Week 6- Soy Cuba

          The film, Soy Cuba takes a poetic look at Cuban culture in the post-revolutionary period of society. The film outlines four segments of Cuban culture beginning with a story line of a young girl, Maria,  who through poverty and despair is forced into prostitution, something she is very ashamed of. The next section of the film focuses on the rural countryside and the life of a sugar cane farmer, Pedro. When the farmer finally gets a good crop, he is informed he will not profit from it, and ends up burning it to the ground, and dying. The next segment involves university students who rebel against the police, focusing on the role of one student named Enrique . The final part shows how Mariano, a typical farmer, ends up joining the rebels in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, ultimately leading to triumphal march into Havana to proclaim the revolution.

The film is influential for the notions of the post revolutionary Cuban culture it portrays. “This, the revolution transformed the domestic class structure, and it ushered into power a government more committed to economic expansion and diversification than the one it displaced” (Eckstein 504). This film explains these different class structures, and gives an accurate portrayal of Cuban culture during this time period. There are also notions of Cuban economics, and the effects it had on the Cuban people is displayed throughout the film. The film outlines Cuban people from different class structures, and shows what they deemed necessary for survival. 

Through these different people in Cuban culture, the issue of race is also brought  forward. There are the white Cubans and the Afro-Cubans, and they are seen throughout this film. The understanding of the differences these races had is also seen in the film. The nationalist discourse surrounding the racial differences was seen to have multiple purposes and was interpreted differently. “It could be used by those who advocated silencing racial issues as a threat to Cubanness and national integrity, but it also provided a set of legitimate principles and goals for those who sought to turn the ideal into a tangible reality” (Fuente 45). 

The main goal of the film is to display the differences in the Cuban culture, in this post revolutionary society. The film has American notions throughout the film, and the American presence is viewed as somewhat corrupt. It the first segment the clientele are all Americans, and have a powerful yet somewhat cruel air about them. In the second segment, the company buying Pedro’s land is American, even though it is done through the Cuban landowner. In the third story, the American sailors harass a innocent Cuban teenager, also seen as cruel and unnecessary. The last segment really has little American presence except for some of the weapons that are used. The use of including American imagery throughout the film aims to pin the Americans as somewhat cruel, but basically they aim to act as if Americans don’t have that much of an impact on Cuban culture. 

Viva Mexico- Week 6

The film Que Viva Mexico gives a depiction of Mexico in the rawest form. There are no actors, and the script is extremely basic. The film shows life from the perspective of the Mexican people and does an accurate job in portraying mexican culture. The film was shot during the Depression, this combined with the fact that it was an independent film left its creators Eisenstein and Upton Sinclair be extremely creative, and really give a portrayal of Mexican culture, and the conditions of the pre-revolutionary Mexico. 

The film is divided up into episodes, each identifying different aspects of the culture, combined they give a look into what the Mexican people’s lives were like. The first episode is the prologue which showed images of Mexican landscape and and structures like the Mayan pyramids. The images of the Mayan pyramids is an ancient image, and throughout the segment images of the past are intermingled with images of the present to pose the question: are the images of ancient and past Mexican culture separate from the images if the present or are the two combined and engrained in Mexican culture? The next episode shows how weddings and relationships develop in Mexican society. The indigenous nature of Mexico is a very matriarchal, where the women work until they are about sixteen to eighteen years old. They do this in order to save the gold coins they earn to make a necklace. Then they pick a husband. This episode deals with the indigenous part of Mexican culture. While the next episode shows the conquest, or stations of the cross. This exemplifies the triumph of the Spanish segment over the indigenous people. The scene that follows is the bull killing in honor of the virgin. This is also showing an aspect of the Spanish part of Mexican culture. After these two episodes on the Spanish influences in Mexico, the film switches back to a more indigenous aspect. The men cut open these gigantic mexican cactus plants, in a very intricate and detailed way. They do so in order to reach the center where there is a drink that they extract. The next episode shows where a man must bring his bride before the patron to get his permission to marry her. However, the patron takes the woman for himself. This causes somewhat of a rebellion. This tension gives a forshadowing to the unfinished episode of the film which surrounds the Mexican Revolutions. The main tension of the film surrounds the division between the indigenous Mexican culture and the Spanish Mexican culture, and the difference between the two.  

The film helps to show the way in which Mexican people lived their lives, and thew way that the two cultures mixed together to form one culture. It is very interesting to note the different practices, compared to American culture, and to get a grasp of the way Mexican life was before the Mexican revolution. 

