The movie “Real Women Have Curves” tells the story of Ana Garcia, a high school graduate on her way to pursuit the American dream. Ana lives in barrio in Eastern Los Angeles, she is a brilliant student whom teacher really admire. Although she wants to go to college, her family, especially her mother, Carmen, tells her not to. In her mother’s eyes, Ana is a spoiled child who only thinks of herself. As the movie rolls along, the conflict between Ana and Carmen grows larger and Carmen turns into Ana’s biggest obstacle in achieving her American dream. Through this movie, it is important to take notice of how gender, education, class and traditional culture can influence a person’s journey to achieve the American dream.
First, it can be seen that
…show more content…
In “Real Women Have Curves,” Carmen seems to be very traditional with the way she raises her daughters and expect them to assume traditional roles of women in a household. Furthermore, this give her a belief that Ana should not go to college to receive further education since she only needs to stay at home and get married. This is due to the patriarchy ingrained in traditional culture, which has long been set up to remove women off power and rights. For example, in “The Patriarchal Family” by Gerda Lerner, the author states, “Patriarchy in classical antiquity and in its European development was based upon monogamy, but in all its forms a double sexual standard, which disadvantages women, was part of the system.” (253) Moreover, the system is sustained by, “gender indoctrination; education deprivation; the denial to women of knowledge of their history...by discrimination in access to economic resources and political power,” (Lerner 254) Hence, it explains why Carmen does not want her daughter to get a college education, since she is too influenced by the tradition, she thinks it is the right thing to do. As a result, tradition like this can hinder people from achieving their