Gender in the City: The Intersection of Capital and Gender Consciousness in Latin American Cinema Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Rangel, Liz Consuelo 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 28/09/2021 03:39:25 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194421 GENDER IN THE CITY: THE INTERSECTION OF CAPITAL AND GENDER CONSCIOUSNESS IN LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA By Liz Consuelo Rangel _____________________ Copyright © Liz Consuelo Rangel 2009 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN SPANISH In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2009 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Liz Consuelo Rangel entitled Gender in the City: The Intersection of Capital and Gender Consciousness in Latin American Cinema and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: May 29, 2009 Dr. Melissa Ann Fitch _______________________________________________________________________ Date: May 29, 2009 Dr. Laura Gutiérrez _______________________________________________________________________ Date: May 29, 2009 Dr. Malcolm Compitello 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: May 29, 2009 Dissertation Director: Dr. Melissa Ann Fitch 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of 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 accurate acknowledgment of 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 copyright holder. SIGNED: Liz Consuelo Rangel 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many, many people who have to be thanked for making not only my dissertation but also my entire studies possible. I wish to thank Dr. María Teresa Vélez, the Associate Dean for the Graduate College for taking a chance on me ever since I was an undergraduate student and for her tireless support throughout the years. I also wish to thank the Center for Latin American Studies for providing opportunities for me to advance in my research in the form of the Tinker Summer Grants to Mexico and Argentina and the Foreign Language Area Scholarships that allowed me to understand and study Brazilian language and culture. The Department of Spanish and Portuguese has been instrumental in providing me with every opportunity to excel. I wish to thank Dr. Malcolm Compitello for making each experience possible. I also wish to thank Dr. Lanin Gyurko and Dr. Robert Fiore who told me, as an undergraduate student, that I should follow this career. I’ve never looked back on that decision. I have been fortunate to count on the support of four very special faculty members and I wish to thank them. Dr. Eliud Chuffe has been instrumental in his guidance and words of support. Dr. Laura Gutierrez has been a great inspiration and has helped me seek out ways in which I can be a different kind of scholar. Dr. Eliana Rivero has helped me grow not only as a student, but also as an individual, and her wisdom and friendship will always be treasured. And finally, I wish to thank my profa, Dr. Melissa Fitch. Ever since I landed in the Madrid, Barajas airport on January 5, 2004 she has been nothing but a role model in terms of her dedication to her students, her love of the profession, her critical mind and the compassion and passion with which she does things. I am grateful for everything she has allowed me to learn from her. Finally, I wish to thank those who supported me outside of the university, especially my friends within and outside of my department because they kept me grounded and listened to all of my obsessions and were a sounding board for all of my ideas. And to my family, who has been supportive and understanding. Finally, Maikel, who has experienced every emotion and thought having to do with the madness that is my studies. This dissertation is as much theirs as it is mine. I will be eternally grateful to all. 5 DEDICATION Para mi papá, quién me enseñó el placer por la lectura y el aprendizaje, y para mi mamá, cuya fe me ha acompañado en cada paso mediante cada rosario. Ustedes dieron todo por hacer que sus hijos tuvieran oportunidades que ustedes no tuvieron y aquí tienen uno de los resultados de sus esfuerzos. Y para Maikel quien me ha dado todo su amor incondicional durante este proceso; Al fin, Maikel, esta experiencia ha llegado a su fin y ahora podemos salir como el Quijote por el mundo a buscar nuevas aventuras. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: A CINEMATIC SPACE OF THEIR OWN: SITUATING WOMEN IN THE LATIN AMERICAN WORLD.....................................................................................................9 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................9 Latin American Woman with a capital “W”?: Background on Gender Theories ......... 10 Theoretical Framework................................................................................................................ 17 Construction of Technologies............................................................................................................ 17 Cultural Intelligibility and Meaning in Cinema: Portraying Ideologies........................... 19 A Place for Gender: Theoretical Considerations on Geography and Gender ................ 22 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................... 27 Synopsis of Latin American Cinematic Production.................................................................. 27 The Revolutionary Cinemas............................................................................................................... 33 Who’s a “Feminist”?............................................................................................................................... 41 The View of the City............................................................................................................................... 43 Cultural Artifacts............................................................................................................................. 46 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 48 Outline and Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER 2: DEFINED BY THEIR PESO: PRESENCE OF ECONOMY ON/IN THE REPRESENTATION OF MEXICAN CINEMA AND MEXICAN WOMEN .......................54 Summary of MeXican Cinema and Society .............................................................................. 54 Street Kids and Cabaret: The Mexican Miracle in Urban Representations of Mexico54 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS‐ Continued Moving Past the Events of 1968: Auteur cinema....................................................................... 60 From Salinas to Today.......................................................................................................................... 63 Locating Gender Construction: Women, Violence and Survival in................................. 66 Perfume de violetas, Nadie te oye................................................................................................ 66 Alma dócil: Religion and the Family as Seen in Ángel de fuego by Dana Rotberg...... 87 CHAPTER 3: DEFINING GENDER IN THE MIDST OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE: INTERACTION OF GENDER AND CAPITAL IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINE CINEMA.................................................................................................................................. 109 Summary of Argentine Cinema and Society .........................................................................109 Tango passion and Buenos Aires filmmaking of the 1930s ...............................................109 Argentine Film and the State under Peronism.........................................................................113 El Proceso Political Tactics and Filmmaking.............................................................................118 Return to Democracy and Subsequent Economic Downfall...............................................119 The Peso as a Defining Point: Gender and Middle Class Structures in Sandra Gugliotta’s Un día de suerte (2002).......................................................................................123