Reviews - Trinity University

Huaco-Nuzum
duplicitously placing Marialjefa (Jenny Gago) at the center of
the narrative while depriving her of agency. Her iconographic
image is the epitomized representation of the buena mujer, as
demonstrated when Jose, during Irene’s wedding, advises his
son in-law that “a good wife is the best thing that can happen
to a man in his life.”8 The denotation of “good wife” inevitably
connotes the chaste, subservient, obedient virgin, madre,
sufrida, who echoes Mexican films of the past that showed “que
la mujer mientras mas sufrida mas buena es.” The notion of
the “good wife” is a linguistic remnant of an archaic history
predicated on the subservient mothering of the macho, whose
sexual power is constructed on the powerlessness and chastity
of the mujer sufida.
The representation of the young Maria could have transcended
sufi-ida, but Nava chose to forfeit a representation of
Chicana agency for the madrecita-jefa, unequivocally constructing
Chicana, Latina subjectivity in terms of male desire,
biologically inscribing the Chicana in the role of the maternal.
Terms of domination do not necessarily have to be articulated
or overtly expressed for a narrative to be patriarchal: they
are often woven into the fabric of a narrative that at first glance
appears to represent a powerful female but later reveals her
power as a sham. This is precisely the case with the character
of Maria whose jefa status is an illusion. Contextualized
as the mother, she symbolizes the Virgin dethroned of authority
and ensconced in a niche of motherhood from which she
wields a transparent wand of power contained and constructed
in terms of male desire. For as long as Maria, the jefa, remains
the representation of the buena mujer, her sexuality poses no
threat to the males in the family. The trope of the buena mujer
unavoidably reinforces the traditional patriarchal values of
Chicana, Latina disempowerment, which relegate her to the
restrictive space of the private and constitute “woman’s work
as the only locus from which to express personal desire.
A pervasive intertextual theme of sexual anxiety surfaces
in Mi Familia on the part of male characters who demonstrate
concern about Toni’s sexuality and what they interpret as her
“unnatural” lack of interest in men. Object of the male gaze,
Toni’s sexuality becomes an issue early in the film. Although
Toni is not represented as the classic femme fatale of film noir,
her iconography is that of the sexual (her low-cut gown, painted
face, the close-up of her mouth, and so on). This representation
evokes anxiety on the part of the male characters who,
144