Studies Of Chicanos - Essay Example

Chicano Studies Table of Contents Introduction 3 Comparison between Portrait of Teresa and Salt of the Earth 4 Conclusion 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction Films are the greatest source of entertainment and strong platform to execute social messages. Since its initiation, films have been effective and the most creative, popular and strongest means of visual arts used for mass-communication. Along with entertainment a number of films also take crucial roles to carry out myriad social, political and economic issues at times centring round many important historical events across the globe. In this essay we intend to select some of those didactic movies which are contemporary and carry out strong social messages. These movies need close introspection and a thorough cognition would definitely enable us to deep delve into some of the important socio-economic and cultural discourse of the time with a good taste of aesthetic operating throughout the film. Comparison between Portrait of Teresa and Salt of the Earth Comparison of two films occurs from some mutual paradigm. Portrait of Teresa by Pastor Vega and Salt of the Earth by Herbert J. Biberman both the films are contemporary and are based on contemporary socio-economic issue of a similar geographical terrain. Both the films encapsulate a strong feminist discourse and centres round the deconstruction of archetypal stereotype traditional and conventional role of woman in society. Portrait of Teresa directed by Pastor Vega was released in the year 1979 and apparently seems a trajectory of women with much dramatic presentation. But the language of camera pushes its limit beyond the initial portrayal of Teresa overwhelmed with her family which comprise of her husband Ramon and three children and her job as a crew leader in the textile factory to a realm where she moves beyond the ordinary role of a household woman trying to seek the attention of her husband and becoming expert in mere domestic duties to a revolutionary and a dominant motivating factor in labour movement (The Internet Movie Database, “Retrato de Teresa (1979)”). Teresa moves beyond the parameters of odd jobs and dirty dishes and her husband failing to accept her in the new role get separated and start an affair. When her husband wishes to reconcile, Teresa asks him what if during the time of separation she also had an affair. Block-headed Ramon fails to pass Teresa’s test with his chauvinist reply “But men are different” and with if he loses Teresa forever who with her head held high in self-esteem courageously wishes to move beyond the limits of an ordinary woman performing only her household duties (Rich, “Portrait of Teresa Double Day, Double Standards”). On the other hand, the film Salt of the Earth directed by Herbert. Biberman released in the year 1954 also centres round a woman and her journey about becoming extra-ordinary from ordinary. Based on the true story of the movement in 1951 against the Empire Zinc Company at Grant County in New Mexico the film strongly portrays a feminist social discourse amid the communist movement presents the long and difficult revolution of Mexican–American and Anglo miners displayed at the mine bearing the name “Delaware Zinc” in the film set in the town of “Zinc town, New Mexico”. With a proper neorealist style, the director uses the original mine workers and their family to depict the movement of the real-life transformed into reel-world. Esperanza Quintero, the miner’s wife is the protagonist and the narrator of the film. We are launched into the middle of the affairs through a prologue where even at the outset of the film we are introduced with Esperanza, She begins the film: “How shall I begin my story that has no beginning? My name is Esperanza, Esperanza Quintero. I am a miners wife. This is our home. The house is not ours. But the flowers... the flowers are ours. This is my village. When I was a child, it was called San Marcos. The Anglos changed the name to Zinc Town. Zinc Town, New Mexico, U.S.A. Our roots go deep in this place, deeper than the pines, deeper than the mine shaft...” Holding her hand we travel through time to witness her metamorphosis from a pregnant adorable mother and wife to a leader convincing even the men to join the strike and agitation (The Internet Movie Database, “Salt of the Earth (1954)”). Both Teresa and Esperanza are women who are initially not at all reluctant to fight for their equal rights at home or in society. At the beginning both these women are projected as stereotype typical homemakers who love to submit themselves completely in the arms of their beloved husbands and the four walls of their house comprise the entire world to them. In both the films the women are from the labour class belonging to a similar geographical terrain and socio-cultural milieu. Both Teresa and Esperanza emerge out as a revolutionary protesting social and economic deprivation. The dilemma and the trajectory are similar kind in both the plane but Teresa’s protest is more concerned with her own entity and she successfully transcends the barrier of household and society to strike an effective balance between the two emerging as a revolutionary in both the aspect. Esperanza on the contrary overlaps her identity merging it to a social cause and dedicating her life for the cause. She not only plays the role of an initiator like Teresa but also plays the role of a motivator to the truest essence of the term by effectively convincing the male members of her union to join the picketing. Both the movies, The Portrait of Teresa and Salt of the Earth are universal in their approach. Both the women protagonists are symbolic of women under subjugation and treated