Some Things Never Change: Attitudes about the Foreign in Y tu mamá también and Rudo y Cursi Sheila Casalett Meredith College Faculty Mentor: Kevin Hunt Meredith College ABSTRACT This paper examines representations of foreign elements as part of modern, or post-Revolutionary, Mexican national identity in two recent Mexican films, Y tu mamá también and Rudo y Cursi. While the filmmakers succeed in presenting modern realities about the pervasiveness of the foreign in Mexi- co, traditional attitudes prevail throughout. To facilitate interpretation of the films, the paper begins with an historical framework that includes a brief history of modern Mexican national identity, highlighting contributions by traditionalist scholars Vasconcelos and Paz as well as modern critics Bartra and Monsiváis. While Mexicans have historically denied foreign influence, going as far as to do so by legal means, the realities of globalization have made its removal from the country impossible and lend weight to the idea of a Mexican identity in transition. While both films demonstrate this reality, suggesting an inevitability of the impact of the foreign, the overall treatment of such elements suggests a negative, traditionalist outlook, alluding to Mexico’s reluctance to adopt progressive at- titudes in the face of its changing cultural landscape. We tried not to make a judgment; we just tried (mixed European and indigenous) cultural tomake an observation. For us, this movie is about influences, the Cuaróns perpetuate a care- identity… an observation of a country that in our fully constructed idea about mexicanidad opinionis a teenage country looking for its identity as (“Mexicanness”) that has been cultivated agrown-up country…This transition toward a new since the Revolution of 1910. To whatever identityis part of what Mexico is going through now. extent they succeed in presenting these – Alfonso Cuarón, Director,Y tu mamá también ideas as accurate reflections of mexicanidad falls outside the scope of this paper, how- n various interviews, Alfonso and Carlos ever, as this study exclusively examines the I Cuarón, the filmmakers behindY tu role of foreign influence in Mexico as pre- mamátambién ( AndYour Mother, Too )and Rudo sented in each film. The analysis establishes y Cursi (Rude and Tacky), have signaled their that while the films do appear to reflect a intention to accurately reflect Mexico’s na- changing Mexican identity in a general tional identity. In highlighting aspects such sense, they fail to let go of traditional senti- as a unique relationship with death, a cyni- ments with regard to the foreign. cal view of politics, and appreciable mestizo This paper focuses on the foreign as a 51 Explorations | Humanities and Fine Arts key element to the presentation of Mexican welcomed foreign investment, and its elite national identity each film. While some maintained a long-standing tradition of scholars (e.g., Hind, Acevedo-Muñoz, sending their children to be educated in Saldaña-Portillo) have alluded to this facet Europe and the United States. Under dic- of identity in their studies of Y tu mamá tam- tatorial president Porfirio Díaz, in power bién, such consideration has yet to be given from 1876 to 1911, the government opened to Rudo y Cursi. Further, while extant analy- up large parts of Mexico to foreign invest- ses of Y tu mamá también tend to focus on a ment, a major contributing factor to the broader picture of national identity or on Revolution. After thirty years of dictator- combinations of more well known themes ship and seeing their rights diminished and (e.g., sex, class, gender roles), this study ex- their lands stripped in favor of foreign in- clusively considers the lesser-acknowledged vestment and industrialism, Mexico’s work- but foundational role of the extrinsic and ing classes revolted. its representations in each film. By the time the Constitution was ratified A general understanding of the role of in 1917, the power elite had recognized foreign influence in Mexico’s modern, or a shared distrust of the foreign as a way post-Revolutionary, national identity is vi- to help unite the country. A common re- tal to best interpret such representations. sentment toward the foreign would trans- As such, this paper first provides a brief late into a political rejection of it, a cause historical overview, citing contributions Mexicans of all races and cultures could made by leading Mexican cultural figures embrace, despite their differences on socio- Vasconcelos, Paz, Bartra and Monsiváis economic and other levels. Excerpts from and focusing their opinions about the for- the Constitution of 1917, as published by eign that have helped shape this vital fea- the Organization of American States, illus- ture of mexicanidad. This historical frame- trate the effort: work, as well as a brief introduction to each …Only Mexicans by birth or naturaliza- film that includes critical and popular re- tion and Mexican companies have the