Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature Volume 32 Issue 2 Theater and Performance in Nuestra Article 12 América 6-1-2008 Being Edward James Olmos: Culture Clash and the Portrayal of Chicano Masculinity Nohemy Solózano-Thompson Whitman College Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/sttcl Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Solózano-Thompson, Nohemy (2008) "Being Edward James Olmos: Culture Clash and the Portrayal of Chicano Masculinity," Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature: Vol. 32: Iss. 2, Article 12. https://doi.org/ 10.4148/2334-4415.1686 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Being Edward James Olmos: Culture Clash and the Portrayal of Chicano Masculinity Abstract This paper analyzes how Culture Clash problematizes Chicano masculinity through the manipulation of two iconic Chicano characters originally popularized by two films starring dwarE d James Olmos - the pachuco from Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit (1981) and the portrayal of real-life math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988). In “Stand and Deliver Pizza” (from A Bowl of Beings, 1992), Culture Clash tries to introduce new Chicano characters that can be read as masculine, and who at the same time, display alternative behaviors and characteristics, including homosexual desire. The three characters in “Stand and Deliver Pizza” represent stock icons of Chicano masculinity.