American/Latin youth culture. But, it’s also vital to consider the extent to which measures such as “other reasons why they wear the zoot suit” or “what certain stereotypes the media
Introduced Brazilian music and culture to the U.S Carmen Miranda's appearances in Hollywood films, which included elements of samba and other Brazilian musical forms, introduced
Life for women in Latin America during the 19th century was greatly impacted by independence. Latin America in the 19th century was a completely patriarchal society. A patriarchy is a system in which men control the power of women’s labor, sexuality in the household and society, and women’s reproductive potential. Women’s roles in society were divided based on the class system.
The very act of cross-dressing itself was subversive, especially in Spain where costume was hugely important, not just on stage but in real life. Literary critic William Egginton notes in An Epistemology of the Stage, that when it came to costume the "Spanish public was extremely sensitive to such signifiers of class and could not, for example, tolerate or comprehend a scene in which the signs of social status presented by costume and speech would conflict". (402) With the audience so sensitive to costume details, what must they have thought about Rosaura 's male attire? Women dressing as men was a common device used by playwrights in the Golden Age (mujer vestida de hombre ) and one wonders was it merely because it was practical?
Yet, overall, Guzmán’s treatment of the collective is subtle and, in general, manifests fragmentarily; the collective does not appear onscreen as a multitude demanding social change, but rather as a phantasm that has not managed to fully coalesce and revive in postdictatorial times. Gone, for example, are the militant throngs of La batalla that undulate in the streets as if they were one body. Instead, in Guzmán’s postdictatorship cinema, the collective is something to be mourned, desired, celebrated, or intuited. By contrast, Pino Solanas’s post-2001 films return us to the political of Third Cinema—mass street action and overt, incendiary ideological discourse—in ways that Guzmán’s films do not. This move toward citing a Third Cinema aesthetic to revive its potential in the present is the second move I want to examine.
The Myth of The Latin Woman Analysis Latin American women face challenges every single day and moment of their lives. They are strongly discriminated against in all sectors of employment, in public places, and even while just walking down the street. In her essay, "The Myth of the Latin Woman," Judith Ortiz Cofer describes her own experiences using illuminating vignettes, negative connotation, and cultural allusion to exemplify how she used the struggles in her day to day life as a Latin woman to make herself stronger. Cofer uses illuminating vignettes to illustrate the different situations she encountered as a Latina while growing up and living in America.
Starting with Coutinho’s landmark film, then, in what follows I briefly sketch the progressive radicalization of reflexivity and performance in Coutinho’s own work, and subsequently move on to different formal responses developed, at least in part, in reaction to Coutinho’s work. The Art of Interviewing: Eduardo Coutinho and the Theater of the Real Shot between 1981 and 1984, Cabra marcado para morrer (1984) is, in a sense, the completion of the project from which it inherits its title; it integrates original footage salvaged after the Brazilian military invaded the Galiléia cooperative in Pernambuco at the time of the March 31, 1964 coup. Filming had begun just a month earlier. The original Cabra—made with the support of the National Student Union (União Nacional dos Estudantes, UNE) and the leftist Movement
