Traits of Mexican identity from Roma ¿ Somos o no somos ?

PopMeC, 2021

Set in the 1970s, Roma (2018) by Alfonso Cuarón is an ambitious cinematic attempt to portray an upper-class family, facing a crisis due to the abandonment of the main provider of the household, by focusing on the family’s maid, whose name is Cleo. Yalitzia Aparicio makes her acting debut as the Mixtec maid in the film, who prior to Roma hadn’t had any acting experience. Even though Aparicio’s father is Mixtec and her mother Trique, she is not fluent in Mixtec. However, in the film viewers can listen to her speaking in Mixtec. Her character’s ethnicity allows her to display on-screen a vital trajectory and a double consciousness that embodies one of the main migratory patterns that Mixtecs have endeavored in recent decades. While on the film she is framed as a new migrant in Mexico City—one of the main destinations of Mixtecs that migrate from their homeland—her migration to a modern urban space indirectly points towards the second main destination that Mixtecs have pursued since the 1960s. Due to the Bracero Program (1942-1964), many Mixtecs migrated under temporary contracts to work mostly in the agricultural sector in Western United States. As it is the case of many “chachas” or “gatas" (derogatory terms for maids in Mexico City), Cleo’s role within the family’s dynamic is reduced not only to the cleaning demands of the big house where she works, but also as a caregiver of the family’s children.

Intersections | Cross-sections Graduate Conference 2019: Versus, 2019

How does Mexican cinema challenge national status quo, the canon of whiteness, and hegemonic masculinity? This paper identifies the motif of contrast in two films by Alfonso Cuarón and demonstrates that dual narratives are the necessary means through which criticism is conveyed, and Mexico’s antithetical social and political dynamics are portrayed. Award-winning "Y tu mamá también" (2001) uses the genre of coming-of-age, road-trip movie to address the Mexican contradiction between revolutionary impetus and persisting patriarchal attitudes. The film is defined by duality: the married woman Luisa Cortés, visiting from Spain, seduces the two teenage Mexicans Julio Zapata and Tenoch Itúrbide; the character’s names are borrowed from historical Spanish colonizers and Mexican revolutionaries; the “sea, sex and sun” narrative is regularly interrupted by documentary-style episodes and their political voiceover; homoerotic tension is juxtaposed to demonstrations of traditional mexicanidad and macho instincts. Manifold contrasts, binaries and dualities also characterize the new Golden-Globe winner "Roma" (2018): black/white, Indigenous/white, Mixtec/Spanish, motherhood/child-caregiver, dirt/cleanliness, speech/silence, etc. The camera moves constantly and yet draws attention to great detail. Reality and fiction mingle as lead actress Yalitza Aparicio realizes while acting that her character Cleo is having a stillborn baby. The figure of the Indigenous domestic worker is put to the forefront, which goes against the cult of white beauty that very much inhabits Mexico from screens to billboards until today. By constantly confronting contraries, both films provide a space for what Gloria Anzaldúa called “a new consciousness” of mestizo/a, and here, Mexican at large, identity. Keywords: Alfonso Cuarón, mexicanidad, race, masculinity, status quo

2001

Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL)

The aims of this research are (1) to find out the meaning of the day of the dead holiday (Día de Los Muertos) based on the movie; (2) to elaborate on the importance of the day of the dead holiday (Día de Los Muertos); and (3) to find out how to deal with a family conflict during the day of the dead holiday (Día de Los Muertos). This study uses a qualitative approach to address research problems as it enables the researcher to perform in-depth studies of a specific phenomenon. The findings or this research are (1) The meaning of the day of the dead holiday (Día de Los Muertos) based on Coco has some indicators such as symbols, heroes, and ritual (2) How the main character deals with his family conflict is that (a) The conflict which comes from the family culture is making the main character to become a rebel. Conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic by itself. (b) parents are making decisions about what they consider is ...

This article explores the textualisation of masculinity and race in the Mexican film Amores perros. The central argument is that the film displays Mexican masculinities in both a transgressive and conventional fashion. Transgression is articulated with narratives about life in Mexico City that challenge traditional Mexican masculinities, particularly as these relate to brown masculinities. These traditional masculinities are proven obsolete and futureless. Masculinities that are more progressive are textualised through reference to symbolic elements of manliness codified through whiteness and wealth. These are deemed promising, capable of development and oriented toward the future. However, in representing brownness as obsolete and whiteness as progressive, the film reproduces conventional ideas about masculinities, which are often given value through class and race. The film lays bare race, class and gender tensions in the modern Mexican state, exposing the ways in which ideas of progress and modernity can too easily reconstitute racial and class disenfranchisement.