as second sex across the globe. These women irrespective of their social, cultural or economic backgrounds are the powerhouse of potential and strength. All they need is the right platform to expose that. Both Teresa and Esperanza are the symbols of sub-alter ego of women across the globe and their story therefore echoes beyond time and relative irrespective of socio-cultural boundaries and any time frame (History Net, “Salt of the Earth: The Movie Hollywood Could Not Stop”). Comparing the transformation of Teresa and Esperanza is not very much an out of the box idea as both the women are being deconstructed from their stereotype archetypal roles of a domestic in-mate, a beloved wife and a caring or protective mother who spend their most of the time in kitchen politics and love to spend time accomplishing all the odd jobs of household. This is a conventional role and a paradigm shift of the ladies from a household manager to a social revolutionary is not easy to accept. To make this discourse acceptable the directors of both the film, had to prepare due platform for the audience to accept this great transformation in both the ladies. This is the prime reason why both the films launch as a trajectory of their lives and in place of displaying the plot as mere conflict, the directors show it through a series of events with the intention that the comprehension of the audience becomes more evident or transparent. For the comparison of both the women in Portrait of Teresa and Salt of the Earth, the events which culminate out of serious transformation in the society, influence the life of Teresa and Esperanza and deviated them from their ordinary conventional roles. These events are judgemental for the determination of the strength of the roles taken respectively by the women for the revolution and social change. The role of Teresa in Portrait of Teresa is more related with women empowerment and self dependence which throws light on the modern economic matrix entwined with social crusade in form of Cuban revolution under communist upsurge. The portrait of Teresa played brilliantly by Daisy Granados is poised between the paradox of traditional and conventional role. The skyline of Havana framed at the beginning of the film in the prologue actually bears the symbol of responsibilities and opportunities Teresa wishes to encounter at her life in new Cuba. This is the place where she works in a Textile Factory at day time and with an amateur dance group at night to meet the general requirements of her family and children. Initially this could be also viewed as an economic support to her husband. But at a greater realm this platform actually provides her the opportunity to have an interface with the society she lives in and display her revolutionary zeal firstly at her work place by taking the role of the initiator and supervisor of upcoming ‘balet folklorico’ and then taking a more complex role with her husband and finally director Pastor Vega is able to drag out the all feminine Teresa out of her husband’s arm and show us fighting two level of fights. Firstly at the Textile Factory and secondly in her bedroom with her indignant husband who is not ready to accept her homecoming late at 9:20 P.M. Teresa is thus shown fighting a battle day in and out caught amid the difference in role and values pertaining to social and domestic sphere. Amid this crisis and fight, at what time does Teresa finally strips off her domestic veil and come out to take a social role of an initiator is cliché in reel terminology but we readily accept the new avatar and this completes her journey of transformation. On the contrary, Esperanza’s transformation is straighter and does not involve much layered process. She was very much satisfied with her household duties and pregnant with their third child, Esperanza Quintero was very passive and ordinary. Unlike Teresa, she was not interested in anything outside her mundane and menial course of life. She was reluctant for the passivity at home and happy for being a non-entity and equally was not-interested in the strike or agitations. Her transformation takes all of a sudden as if touched by some revolutionary spirit almost like the “West Wind” by Shelley. Esperanza is rather a symbol of the active or the revolutionary zeal and thirst for a quest of freedom unconscious in every human. Touched by a slight external incident where men were forced to put an end to their picketing under the injunction by the Taft-Hartley Act. Esperanza evolved as a dominant leader to convince men for the participation of women in the picketing line successfully. The long debate at the Union Hall by Esperanza raised her to a different height. Conclusion The character portrayal of Teresa and Esperanza are the iconic representation of modern women in a revolutionary society. The film-makers were able to transcend the mere aesthetic barrier and in a very neorealist vein were able to project women beyond the status of a second sex and attain equality in every realm both in her household and beyond that. References History Net. “Salt of the Earth: The Movie Hollywood Could Not Stop”. November 02, 2010. American History, 2010. Rich, B. Ruby. “Portrait of Teresa Double Day, Double Standards”. November 02, 2010. Jump Cut, 2005. The Internet Movie Database. “Retrato de Teresa (1979)”. November 02, 2010. Title, 2010. The Internet Movie Database. “Salt of the Earth (1954)”. November 02, 2010. Title, 2010. Bibliography Lesage, Julia. “ONE WAY OR ANOTHER: Dialectical, Revolutionary, Feminist”. November 02, 2010. University of Oregon, 1978. Lorence, James J. The Suppression Of Salt Of The Earth: How Hollywood, Big Labor, And Politicians Blacklisted A Movie In Cold War America UNM Press, 1999. Read More