Mexico Unmanned

Samanta Ordóñez

Description

Iconic images of machismo in Mexico's classic cinema affirm the national film industry's historical alignment with the patriarchal ideology intrinsic to the post-revolutionary state's political culture. Filmmakers gradually turned away from the cultural nationalism of mexicanidad, but has the underlying gender paradigm been similarly abandoned? Films made in the past two decades clearly reflect transformations instituted by a neoliberal regime of cultural politics, yet significant elements of macho mythology continue to be rearticulated. Mexico Unmanned examines these structural continuities in recent commercial and auteur films directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Cuarón, Carlos Reygadas, Amat Escalante, and Julio Hernández Cordón, among others. Informed by cinema's role in Mexico's modern/colonial gender system, Samanta Ordóñez draws out recurrent patterns of signification that reproduce racialized categories of masculinity and bolster a larger network of social hierarchies. In so doing, Ordóñez dialogues with current intersectional gender theory, fresh scholarship on violence in the neoliberal state, and the latest research on Mexican cinema.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction

1. Old Macho Mythologies in New Mexican Cinema—Y tu mama también and Rudo y Cursi

2. Demystifying Machismo in Batalla en el cielo and Post tenebras lux

3. Manufacturing Malformed Masculinities in Heli

4. Neoliberal Masculinities between Romance and Realism in Te prometo anarquía

Afterword
Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

• Film
• Gender studies
• Caribbean
• Mexico
• History of film
• History of the Americas
• Latin America
• Visual culture
• Película fotográfica
• Latin American

