The Death

Happy Halloween! Actually, I don't particularly enjoy Halloween because I don't like scary things/ being scared. Well, too bad for me, because many of the materials I have viewed or read these past few weeks for my Humanities class have been a little eerie, suspensefeul and have a lot to do with scary things, like black magic and most of all, death.  Yikes :/

Why in the world does there seem to be so many of these themes present in Latin american culture and art?  When I read the Machado de Assis short story, The Fortune Teller  the sudden murder of Camillo was a little disturbing; In The Garden of Forking Paths (Jorge Luis Bourghes), the sinister plot to kill Dr. Albert was chilling (I was so jumpy that as I read the last paragraph, alone in my deathly silent apartment, I just about had a heart attack when someone knocked on the door!). While reading The Kingdom of This World, there was no way I COULDN'T feel creeped out and spooked with all the talk of voodoo, dark magic, and brutal deaths.  Any time "The Death" appeared in the film, "Black Orpheus", all of us in the room screamed or shouted, as if to try and warn Eurydice through the screen that she was about to go the way of the Dodo.  This lethal charater also reminded me of yet another piece of Latin American art by Diego Rivera that has the sense of death in it.

 "The Death" (from "Black Orpheus")

Dia de Muertos (Diego Rivera, 1924)

Interesting, no?  But the Latin American culture is not the only one that may have a bit of a fascination with death.  Mexico's Dia de los Muertos is comparable to our Halloween.  There are also plenty of books written, movies made, songs composed and paitings created that symbolize death or have that grim theme.  What would you make of this country music song?

Africa + Latin America = My life?

Music is, in my opinion, one of the most influential things in the world.  Music effects the way we think, talk, act, and obviously how we dance.  I LOVE music and always have, so naturally i love learning about it.  Before this class, i never knew that a lot of Latin American music is influenced by African roots. 

But music is not the only thing that was effected by Africa in Latin America, its just a tiny part of an entire culture that stems from another rich "Big C" Culture!  When I thought of all the different African elements in Latin America, I obviously couldn't think of everything because I haven't studied the history of either of these two places very extensively.  But i DID think about myself!  For most of my life, people have always thought I'm African American; that was usually the first guess they had in trying to figure out my ethnicity.  Hispanic or Latina usually wasn't even brought up.  Interesting, no?  I always thought these people were crazy, because i'm from El Salvador! But after learning a little more about how Africa has impacted Latin America, its all starting to make sense! haha :)  Since I was adopted and have no contact with my birth mother, I have literally NO idea what's runing through my veins.  Maybe down the line somewhere in my biological family tree there are some African roots, just like there are in Latin American music.  I wouldn't be surprised! But whatever crazy combination makes up my blood type, of course there's a love of music, dancing, and singing! 

Can you hear that little samba base line in this song?

Indigenism and Maria Candelaria

When you first read the word "indigenism", did you know what it meant? I sure didn't!  After reading in Dawn Ades's Art in Latin America, I learned that "indigenismo" is described as the official attitude of praising and fostering native values. 

Although indigenism doesn't exactly "speak to me", Latin America went through a time where it spoke to many people; one of those individuals was Emilio Fernandez, the director of the film, "Maria Candelaria", and Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican artist and muralist.  One of the main themes in this movie was indigenism; the painter in the film and his interest in Maria Candelaria along with the lifestyle of the indians in this film reflected that all throughout the film.  After understanding a little but more about the term indigenism I could see it much easier in the film.  In the scene where Maria Candelaria is carrying her flores to sell at the market, my mind flashed to the famous painting "Flower Seller with Lillies" by Diego Rivera (1943).

This was painted around the same time that Maria Cendelaria was made (1945) and the way Maria Candelaria carries the basket of flowers on her back is exactly what Diego Rivera shows here.