right ception, makes way for an informed analy- to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and sis of how foreign elements are presented their appurtenances, or to obtain conces- in each film and whether such representa- sions for the exploitation of mines or of tions take a traditional or modern view. waters… Under no circumstances may for- Just after the Revolution of 1910, in the eigners acquire direct ownership of lands early 1920s, Mexico’s ruling elite identified or waters within a zone of one hundred ki- the need to unify the country as a means lometers along the frontiers and of fifty ki- of preventing further uprisings. To ac- lometers along the shores of the country… complish this, they set to constructing a (art. 27) new national identity that would give the …Mexicans shall have priority over for- country a shared sense of history and cul- eigners under equality of circumstances for ture, incorporating the country’s attitude all classes of concessions and for all em- toward the foreign as a major component. ployment, positions, or commissions of the Since the Conquest, Mexico had always Government in which the status of citizen- been influenced by external forces, first as ship is not indispensable. In time of peace a Spanish colony for 300 years and then as no foreigner can serve in the Army nor in an independent nation greatly influenced the police or public security forces… (art. by Western Europe and the United States. 32) During the century between Independence …Foreigners may not in any way partici- and the Revolution of 1910, Mexico pate in the political affairs of the country. 52 Sheila Casalett (art. 33) rather than created. Long since rid of Spanish imperialism The dissimulation on the part of and now also free from the foreign influ- Mexican elites vis-à-vis their personal in- ence of the more recent past, Mexico volvement with foreign education and would stand on its own for the first time. business went unchecked at the time, and To help lead the transition of the new na- the new national identity began to flour- tional identity from idea to policy, Mexican ish. The lasting effects of this cultural re- philosopher and educator José Vasconcelos invention can easily be spotted today in was appointed head of the Secretariat of the murals that adorn public buildings, the Public Education (SEP) in 1924. As head “native” Mexican handicrafts that fill tour- of the SEP, Vasconcelos oversaw not only ist markets, and the structure of Mexico’s the nation’s education system but also the educational system. Much of the credit for national arts and libraries, making him the this goes to Vasconcelos and the ideas set de facto minister of culture. Perhaps the forth in La raza cósmica. Decades later, an- single most influential person in Mexico other work would come along that would when it came to forming a nationally rec- prove instrumental to sustaining post-Rev- ognized cultural identity, Vasconcelos’s olutionary ideas about mexicanidad through philosophy about Latin American cultures the twentieth century. became foundational to the SEP’s work. By the time Mexican Nobel laureate This philosophy – outlined in his highly Octavio Paz first published his influential influential workLa raza cósmica (The Cosmic set of essays El laberinto de la soledad (The Race) – touted Mexico as a standalone cul- Labyrinth of Solitude) in 1950, he was al- ture that was to reject “white” ways. North ready a well-known author, poet and cul- Americans, as Vasconcelos saw it, were ture critic. Today Paz’s work – like that of “mere continuators of Europe in the re- Vasconcelos – figures into the education gion of the continent they occupied” (21). of all Mexican students in one form or an- By contrast, Latin Americans were creating other, indicating how influential these two an entirely new race and culture inspired men’s ideas still are. The essays that com- from within. prise El laberinto examine different aspects Under the direction of Vasconcelos, the of Mexican culture, all of which Paz asserts SEP built schools, printed books at astonish- are influenced by an underlying sense of ing rates, implemented literacy programs inferiority to white cultures that has been in among the poor and indigenous, started the works since the Conquest. The “laby- the Mexican Muralist movement, and initi- rinth of solitude” that gives the collection ated a revival of indigenous arts and mu- its title refers to a complicated and lonely sic that ultimately flourished. In school, history in which Mexican notions about children were taught Mexican songs and culture have always been at odds with those dances while they learned about the great of European-descended cultures, what Paz indigenous contributions to their culture calls the “white” or “Western” cultures. and the mestizo leaders who helped shape Throughout, Paz demonstrates that the their country into the sovereign nation it Vasconcelos-inspired, post-Revolutionary had become.