Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

304 reframing latin america
economic troubles, the message of the fi nal frame set in our present evokes
pre-NAFTA aspirations, laying the foundations of “natural” family bonds
between Mexico and the United States in the past and justifying appeals for
aid and (inter?)dependency in the present. The happy ending comes when
the “hope,” Esperanza, trades in Mama Elena’s pre-Revolutionary patriarchy
for Alex Brown’s and Uncle Sam’s late-capitalist patriarchy [. . .].
Discussion Questions
• Wu argues that Como agua para chocolate doubles back against its
own feminist pretensions, resulting in what is ultimately a conservative
text. How does Wu “kill off” a lot of authors as she demonstrates the process
whereby a discourse (patriarchy, in this case) can seep its way into an
ostensibly feminist text, thwarting what seems to be the intention of the
authors/directors?
• Based on Tenenbaum’s article, make a list of phrases and adjectives
to describe Mexico and then interpret these using a semiotic understanding
of essentialism.
• Imagine that you disagree with Tenenbaum, but not from a semiotic
perspective. Instead, you are an essentialist or a hermeneutician who
does not concur with her depiction of Mexican identity. Construct an
alternative.
• How does the fact that Tita’s niece marries Alex Brown undermine
the validity of Tenenbaum’s insistence that Tita cannot marry Dr. Brown
since this would be tantamount to the repetition of Malinche’s betrayal of
her people? What is Wu’s argument regarding this marriage? How does this
new sort of foundational fi ction as defi ned by Wu contradict Tenenbaum’s
claim?
• Wu spends quite a lot of time looking at the way the fi lm was marketed.
Tenenbaum does not. Why not? Can you relate this aspect of Wu’s
argument back to Bary’s examination of discourse and power in Chapter
10, perhaps exemplifi ed there also in Rama’s lettered city?
• Does Tenenbaum essentialize Mexican identity with regard to the
issue of love and family? Does she also essentialize U.S. identity? In
the examination of magical realism, how does Wu dispute Tenenbaum’s
notion of Mexican identity?
notes
1. Barbara Tenenbaum, “Why Tita Didn’t Marry the Doctor, or Mexican
History in Like Water for Chocolate,” ed. Donald Stevens, Based on a True