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438486307
• Langue: English

Extrait

Mexican Unmannted
SUNY series in Latin American Cinema

Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado and Leslie L. Marsh, editors
Mexico Unmanned
The Cultural Politics of Masculinity in Mexican Cinema
Samanta Ordóñez
Cover: Digitized frames from the film Batalla en el cielo directed by Carlos Reygadas, co-produced by Mantarraya producciones.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Ordóñez, Samanta, author.
Title: Mexico unmanned : the cultural politics of masculinity in Mexican cinema / Samanta Ordóñez.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Series: SUNY series in Latin American cinema | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021030192 (print) | LCCN 2021030193 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438486291 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438486307 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Masculinity in motion pictures. | Motion pictures—Mexico—History. | Motion pictures—Social aspects—Mexico. | Motion pictures—Political aspects—Mexico.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.M34 O84 2021 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.M34 (ebook) | DDC 791.43/652110972—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030192
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030193
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Contents
L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P REFACE
I NTRODUCTION
C HAPTER O NE Old Macho Mythologies in New Mexican Cinema— Y tu mamá también and Rudo y Cursi
C HAPTER T WO Demystifying Machismo in Batalla en el cielo and Post tenebras lux
C HAPTER T HREE Manufacturing Malformed Masculinities in Heli
C HAPTER F OUR Neoliberal Masculinities between Romance and Realism in Te prometo anarquía
A FTERWORD
N OTES
W ORKS C ITED
I NDEX
Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) compete with one another in the swimming pool ( Y tu mamá también ).
Figure 1.2 Julio and Tenoch indulge in synchronous masturbation ( Y tu mamá también ).
Figure 1.3 The minor character Chuy (Silverio Palacios), a local fisherman soon to be expelled from his home along with his family, cheerfully plays soccer with the protagonists ( Y tu mamá también ).
Figure 1.4 Beto (Luna) and Tato (García) return home to their rural community much the worse for wear after their disastrous foray into the transnational world of professional soccer ( Rudo y Cursi ).
Figure 2.1 Ana (Ana Mushkadiz) gazes at her chauffer, Marcos (Marcos Hernández), from the rear seat of the stationary vehicle ( Batalla en el cielo, 2005).
Figure 2.2 Close-up shot of Marcos’s face in profile from a perspective implicitly aligned with Ana’s gaze ( Batalla en el cielo ).
Figure 2.3 Another subjective shot from Ana’s point-of-view emphasizes Marcos’s corpulence and unkempt appearance with a close-up of his frayed, sweat-stained undershirt ( Batalla en el cielo ).
Figure 2.4 Marcos lies motionless in a cadaverous posture after his sexual encounter with Ana ( Batalla en el cielo ).
Figure 2.5 A print of Théodore Géricault’s A Horse Frightened by Lightning from Marcos’s perspective ( Batalla en el cielo ).
Figure 2.6 El Siete (Willebaldo Torres) speaks from the podium at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting ( Post tenebras lux ).
Figure 2.7 Another AA group member, El Sapo, stands at the same podium ( Post tenebras lux ).
Figure 2.8 The explicit act of violence Juan commits against his dog remains mostly unseen from the audience’s perspective throughout this static shot ( Post tenebras lux ).
Figure 3.1 The image of decapitated heads is included as a banalized visual element of generic television news coverage of drug violence ( Heli ).
Figure 3.2 The brutalized body of Beto (Juan Eduardo Palacios) hangs from a pedestrian bridge whose rectangular structure subtly mirrors the shape of a cinema screen ( Heli ).
Figure 3.3 The protagonist (Armando Espitia) appears bound and gagged, and with his captor’s boot pressed on his head in the opening shot ( Heli ).
Figure 3.4 An inverted mirror image of the opening shot reappears approximately midway through the film ( Heli ).
Figure 3.5 One of the anonymous boys observing the torture records the scene on his cellphone camera with the intention of posting it online ( Heli ).
Figure 3.6 A high-angle shot minimizes the protagonist’s stature from the implied perspective of members of the violent paramilitary police force ( Heli ).
Figure 3.7 A forced perspective technique similarly reduces the apparent size of the protagonist relative to the forces that threaten him ( Heli ).
Figure 4.1 Miguel (Diego Calva) gazes up longingly at his lover, Johnny (Eduardo Eliseo Martínez), in the opening sequence of Te prometo anarquía.
Figure 4.2 This shot of Miguel and Johnny having intercourse centers Miguel’s expression of desire and pleasure, while Johnny faces away from the camera ( Te prometo anarquía ).
Figure 4.3 A long shot of Johnny contextualizes him in the urban environment, avoiding any suggestion of his emotional interiority ( Te prometo anarquía ).
Figure 4.4 An obscured shot of Techno (Diego Escamilla Corona) shows him collapsed on the floor of a subway train carriage while Miguel prepares to drag him onto the platform ( Te prometo anarquía ).
Figure 4.5 A long shot of the protagonists on a pedestrian overpass shows Miguel evidently undergoing a crisis while Johnny consoles him ( Te prometo anarquía ).
Acknowledgments
This book was written with significant institutional backing and with the intellectual and emotional support of many individuals. The initial seeds of my research on Mexican masculinities were planted in classes and conversations with Debra Castillo while I was a graduate student in Romance Studies at Cornell. Simply the best dissertation advisor and mentor anyone could hope for, Debra was unfailingly supportive and always generous with her excellent feedback and insightful suggestions. Over countless discarded drafts of dissertation chapters, she enabled me to define my intellectual path and gave me the confidence to find my own voice. I also benefited from the advice and encouragement of other members of my dissertation committee, Edmundo Paz Soldán, Gerard Aching, and Amy Villarejo. I must also thank Amy and Debra for opening the door for me to become a teaching assistant in the Performing and Media Arts Department. The experience of working with Sabine Haenni in her excellent global cinemas class was absolutely formative.
At Wake Forest University, I must appreciatively recognize Erica Still for organizing Faculty of Color initiatives and for creating a network of mutual support that helped me to feel at home as a new faculty member. José Villalba has been another steadfast supporter in the administration. In my own department, I have had the good fortune of being surrounded by amazing colleagues. Fellow cinema specialist Anne Hardcastle, who chaired Spanish and Italian throughout my first years at Wake, has been a reliable source of advice and camaraderie. I thank Irma Alarcón, Jane Albrecht, Diego Burgos, Andrea Echeverría, Margaret Ewalt, Jerid Francom, Mary Friedman, Olga Furmanek, Luis González, Linda Howe, Bruce Jackson, Tiffany Judy, Rémi Lanzoni, Kathryn Mayers, Sol Miguel-Prendes, Roberta Morosini, Carmen Perez-Muñoz, Teresa Sanhuenza, Jessica Shade Venegas, Kendall Tarte, Silvia Tiboni-Craft, Claudia Valdez, José Luis Venegas, Nicholas Wolters, and Boston Woolfolk for their kindness and collegiality. Thanks also go to Dean Franco for his ongoing support of my projects, Wanda Balzano for showing interest in my work and inviting me to the Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies Colloquium, and Vinodh Venkatesh for engaging thoughtfully with me during his visit from Virginia Tech.
Much of the writing process of this book took place during a leave granted by the Wake Forest College of Arts and Science. Direct support also came from the WFU Humanities Institute, which awarded me a Summer Writing Grant in 2019. The Provost’s Office provided additional backing in the form of funds for travel to conferences, giving me opportunities to share my ideas and engage in rich discussions with others in my field.
Thanks to Rebecca Colesworthy, James Peltz, and Ryan Morris at SUNY Press, and to the series editors, Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado and Leslie L. Marsh. Two anonymous readers provided thoughtful suggestions that were incorporated into the final text. Fragments of chapter 2 first appeared in “Carlos Reygadas’s Batalla en el Cielo ( Battle in Heaven ) (2005): Disarticulating the Brown Male Body from Myths of Mexican Masculinity,” Studies in Spanish Latin American Cinemas 14, no. 1 (March 2017): 77–94.
Special thanks go to Carlos Reygadas and to David London at Splendor Omnia Studios for helping to secure the cover image from Batalla en el cielo .
From the very beginnings through to the completion of this work,