Digital Narratives and Linguistic Articulations of Mexican Identities in Emergent Media: Race, Lucha Libre Masks and Mock Spanish
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Digital Narratives and Linguistic Articulations of Mexican Identities in Emergent Media: Race, Lucha Libre Masks and Mock Spanish Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Calleros Villarreal, Daniel Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 17:44:38 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565891 Digital Narratives and Linguistic Articulations of Mexican Identities in Emergent Media: Race, Lucha Libre Masks and Mock Spanish by Daniel Calleros Villarreal ____________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH & PORTUGUESE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2015 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Sara Jones, titled Optical Lens Design and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Malcolm A. Compitello _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Kenneth S. McAllister _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Laura Gutiérrez-Escarpita _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Mary Kaitlin M. Murphy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: Dissertation Director: Malcolm A. Compitello 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Daniel Calleros Villarreal 3 Digital Narratives and Linguistic Articulations of Mexican Identities in Emergent Media: Race, Lucha Libre Masks and Mock Spanish Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................ 6 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 1: Representational Mosaics of Mexican Identities in Digital Narratives: Media Articulation and Production of Computer Games v Introduction ........................................................................................................ 9 v Computer Games: Definition and Significance ................................................... 20 v Allegories, Algorithms and Allegorithms .............................................................. 26 v Computer Games: Play and Mass Media ............................................................. 33 v Interconnected Representational Modules ........................................................... 39 v Notes .................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 2: Digital Mexican Subjects: Bandidos in Sombreros, Masked Luchadores and Sexy Señoritas v Introduction ........................................................................................................ 48 v The Stereotype .................................................................................................... 50 v Invading Mexicans: Dirty, Violent and Very Prolific ........................................... 53 v Digital Masks and the Spectacle of Combat: Mexicans and the Genre of Fighting ................................................................................................ 64 v Sexy Señoritas: Representation of Mexican Females in Computer Games ............ 86 v Notes .................................................................................................................. 93 Chapter 3: Mexican Digital Space: Pyramids, Sombreros and Brown People v Introduction ........................................................................................................ 95 v What is Space? .................................................................................................... 99 v Meaning Articulation and Projection .................................................................. 101 v Mexico: Borderland Villages in the Desert .......................................................... 111 4 v Disneyfication, Culture and the Use of a Mythical Past ........................................ 119 v Racialization and Cartographic Identities in Computer Game Stages .................. 132 v Notes .................................................................................................................. 142 Chapter 4: Bad English, Code Switching and Mock Spanish: Linguistic Production as a Stereotyping Fetish in Game VOs v Introduction ........................................................................................................ 143 v Learning the Language: Racial Tourism and Appropriation ................................ 147 v Mexican Otherness and Indirect Indexicality ....................................................... 155 v The Representational Value of the Absence of Language ..................................... 166 v Talkative Luchadores: Voicing Spanish from Hegemonic Vocal Cords ................. 169 v Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 175 v Notes .................................................................................................................. 178 Chapter 5: Final Score: Game Over? v Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 179 v Technological Restraints and Absence of Self-Representation .............................. 188 v Displacement of Cultural Identities and Transformative Ideologies ..................... 192 v Mexican Computer Games ................................................................................. 197 v Notes .................................................................................................................. 205 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 206 Game-o-graphy ........................................................................................................... 214 5 Digital Narratives and Linguistic Articulations of Mexican Identities in Emergent Media: Race, Lucha Libre Masks and Mock Spanish List of Tables and Figures Chapter 1 Figure 1. Danish Channel TV2’s newscast using Assassin Creed’s rendition of Damascus. .............................................................................. 47 Chapter 2 Figure 1. Border Patrol’s Mexican stereotypes ................................................................... 54 Figure 2. Mexican women in Border Patrol ....................................................................... 55 Figure 3. Extreme violence in Border Patrol ...................................................................... 56 Figure 4. The goal at the end of the level in Smuggle Truck .............................................. 59 Figure 5. Stereotypes in Smuggle Truck ............................................................................. 60 Figure 6. Human reproduction in Smuggle Truck ............................................................. 61 Figure 7. The first Mexican characters in early wrestling games ........................................ 66 Figure 8. Mexicanization and crime in Saints Row: The Third .......................................... 67 Figure 9. Masked wrestlers in Guacamelee! ........................................................................ 68 Figure 10. King and Armor King, Mexican tiger knights in Tekken ................................... 72 Figure 11. Tizoc, Mexican eagle warrior in The King of Fighters ........................................ 74 Figure 12. T. Hawk, the first Mexican character in Street Fighter ...................................... 75 Figure 13. El Fuerte, a masked wrestler in Street Fighter .................................................... 78 Figure 14. Ramón, the first Mexican character to speak Spanish ....................................... 83 Figure 15. The lazy Mexican