With the advancement of not only theatre but motion pictures, newspapers, telephones, radios and other technological advances that allow events and imagination to be expressed or illustrated through not only towns but countries and continents. Although with a melodramatic illustration, play writers as well as producers take on a realistic view on illustrating not only their views of certain events but also common views, and prejudices to break the glass ceiling. In particular in the play entitled Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, demonstrates not only a realistic legitimate theatre demonstration of historical events but also utilized techniques similar to those of multiples plays studied over the semester. For instance, Valdez utilized many techniques …show more content…
that include, tragedies, melodrama, staging, televised warfare and emotional recall. Luis Valdez exploits extraordinary techniques to illustrate every aspect of his story/play, in particular applying methods of not only Greek tragedies, and melodrama but also utilizing the staging to develop a character named El Puchauco.
El Pachuco, is developed not only as Henry’s conscious that has its own questions and comments throughout the play but also an image of what Henry wishes he was, a cooler Chicano doppelganger who lives and breathes Chicano heritage and images. The melodramatic elements that are included but are not limited to are his and his friends’ imprisonment as well as the recount of the events that lead to a murder they were unjustly accused of. Throughout the events El Puchauco comes at moments to not only give commentary but to also advise Henry on certain aspects’ of being a Mexican in this world at this time that include dirty lazy people who do commit crimes. Valdez utilized not only the whole stage to portray certain aspects he also created and demonstrated unique ways to showcase El Puchauco as a character who nobody else can hear or see but Henry, through Henrys own views on Mexicans to himself through soliloquy which is asked or commented by El Puchauco and answered or continued through Henrys
character. Yet Valdez did illustrate through the televised warfare through his use of not only the newspapers, and radio’s but also the letters that were sent throughout their imprisonment showcasing the following they were receiving due to the injustice. Though El Puchuco’s narrative stand that was also showcased in Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie, were Williams utilizes emotional recall through his character Tom. Tom illustrates and restates what is was like without his freedom to follow his dreams, living a life he did not want to take care of his family, but also his guilt at leaving his family especially his sister. Which illustrates some of the unrealistic tendencies of forgetting parts of the story. Which is also utilized through Valdez in his recount of the events that lead to the Zoot Suit riots. Moreover, you are able to see the influence on not only current events in Valdez play but also Valdez’s emotional recall of not only his viewpoints at the time of Mexicans, gangs and violence through El Puchauco but also through his realistic viewpoints on what it meant to be considered a Mexican in the 20th century dealing with prejudice in an unjustly time.
Through analyzing the underlying themes of Zoot Suit it is clear that Pacheco isn't real because sometimes he is really there and other times only Henry can hear him. The press is shown to have a lot of digression and influences on public views but this freedom has allowed a door to open and for something or someone to stand up and fight for their beliefs and make them heard. If the true goal is to have equal treatment of all people no matter color they are, what sex god made them, or what style they choose wear on the outside then this goal will be achieved. The author gives a good representation of true Mexican American beliefs and brings Pacheco to life.
Miguel is a Mexican descendent and this will affect the decisions he makes throughout the story. He finds himself in trouble at home and he gets sent to a Juvenile Center
it is unmistakable that life situations inspired Juan Rulfo to write this story. He like no other person had a greater understanding of how to portray the theme of family especially missing a father as a role model, death, survival and revenge. Moreover, through the use of local Mexican language it furthermore developed the society in which peasants had to live during the post-revolution. Additionally Juan Rulfo tries to add all five senses in the story forming magical realism and a vivid picture that the readers can understand. Overall, the readers learn a lot about peasant’s approach to life after revolution that the main drive was
Created by playwright Luis Valdez, “Zoot Suit” made its world premiere in 1978 at the Mark Taper Forum where it ran for an unprecedented twelve-weeks. “Zoot Suit” broke all attendance records at the Taper and subsequently moved to the larger Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood to accommodate audience demand. Coinciding with the Hollywood run, this critically acclaimed production opened on Broadway in 1979. In 1981, Valdez adapted “Zoot Suit” for the screen and then directed the Golden Globe...
Luis Valdez made a great contribution to Chicano theater when he created a Chicano musical a form of theater that was more common for white America. As I read Zoot Suit I could not stop wondering how the play would look once it was on stage. I could not picture a play that included singing and dancing one which does not compare to the other plays written by Luis Valdez and the Teatro Campesino. I only wish that I had been lucky enough to watch the play live. However, I do feel that if the play was to be re-enacted it would not have the same effect on it’s viewers of today as it might have then. Unfortunately I feel that might be its only downfall. I was still really amazed that this play made it to Broadway and I feel it was just as worthy of it as other plays have been. It is also very interesting to note that it was his longest running play in Los Angeles however; I am assuming that has to do with the large number of Mexican and Mexican-Americans living in LA during that time.
Throughout the time I spent between the covers of The Prince of Los Cocuyos, I was astounded by Richard Blanco’s dynamic relationship with the novel’s sole “antagonist”: his abuela. It seemed that no matter how many times he was chagrined at her attempts to negotiate the English language, or was forced to repress his very personhood to meet her traditional standards of manhood, she never ceased to be a pillar of support for a young Richard Blanco. But beyond his grandmother, Mr. Blanco made it quite clear that he was surrounded by a pueblo of family and friends throughout his childhood and adolescence, a village that would confound his “becoming” but foster his growth, make him question his identity and yet be intricately connected to it. It
Like every other novel, Pocho by Jose Antonio Villarreal, contains characters that undergo change. Change is inevitable but even for Consuelo, Richard Rubio’s mother, the bullet was hard to dodge. Consuelo is a typical Mexican mother, who tends to the care of her husband and kids, but struggles to adapt to American roles and is still managing to find a balance with her prior held roles as a Mexican woman. Ultimately, this becomes an important issue because Consuelo is the glue that keeps the family together; which can determine the future of her family and their progression as Mexican-Americans.
