Real Women Have Curves

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In the film Real Women Have Curves, Ana’s mother Carmen plays an interesting role as that of an unrepentant mother. She hugs the line between being supportive of Ana and wanting what’s best for her while also struggling with letting her go. Due to her inability to compromise, ultimately there is a rift left between the two women, whether Carmen realized that this would happen or not. Carmen and Ana struggle with two main issues in this film, Ana’s education and body acceptance. Carmen embodies old fashioned ideals regarding women, that women should look thin and desirable for a man, and that they need to learn how to do cooking and housework to please him. She believes that housework skills are more important that an education, as she refuses to allow Ana to go even with a scholarship. It’s also interesting to note how Carmen insists that if Ana were to go to college the family would be torn apart. She says to Guzman that they’re a family and are going to stay that way. I find it odd that Carmen would believe that her family would fall apart without Ana, as if her leaving would make them cease being a family. Would Carmen say the same thing if Ana were to move in with a husband? I don’t believe so, and in fact I think that Carmen is particular about saying anything she can to keep Ana at home so she can have more time to try to push Ana …show more content…

Throughout the film, even though she is supportive of Estelle and her business, she sees her as a failure because she did not get married. This is seen when Carmen tries to take down Estelle’s statue and says that she needs to focus on Ana now. To Carmen, Estelle is what Ana will become without her help. She takes it as a personal loss that Estelle didn’t succeed in accordance to her principals, as it can be assumed that Carmen spent just as much time and effort in trying to push Estelle as she currently is with

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