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Reimagining Latinidad in Mexican-American Biopics A

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Reimagining Latinidad in Mexican-American Biopics A REIMAGINING LATINIDAD IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN BIOPICS A Dissertation by ANGELA ARENIVAR Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Richard Curry Committee Members, Felipe Hinojosa Alain Lawo-Sukam Stephen Miller Head of Department, Richard Curry August 2019 Major Subject: Hispanic Studies Copyright 2019 Angela Arenivar ABSTRACT This study examines how Mexican-American identity has been performed in six biographical films produced by the North American film industry from the 1980s to 2015. The biographical films examined in this study include La Bamba (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), Selena (1997), César Chávez (2014), Spare Parts (2015), and McFarland, USA (2015). The study of Mexican-American identity is facilitated through an exploration of several contours of a film, such as an imaginary perception of Mexican-Americanness, casting for the roles of the lead characters, and either incorporation of previous stereotypes or a reconfiguration of Mexican- American images. While Mexican-Americanness has been examined through the lens of stereotypical roles in biopics, this dissertation uses filmography, social and cultural history, and questions of cultural authenticity to explore the performance of Mexican-Americanness in biographical films. This study explores the site of intersection between biographical films and the portrayal of Mexican-Americans. Expanding on earlier scholarly studies of biopics as well as studies of Mexican-American identity in film, this investigation draws on the ways that Mexican-American identity reflects social and political trends of the time periods in which they are produced, filmic representations of Mexican-Americans, and interpretations of how certain scenes function as sites of identity formation. Various elements combine in order to construct the concept of Mexican-Americanness as performance in the film industry, such as Spanish language elements, a reclamation of a lost heritage, and historical distortions with the end goal of entertaining an audience. ii Ultimately, this study observes that within the past few decades, the imaginary concept of Latina/o identity is shifting to accurately reflect the authentic nature of Latina/o identity while acknowledging that remnants of stereotypes persist due to the demands of popular culture. It concludes that the Mexican-American biopics produced in the 1980s and 1990s exhibit themes more closely aligned with the identity themes of the Chicano Movement while biopics produced in the 2010s reflect themes faced by Mexican-Americans in a xenophobic post-September 11 nation. The notion of Mexican-American performance in biopics echoes the complicated matrix of political and social trends of society. iii DEDICATION To my parents iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Richard Curry, and my committee members, Dr. Felipe Hinojosa, Dr. Alain Lawo-Sukam, and Dr. Stephen Miller, for their leadership and direction throughout the course of this study. Thanks also to my friends and colleagues and the department faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M University a memorable experience. I would especially like to thank Christina Lake, Ines D. Golsan, Amanda PG, Amelia Uribe-Guajardo, Ariana Broumand, and Dr. Sara Alpern. To my siblings, Leroy, Blanca, and Jorge, you have invested in me emotionally and financially throughout the years. I would not be where I am today without you all. Lastly, thanks to my parents for their unconditional love and for coming to this country so I would have the opportunity to pursue my Ph.D. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised by a dissertation committee consisting of Professors Rick Curry, Alain Lawo-Sukam, Stephen Miller, and Professor Felipe Hinojosa of the Department of History. All work for the dissertation was completed independently by the student. Funding Sources Graduate study was supported by a teaching assistantship from Texas A&M University and a Lechner Graduate Award from the College of Liberal Arts. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ii DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES .................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................... 1 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………….... 3 Theoretical Framework………………………………………………………………….. 7 CHAPTER II THE HOLLYWOOD PARADIGM OF STEREOTYPICAL LATINIDAD ...... 16 CHAPTER III LATINIDAD IN CESAR CHAVEZ.................................................................. 76 CHAPTER IV MEXICAN-AMERICANNESS IN SCHOOL CULTURE PRE- AND POST- 9/11 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 108 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................... 155 FILMOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 161 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 173 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW In the past two decades, the genre of biographical film has blossomed in the North American film industry. Along with this subgenre in the film industry, more Latina/o1 oriented films are emerging as well, and they are embedding themselves within the realm of United States popular culture. Such a phenomenon reflects a proliferating interest in the portrayal of Latina/o lives by Hollywood and independent film industry, demonstrating the importance of Latina/os as an integral demographic in North America. I define Hollywood as the conventional film industry in the United States and the independent film industry as any film-producing entity that falls outside of this category. An interest in Latina/o performers became more pronounced in the late 1990s than in previous decades. During this decade that, according to scholar Deborah Parédez, has been designated as the Latina/o Boom, Jennifer López, Ricky Martin, and Shakira, among others, crossed over into mainstream popular culture and became household names. After Jennifer López starred in the Selena (1997) biopic, she launched a successful movie and music career. López, along with others of Latina/o descent, paved the way for present-day Latina/o stars. This study focuses on the production of biographical films in recent years, from 1980- 2015. Contemporarily, films such as César Chávez (2014), McFarland, USA (2015) and Spare Parts (2015) have been produced by the North American movie industry, establishing the awareness of Latina/os as a crucial demographic of the cultural fabric of the United States. The 1 Acknowledging that scholarly debate exists concerning this term and identity politics, I have opted for the usage of “Latina/o” rather than “Latinx” because I do not specifically examine gender fluidity in this study. The term “Latina/o” is used to refer to all people in Latin America, including people from Brazil while the term “Hispanic” is the U.S. government-created term to account for Spanish-speaking populations in the United States. I use “Latina/o” and “Hispanic” interchangeably throughout my study. 1 importance of a Latina/o presence has influenced the box office success of Latino-centric2 biopics. In fact, within the U.S. movie industry, La Bamba (1987) and Selena (1997) are among the highest grossing biopics of all time. An increasing interest in the portrayal of Mexican-Americans demonstrates the need to make this continuously growing ethnic community visible or at least portrayed in a multivalent manner within mainstream culture. Mexican-Americans are the largest, most prominent of U.S. Latina/os, so an examination of their representations in film is essential to any discussion of Latina/o image crafting. Until the 2000s and 2010s, cinematic portrayals of Latina/os did not take into account the diverse nature of Latina/o identity issues, which has contributed to a limited portrayal of Mexican-Americanness. Latina/o populations in the United States have been portrayed in such a way that has erased their idiosyncrasies. Instead of reflecting authenticity3, filmmakers have homogenized Latina/os by recurring to an imaginary state of Mexican- Americanness instead of portraying its heterogeneous reality. Often, the heterogeneity of Latina/os is reduced to recurring stereotypes on the screen, such as the Latin lover, the bandit, the lazy Mexican, and the Latina/o gang member, according to scholar Charles Ramírez-Berg. Scholarship on Latina/o representation, then, needs to examine emerging trends in the portrayal of Mexican-Americanness in the North American film industry. This study examines how the biographical films La Bamba (1987), Selena (1997), César Chávez (2014), Spare Parts (2015), and McFarland, USA (2015) portray Mexican-American performance of ethnicity, focusing on the ways in which new Latina/o
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