Mexico is described as tragic-those who are of Mexican descent are often very traditional in thought. Rodriguez’s father held the traditional beliefs that old men are wise, that life is disheartening, and near one’s death is the point where one must look back on their life. However, he also feels that Mexico is a happier place, with sweeter children and more lavish funerals. Perhaps he views Mexico as the tragic place because it represents a lost heritage to him. He, who in his middle age, finds himself agreeing with the Mexican ideals, nevertheless finds himself affected by living in America. Instead of being raised with the ideas of Mexican culture, he was raised with Protestant optimism characteristic of California. He was forced to abandon the way of life of his ancestors, even if only partially. America-more specifically, California, conquered the Mexican ways, and in so doing, lost the opportunity to reconcile the Catholic South and the Protestant North. Thus, Mexico emerged as the tragic hero and California as the laughing victor. California is comedic because it is a place where it is possible to start anew, to defy the traditional.
I will analyze Javier Durán’s “Nation and Translation: The “Pachuco” in Mexican Popular Culture: Germán Valdéz’s Tin Tan” which was published by The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association in 2002. The article is about the pachuco's growth as a subculture. Durán examines how pachucos created an identity for themselves and a spot in society, here he first talks about the becoming the pachuco:
The Anglos in the corrido, meanwhile, are not one-dimensional villains but “complex figures who contain positive as well as negative qualities” (Mendoza 146). These distinctive traits of a corrido – setting, conflict, and characterization, among others – ... ... middle of paper ... ... l. “Ge-or-ge,’ she called in an exaggerated Gringo accent. He looked back.
It seemed like the author made many jumps from the evidence that they supplied and the conclusion. Throughout this essay, the author mainly focuses on how the authorities view the Pachucas, like how authorities thought they were involved with gangs, that they dangerous and violent, that they committed many crimes. And how the authorities reacted to this, how they sent these young women to juvenile detention centers and blamed the families for the girls being this way. The author does not focus on how the Pachucas effect their community. While the author briefly touches on how the families felt about the Pachucas and how the parents would react when their daughters would first start acting and dressing in this way, the author does not address how the Mexican American community went from the feelings of shame, dishonor and disapproval of the Pachuca fashion, attitudes, and actions to just accepting this part of the new Mexican American women. It seems that the author made too many leaps without actually showing the thought process behind it or providing enough evidence of this in the
The fundamental conflict that led to their arrest and unfair trial was a clash between Mexican-Americans and the dominant White American culture. Acting as a host, El Pachuco is the spirit of the ideal, defiant Pachuco and serves as Henry’s Reyna’s alter ego throughout the play, intermingling past Mexican culture with the current Zoot Suit culture. El Pachuco serves as a corrective to illustrate the heavy biases that the court and media displayed throughout the 1940s against Chicano people. Through his constant interjections during the courtroom scene, and his final confrontation with the reporter at the conclusion of the play, he points out the injustices that Mexican-Americans had to endure. El Pachuco highlights each point in which the court discriminates or treats the Zoot Suiters unfairly.
Bertolt Brecht successfully accomplishes this in his work through his technique called the alienation effect where “he forces the audience to look at everything in a fresh light and, above all, to think” (Barranger, pg. 121). His main goal by using this was for the audience to “absorb his social criticism and to carry new insights out of the theater into their own lives” (Barranger, 121). Valdez applies this technique through his use of the Secretary, representing the American population as a whole, and the stereotypes of the Mexicans. When she is first introduced to Sancho, she comes with a list of criteria for what the Mexican should acquire including: “suave, debonair, dark, but not too dark, beige, American-made and hard-working” (Valdez, p. 1288). From the start of the play, Mexicans are already being stereotyped on how they should look and act to be accepted by Americans and their culture. This gets the audience thinking of their own perception on Mexicans and what qualities they might consider if they were in this situation. From the qualities represented of each of the “models,” the Secretary then denies any quality of the model that isn’t sufficient enough for her liking, and “shops” around until she finds the right
Life in Mexico was, before the Revolution, defined by the figure of the patron that held all of power in a certain area. Juan Preciado, who was born in an urban city outside of Comala, “came to Comala because [he] had been told that [his] father, a man named Pedro Paramo lived there” (1). He initially was unaware of the general dislike that his father was subjected to in that area of Mexico. Pedro was regarded as “[l]iving bile” (1) by the people that still inhabited Comala, a classification that Juan did not expect. This reveals that it was not known by those outside of the patron’s dominion of the cruel abuse that they levied upon their people. Pedro Paramo held...
Throughout his novel, Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes effectively uses the transformation of reality to critique and reflect societal and literary norms. In three distinct scenes, Don Quixote or his partner, Sancho, transform reality. Often they are met with other’s discontent. It is through the innkeeper scene, the windmill scene, the Benedictine friar scene, and Quixote’s deathbed scene that Cervantes contemplates revolutionary philosophies and literary techniques. The theme of reality transformation does not even stop there. Sometimes the transformations of reality scenes act as mimetic devices. Ultimately, Miguel Cervantes’ use of transformative scenes acts as a creative backdrop for deeper observations and critiques on seventeenth-century Spanish society.