A Comparison Of Popular Culture In Carlos Cuaron Rudo And Cursi

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Carlos Cuaron’s ‘Rudo & Cursi’ is a story of two brothers and their road to football fame. It stars Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal and tells the story of two brothers Beto, who is known as Rudo, and Tato who is later known as Cursi. The brothers work hard on a banana plantation in Mexico, but they have always had big dreams of fame and fortune for themselves and their family. When the men are not working on the plantation, being with their family and playing football is how they spend their free time. Rudo is the town’s ruthless goalkeeper and Cursi is the striker loved by all. They live in a very rural area of Mexico with not a lot of land and just enough money to get by. However, in the blink of an eye their lives …show more content…

As mentioned in a lecture culture can be described as ideas, customs and social behaviours of a certain group of people, the works and practises of a particular group of people. Popular culture however is slightly different. It usually transgresses social, religious and political boundaries, breaks social rules and is a freer way of life. It is dismissed by political leaders and people of authority as it focuses on the aspect of social class division, it divides people and causes a split between the upper classes and the working/lower classes. In Latin America, popular culture is a strong and long tradition. It is passed down through the centuries and is alive through orality and memory. It gives the people an identity, something to engage with. (Oliviera, G (2017) Popular Culture Lecture [Lecture to Spanish and Latin American studies, Module SPAU9A1, University of Stirling], personal communication, 19th September 2017) Culture and popular culture are important as they are big parts of contemporary Mexico and are linked in with the many great challenges and issues faced by contemporary Mexico. Since colonial times exploitation, drug trafficking and corruption have become major issues in Mexico. Exploitation is an issue we see more closely in Rudo & Cursi. There are a few specific examples of exploitation in different ways throughout the film. The exploitation of the workers on the banana …show more content…

Gender is an important aspect in Rudo & Cursi and male archetypes are shown and developed throughout. “the question of national identity in sport and politics seems to be a domain reserved for the male imagination” - Argentinian Football and Europe from Tribal Identities: Nationalism, Europe, Sport, J.A Mangan (1996). In Latin America, football and politics are both seen as a symbol of masculinity and this is an example of the machismo attitude. The gender boundaries are set very clearly in Latin America, there are certain things considered a man’s job and other things considered a woman’s job. Most of the men in the film are very machismo. “Machismo is widely regarded in Mexico as a constituting part of national patrimony.” (Alejandro Lugo, Bill Maurer, 2000, p.176). This machismo attitude encourages men to be a part of the aggressive, all-powerful, breadwinning role which is extremely sexist yet still the way of life in many parts of the

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