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…
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
3- In a 1988 interview, Valdez, the playwright, said El Pachuco is "the power inside every individual that's greater than any human institution. “It refers to an old-school subculture of Chicanos and Mexican-Americans associated with zoot suits, street gangs, nightlife, and flamboyant public behavior. Some believes It is connecting to the city of El Paso, Texas, mean People migrating to El
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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...
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...