Mediatico, 2018

This article gives a full account of the experience of watching Cuarón's Roma in Mexico City's Casa del Cine. It calls attention to the new discipline required of spectators in rare screenings by this film, released only briefly to theaters, and places the film itself in the context of Mexico 2018. It calls attention to three aspects of the film that intersect with the politics of the time of exhibition: air travel, student demonstrations and budget cuts to the arts, including film.

Pax Lumina, 2023

Much has been said about Roma, Alfonso Cuaron’s movie of 2018. While critics have swung from extreme to extreme, stating that it is either a work of art or that it has been overrated and could be considered the emperor's new clothes, I would like to offer three ideas to free us from this crossroads or at least try to do so. This paper, within the limits of the short format, aims to make the film visible as a useful tool to challenge homogeneous visions of Latin American violence that produce consequently monolithic and identity-based visions of the subjects, anchored in violent narratives that prevent us from seeing the peace in which domestic workers participate and the complexity of the places and times in which their actions unfold, permanently relating to the law.

Transamerican Film and Literature, 2017

Volumen 1 – 9 reseñas en total de 5 países; 6 reseñas en revistas Scopus, WoS o Conahcyt: ---------- Mexican Transnational Cinema and Literature, edited by Maricruz Castro Ricalde, Mauricio Díaz Calderón and James Ramey, offers innovative analyses of Mexican film and literature through a transnational lens. This bilingual collection of essays examines how Mexican cultural productions transcend national boundaries in terms of aesthetics, production, distribution, and reception. The volume is organized around three key themes: the transnational, the national, and representations of the local and global. Contributors provide in-depth studies of films from Mexico's Golden Age to contemporary art cinema, as well as explorations of literary works. By questioning rigid notions of national cinema and literature, the essays illuminate the porosity of borders and the complex interplay between the local, national and global in Mexican cultural expressions. This interdisciplinary volume makes a significant contribution to debates on transnationalism in film and literary studies, offering new perspectives on how Mexican cinema and literature engage with issues of identity, cultural exchange, and globalization. ---------- Mexican Transnational Cinema and Literature, editado por Maricruz Castro Ricalde, Mauricio Díaz Calderón y James Ramey, ofrece análisis innovadores del cine y la literatura mexicana a través de una lente transnacional. Esta colección bilingüe de ensayos examina cómo las producciones culturales mexicanas trascienden las fronteras nacionales en términos de estética, producción, distribución y recepción. El volumen está organizado en torno a tres temas clave: lo transnacional, lo nacional y las representaciones de lo local y lo global. Los colaboradores proporcionan estudios en profundidad de películas desde la Época de Oro del cine mexicano hasta el cine de arte contemporáneo, así como exploraciones de obras literarias. Al cuestionar nociones rígidas de cine y literatura nacional, los ensayos iluminan la porosidad de las fronteras y la compleja interacción entre lo local, lo nacional y lo global en las expresiones culturales mexicanas. Este volumen interdisciplinario hace una contribución significativa a los debates sobre el transnacionalismo en los estudios cinematográficos y literarios, ofreciendo nuevas perspectivas sobre cómo el cine y la literatura mexicana abordan cuestiones de identidad, intercambio cultural y globalización.

PhD Thesis, Aston University , 2022

This work explores the transnational construction of Spanish identity through nonprofessional film reviews from the UK, the US and Spain. All the reviews analysed are based on English-speaking feature films which include at least one Spanish actress, actor, character or scene; were co-produced by Spain with the UK and/or the US; and received public funding from Spain. The analysis carried out revolves around the linguistic construction of three elements: Spain as a physical entity, Spaniards—differentiating between men and women—and the Spanish culture(s). The focus is on the semantic threads used as a means of realising Spanish identity. Also, the physical attributes, professions, and lifestyles of the Spanish characters in the films are addressed, as well as the characteristics of Spanish locations/settings. The results obtained show that the classic stereotypical images associating Spanish identity with exoticism, bohemia, sex and passion are still deeply rooted today in the corpus analysed. They also suggest that the audiences of the UK, the US and Spain do not construct Spanish identity in the same way. In this sense, reviewers from the UK have turned out to be the most receptive to stereotypes and clichés, those from the US the ones who have recognised cultural aspects the most, while Spaniards have been the most likely to include sexist and negative views. The current use(s) of national identity within the transnational discourse of creative industries, such as that of cinema, seems to deserve more attention in future research, extending to different audio-visual materials and audiences. In the Spanish case, which is addressed throughout this thesis, the construction of its national identity in publicly funded feature films highlights the need to rethink the criteria by which funds are allocated and, ultimately, how they impact on the country's image, both nationally and internationally.