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

film foray: MI FAMILIA 315
Memo to be considered by José and María the “pride and joy” of the family.
Thus, not only is Memo deceiving his parents at the expense of his own
fl esh and blood, but since the family is meant to represent all Chicanos, he
and his type are traitors to Chicano identity.
If, however, we were to read against the grain of the fi lm’s overt attempt
to alienate the viewer from Memo, we might agree that Memo should certainly
doubt the validity of his father’s stories, since José Sánchez has proven
himself a talented and inventive storyteller. Born after the death of El Californio,
Memo is not old enough to remember his great uncle or to verify
his burial circumstances, i.e., he was not an eyewitness as we were, which
allowed us to distinguish between truth and fable. In this way, Mi familia,
like other U.S.-Latino fi lms, narrows the defi nition of Latinidad to exclude
anyone who attempts to mitigate his/her hyphenated status by assimilating
into mainstream U.S. culture. In this genre’s defi nition of Chicano identity,
Anglo acclamation is unacceptable.
Mi familia represents an important innovation in the history of U.S. fi lm
by redressing Hollywood’s endless production, and North America’s eager
consumption, of images of U.S. Latinos aligned with mainstream presuppositions
and expectations. The fi lm reverses Hollywood’s penchant for
casting Italian Americans in portrayals of Hispanics by using a cast that
is all Latino, albeit not all Chicano. In both content and form, Mi familia
consciously attempts to expand both U.S. historical dialogue and the cultural
productions it engenders. Yet, as our introductory discussion regarding
discourse demonstrated, each successive reading reveals another level of
unconscious discursive construct, and Mi familia is no exception. In its deliberate
attempt to promote inclusion, it unwittingly promotes exclusion.
Discussion Questions
• In what ways does Mi familia represent and empower the nonlettered
citizen?
• By portraying Mexican Americans as the new American family,
how does Mi familia at once challenge and accept traditional notions of
so-called American values?
• How does this fi lm dialogue with the polemic ignited by Bill Cosby’s
criticism of the notion that African Americans equate education and
studying with being white? Cosby calls on African-American parents to
teach their children the value of education, but his detractors claim that
African-American youth’s disillusionment with education stems from
the fact that the system disenfranchises them from a good education and