Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2017 The aN rrative Of The Outsider: Marginalization In The orW ks Of María Luisa Bemberg, Lucrecia Martel, And Lucía Puenzo Natalie Nagl Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Nagl, Natalie, "The aN rrative Of The Outsider: Marginalization In The orkW s Of María Luisa Bemberg, Lucrecia Martel, And Lucía Puenzo" (2017). Wayne State University Dissertations. 1851. https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1851 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. THE NARRATIVE OF THE OUTSIDER: MARGINALIZATION IN THE WORKS OF MARÍA LUISA BEMBERG, LUCRECIA MARTEL, AND LUCÍA PUENZO by NATALIE NAGL DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2017 MAJOR: SPANISH Approved By: __________________________________________ Advisor Date __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ © COPYRIGHT BY NATALIE NAGL 2017 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge all of the people that supported me throughout the writing of this dissertation- the faculty of the Classical and Modern Languages Department, my committee, and those closest to me in my personal life. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements_____________________________________________________________ii Preface______________________________________________________________________iii Introduction___________________________________________________________________1 Chapter 1: Situating the corpus___________________________________________________25 Chapter 2: Race as it influences identity____________________________________________66 Chapter 3: Social class as it determines behavior____________________________________115 Chapter 4: Gender as it constructs the self_________________________________________165 Conclusion_________________________________________________________________ 219 References__________________________________________________________________233 Abstract____________________________________________________________________242 Autobiographical Statement____________________________________________________243 iii 1 INTRODUCTION Literature and film are two media that allow distancing from sensitive topics, thus demonstrating their strong contribution to consumers: representation. Topics universally present amongst cultures but previously silenced because of their sensitive natures are given a constructive outlet; race, social class, and gender are three examples of social matters represented by the aforementioned mediums. In turn, concrete material is produced with which to create intellectual discussion pertinent in academic and non-academic settings. Through literature and film, I explore how the aforementioned social matters become sensitive. Such sensitivity is brought on by marginalization, therefore addressing why attention needs to be paid to the practice of rejecting another. We choose the noun ‘practice’ to underscore the participation involved in the interaction with the three determined social constructions. The mere acknowledgement of these constructions grants them power and even more so when there becomes an (in) appropriate way to think about and interact with them. Therefore, we have a split between participants, those who think and act appropriately and those who do not. This is problematic because one side must take the role of enforcement (i.e. marginalizes) and the other of estrangement (i.e. marginalized). Marginalization justifies the initiation of racial, class, and gender constructs while simultaneously maintaining them; this is accomplished by continuous conflict. The whole of humankind organizes itself into a society per way of established categories. However, the organization achieved is not consistently harmonious, rendering all participants at varying odds with others and/or themselves; these differences can be just as mental as they are physical, and thus marginalization plays out much in the same way. To explore and exemplify the 2 phenomenon of marginalization, I have selected works1 from María Luisa Bemberg, Lucrecia Martel, and Lucía Puenzo 2 . The representations of the social constructs and resultant marginalizing situations seen in these works reflect how race, social class, and gender have become sensitized in the target Argentine culture; while my selection of Argentina cannot speak directly to the social climate in Latin America and elsewhere in the world, it serves as a microcosm of cultures other than my own. I work with those on the margins of our chosen constructions, all suffering from psychological and physical effects brought on by rejection of their differences. The differences experienced more often than not result in varying degrees of bullying. We consider the corpus chosen as giving a voice to the outsider. In this study3 we argue that Bemberg, Martel, and Puenzo work with race, social class, and gender as implied rather than forced categories so as to underscore their silent penetration into society. While the ideal is eradication of categorization, the situations presented by our directors liken themselves to case studies showcasing the emergence of marginalization, the challenges when living with it, and the effects in an effort to better understand said constructions’ power in society. As a byproduct of the plots, we observe various coping strategies by the way in which the affected parties respond. The corpus for this dissertation simultaneously emphasizes that while there are various triggers for marginalization, the reasons are not necessarily well-founded. In other words, through artistic depiction, race, social class, and gender are presented as flawed classifications because the varied cases that we explore support the inutility of the rigidity presupposed by labels. Several 1 The corpus of work to be utilized in this dissertation will be detailed in Chapter 1. 2 All three women are directors, originating from their native Argentina; Lucía Puenzo is additionally an author who penned two of the novels on which two of our films, to be discussed, are based. 3 I have chosen to denote the dissertation as a quasi study in light of the fact that we explore psychological and sociological occurrences and/or patterns; I isolate protagonists/characters/subjects (with these terms being used interchangeably) and situate them along with their situations against our three constructions. 3 inconsistencies arise when restricting individuals to the characteristics set forth by these societal categories; said more concisely, exercising individuality renders the majority of our characters as unclassifiable. There is a biased undertone in the films in favor of treating the whole person instead of focusing on the fragmented identities they form when trying to appropriately interact with labels. Differences are acknowledged and dealt with in an effort to break the barrier between appropriate and inappropriate in terms of one’s race, social class, and/or gender. I am careful to explain that being different and being accepted are independent grounds for marginalization; the former suggests alienation from others while the latter risks alienation from the self. Expression of individuality is the conscientious choice to differentiate; this is mediated by the individual who chooses how they are viewed via their attitudes and behaviors. However, being accepted is more convoluted since it goes beyond the realm of personal control and enters the public arena where it is subjected to scrutiny; it is in this situation that many of our subjects find themselves, and the social constructs’ power takes hold. Our protagonists can alter attitudes and behaviors accordingly, but they fall short of societal standards. For purposes of this work, it is necessary to choose a standard for the three categories against which our subjects are to be analyzed: European heritage, strictly upper or upper-middle class positioning with corresponding conduct, and the self-identification of man or woman are the powerful markers. These distinctions logically imply that not fitting neatly within the mark(s) leads to marginalization; the protagonists fall short by never satisfying the requirements set forth by all three standards, and therein reside the challenges to which we referred. Divergence in one area deems the protagonists unfit for total acceptance both from themselves and society. To preview what is to come in chapters two through four, we trace race, social class, and gender, separately, 4 as sensitized topics in the lives of various protagonists from the corpus. Our subjects range from being minimally to totally affected by their respective differences. However, ironically enough, the subjects themselves, though unconventional in terms of their place in society, are more often apt to operate within the world that surrounds them. It is evidenced in the subsequent chapters that they achieve certain genuine satisfaction in simply being that is otherwise elusive to others