Why was there such a fascination with these indigenous people?  Was it the cultural differences and practices they had?  I suppose its comparable with my interest in movies and TV shows that depict scenes from hundreds of years ago (some of my favorites include Jane Austen movies, Ever After, the television series 'Merlin', etc.).  I love seeing how they lived, what they dressed like, the way they spoke and how they interacted in society. It seems like a foreign experience.  Does viewing these indigenous pieces of artwork and watching these movies have the same effect for Mexicans and others who are interested in that time period?

"It happened a long time ago, and ought to be forgotten by now." (Juan Rulfo, Tell Them Not to Kill Me!)

"Guadalupe Terreros was my father.  When i grew up and looked for him they told me he was dead . . . As time goes by you seem to forget this.  You try to forget it.  What you can't forget is finding out that the one who did it is still alive, feeding his rotten with the illusion of eternal life.  I couldn't forgive that man even though I don't know him; but the fact that I know where he is makes me want to finish him off.  I can't forgive his still living.  He should never have been born." 

REVENGE.  No forgiveness here.  It comes seeping through these words of son who lost his father.  Instantly, as I read this, my mind wandered off to this famous line from "The Princess Bride"...

Alright, let's all be honest here, we LOVE Inigo Montoya and are thrilled for him when he finally does kill the six- fingered man!  But as I stopped and thought about this concept of vengeance I found myself asking if that was right. God says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." (Romans 12:19) But at the same time, I realized that I didn't feel very sorry for Juvencio when his face was shot to pieces.  :/  I didn't feel like he needed to be forgiven for what he did, and didn't deserve mercy, that this justice was fair.  But then I felt incredibly guilty, like I was the most un-Christlike human being on the planet.  I thought back on this video that I saw in seminary several years ago, because it deals with forgiveness and serving justice.

"I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to give all men."  (D&C 64:10) Juvencio and Inigo Montoya may be fictional characters, but they represent the struggle that resides within all of us to forgive and forget.  Why is this so diffcult?

"The Point of Despair" (Father Versus Mother, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, 91)

   What is despair?  According to diccionary.com, despair is the loss of hope, hopelessness.  In the Story of Father Versus Mother, by machado de Assis, I would link the word despair with desperation.  Candido Neves, the main character in this short story, experiences both of those things.  While in poverty with no source of income, a baby boy is born to his wife (Clara) and him.  Their Aunt Monica, with whom they live, gives them two choices; take their new born child to the “turn box” (an orphan hospital) or keep him in their home where he would die of starvation.  Of Candinho’s situation, the author states,

   “In such crises he never reached the point of desperation.  He counted on a loan.  He did not know how he would get it or from whom, but he counted on it . . . he spent several hours to no purpose and went back home.  The situation was acute.” (Father Verus Mother, 94)

   Although the author says contrary, I think Candinho really does despair and become desperate to keep his son.  In fact, he is willing to kill the life of another child (though unborn) in order to save his own.  When parents are in such difficult situations, sometimes there is no telling what they will do, especially when it comes to their children.  Exhibit A:  The movie “John Q.”

   In this movie, Denzel says, “It’s my job to protect him.”  For Candhino, after a stroke of good luck, he felt it was his job to turn in the slave girl and kill her child to “protect” his son; but was he really protecting himself?

                                                                      
   This story is set in  Brazil; giving babies up to orphanages, as Aunt Monica suggests these parents do, is not uncommon in Central and South America. Exhibit B:  
     <--- I was born in El Salvador.  My birth mother, Emma Guzman, already had several children, no husband to support her family, and no job for income when she became pregnant.  Her father told her that she had to give the baby up, and so she did.  What she didn't know is that she was carrying twins.  Was my biological Grandfather trying to save himself from more poverty?  Was he speaking realistically or selfishly?  Perhaps I will never know, but it doesn’t bother me because now I am here in the US, with my twin brother, part of a family and living a life I never could or would have had down there in that 3^rd world country.  A possible act of desperation on my birth family’s part turned out to be the biggest blessing for me and my twin.  But is it always like that for everyone else?