Gabriela- Week 5

          The film, Gabriela is a film focused around the sexual and emotional relationships between men and women in Brazil, and specifically the relationship of Gabriela and Mr. Nacib. The film is very interesting for the way it portrays the act of adultery in Brazilian society. In Brazil the custom was that if a husband discovered his wife’s infidelity, then he had to right to kill both her and her lover. However, in the early 1900s this was banned with a law. Unfortunately, the law did little to prevent these murders as they were happening. “The number of women killed by men in Brazil, they declared, rose form one in every twelve hours in 1919 to one on every half-hour in 1924” (Besse 653). We see this issue present from the start of the film, there is a murder of a women and her lover by the women’s husband, that Mr. Nacib discovers after he buys Gabriela as his slave. Throughout the film the issue of crimes of passion is revealed through information about the case against the husband since it was no longer legal to commit such an act. Through the side characters like these, the issue is brought to light however, the true depiction of crimes of passion in the film is only revealed when Mr. Nacib discovers that Gabriela is having an affair. He storms in the room with a gun, only to rough the two up with minor injuries. After this scene Mr. Nacib says he will have to leave town, because he will be ridiculed for not killing the pair. The fact that Mr. Nacib does not kill his wife and her lover (also his best friend) is extremely interesting and sends a message much different that the information coming from the readings. Based on the statistic, these murders happened in all cases of infidelity. Therefore the choice Mr. Nacib makes to not kill his wife and adulterer seems unusual. There is some foreshadowing present to confuse the audience of his decision further. In the bar that he owns, Mr Nacib says, “a women who deceives her husband is a tramp, a whore”. This statement gives the implication that he would be very unforgiving if ever caught in the situation of his wife having extra-marital activities.

After he makes his decision not to kill them, he turns instead to an annulment, which will somehow prevent him from being publicly ridiculed. With his newfound freedom, he seems to be carefree and enjoys a long night of dancing with multiple women and heavy drinking. During the time he is enjoying his freedom, Gabriela is seen sneaking back into the house, and laying on the bed, and later watching him from the wall behind the house. When finally, Mr. Nacib sees her, he does not react the way you would think. Instead, he just stares at her, and she comes to him. Then the once married couple engage in sexual escapades. This is where the film ends, leaving the audience completely perplexed by the actions of Gabriela and definitely by Mr. Nacib. He strayed from what historical evidence of that time period in Brazil says a husband would do if confronted in his situation. However, his actions show that this was not the only way to respond to adultery. The ending is still ever bizarre, for why would a man take a women back who cheated on him? The film goes against social norms and is a testimony to the fact that society does not act as one, but as individuals who all make different choices. 

history 475-week 4

The film, Camila follows the story of an Argentina upper class girl named Camila who subsequently falls in love with the new priest. The story takes place in the tumultuous time in Argentinean history when Juan Manuel de Rosas was the leader of the country as a federalist dictator from 1829-1852. The film’s romantic element is the predominant element of the film, while the historic events that were taking place and the patriarchal nature of Argentinian society provides context for how live was in Argentina during this time period. 

There are elements of power displayed throughout the film coming from the family, church, and the state. The climax of the story unfolds when these three elements meet at a cross section to decide the fate of these transgressors. The elements of government at state go deeper than would be expected because of the political activity occurring in Argentina during the time. The federalist dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas was against any Unitarian activity in the country, and was very much trying to keep the people loyal to him. This is displayed throughout the film by the red ribbons the characters wear displaying their obedience to Juan Manuel de Rosas. “Rosas restored the red emblem as a ‘sign of fidelity to the cause and order, tranquility and well-being among the people of this land under the federal system, as a proof and public acknowledgement of the triumph of this sacred cause in the whole republic and a mark of confraternity between Argentines” (Stevens 97). This historic fact is incorporated in the film to show the tension in society and the ways in which this dictator was attempting to control his people. 

Along with the historical elements incorporated into this film, we see the patriarchal system within the family at play. Camila’s father is very much the head of the household, and it is evident that his authority is supreme. Camila is somewhat of a free spirit, who wants to speak her mind about her opinions. However, during a scene where the family is eating, Camila makes a comment about Rosas, that her father does not like. Her mother quickly tells her to keep quiet and listen. This comment is an example of the role women were to have in society. In another scene her father says there are only two choices for her: to become a nun or get married. The attitude her father has towards women in society combined with the way he treats the women in his family is an evident display of this patriarchal element in Argentinean society during this time. 

Along with this patriarchal element in society, there is also the element surrounding the climax of the film. When Camila and Ladislao run away, it doesn’t take too long for them to be discovered. Once they are taken into custody, the dilemma surrounds the moral implications of their actions. “During the long nineteenth century, Latin American states moved on a number of fronts to normalize elite, predominantly male, ideals of femininity and masculinity, especially in areas of health, education, employment, and charity-social work. This normalization provided the opportunity for nation, regional, and local officials to exert pressure on men and women to conform to what the elite regarded as ‘proper’ behavior” (Dore 5). From this standard, the actions taken by Ladislao and Camila were not “proper behavior”, and therefore their actions were punished with the upmost severity. The were meant to warn others of this immoral behavior and encourage submission to the patriarchal structure of Argentinean society.