La Gente del Fuego
Hollywood often tries to use realism to convey and represent what is perceived as natural (Kaplan, “Feminist Theoretical Models"). Throughout history, Hollywood films (with a few exceptions) have had a tendency to oppress and marginalize Mexico and Mexicans through representation. With my creation of a digital story I hope to offer my own personal narrative of my study abroad experience in Mexico to offer a perspective that challenges the stereotypes of Mexico and Mexicans typically seen in Hollywood cinema.
Common Hollywood Stereotypes of Mexico and Mexicans:
- Mexico is often shown as either a beautifully hopeless Third World country or a desolate, poverty-stricken land of barbarians.
- Spring Break towns and/or border towns.
- Women- perceived as exotic sexual objects of desire for the male gaze (common representation- Mexican maid).
- Men- carefree, lazy, macho criminal, sex/drug addict, mustache, poor English accent, barbaric, and inferior to the "American hero".
- Mexican history often inaccurate, incomplete, or dependent on American history.
The means in which I’ve chosen to present my project is through digital storytelling. Digital storytelling offers a mode of personal narrative through media that is often posted online for viewing, which offers a wide capacity of distribution. It exists outside of mainstream media (i.e. Hollywood cinema) and offers differing perspectives of the world. Because of this, digital storytelling can educate and open up a dialogue on topics not previously discussed nor even seen in mainstream media.
Project Components Include:
- voiceover (reading of my poem "La Gente del Fuego"- written while in Mexico)
- drum track (response to poem)
- photos of my trip
My visit to Mexico has both inspired me and changed my preconceptions of Mexico that I gathered from Hollywood cinema. I hope my story will open up a conversation about the issues of representations of Mexico in Hollywood films. In addition, I hope to combat the dominating stereotypes of a nation that is consistently oppressed and marginalized by Hollywood filmmakers.
Sources:
- Couldry, Nick. “Mediatization or Mediation? Alternative Understandings of the Emergent Space of Digital Storytelling.�
- Greenfield, Gerard Michael and Carlos E. Cortés. “Harmony and Conflict of Intercultural Images: The Treatment of Mexico in U.S. Feature Films and K-12 Textbooks.�
- Kaplan, Ann E. “Feminist Theoretical Models.�
- Morales, Ed. “Domestic Plight.�
- Vasey, Ruth. “Foreign Parts: Hollywood's Global Distribution and the Representation of Ethnicity.�
- Williams, Linda. “Type and Stereotype: Chicano Images in Film.�
My story:
Comments
You did a great job capturing the magic of Mexico.
Posted by: Harriet Guerrero | December 3, 2008 3:57 PM