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i love watching films and especially independent or foreign films for various reasons, but one in particular is that i like that they break from the typical white supremacist, heteronormative, partriarchial trope that hollywood is in(famous) for. however, after watching this film last night i realized that i prefer hollywood's omission of people of african descent from films over these depictions:
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| i expected to see this doll during this scene and of course it was carried around (in juxtaposition to a white barbie-esk doll) by the little girl for the duration of the film |
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| i had a feeling the film was about to get ugly with this man's forewarning... |
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| more on the "guijes" below: |
Los guijes y las tradiciones en Cuba (the guijes and cuban traditions)
watching this "cute" film with these disturbing stereotypes makes me not only want to watch "black in latin america, cuba: the next revolution" and "ethnic notions" again but to show these film to the director, the cast, and anyone whoever thought that this film was appropriate.
I made the HUGE mistake of showing this film in one of my Spanish classes (I am a Spanish teacher) today without previewing it. I was HORRIFIED when this scene occurred and immediately stopped it and told my kids it was RACIST and that we would not be finishing it. I just googled this to see if anyone else had commented on this aspect of the film, as I had only read good things about it previously. This is the only thing I found. How is that possible? It is so blatantly racist. Thank you for posting your thoughts on this. It is nice to know that someone else feels the same. Also, I have used Black in Latin America (Cuba) in one of my other classes (higher level). Much more educative value than this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing almost happened to me!! I am so glad we didn't get to that part in the class! I ended up watching the movie myself that evening and when it came to that part I was also horrified. Now my kids want to finish the movie but I have to tell them that there are some parts that I completely disapprove of. Especially as a black woman, it made me extremely uncomfortable to watch.
DeleteYou gotta be cuban to understand the film, it is not racist, it is based of very old traditions inside the Cuban culture and folklore. Im cuban myself with African genes in my blood and i don't feel racism in this movie. The definition of racism on cuba is very different from the one in North America.
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