Readings and other delights

Posted by: | January 28, 2009 | Comments Off on Readings and other delights

The readings for this week seem to be more centered around “El Callejon de los Milagros” than “Mecanica Nacional,” so I’m going to focus more on the readings.
The “Sexuality in Space” reading goes pretty far in depth into the film, even as far as camera angles, as mentioned on page 31: “As two men take leave of one another the camera pans slightly to the right, thereby bringing into view the opening of the Zocalo metro station…” and goes further into more detail about every small technical aspect of the film. I found this article to be a little bit over the top in ways of the use of academic jargon as well as hardcore film vocabulary that always sends a piece of writing over the top when applied.
Noble talked about Y Tu Mama Tambien in the post-script at the end of the piece, noting that “…this road movie, a genre, like melodrama, that endows space with an excess of symbolic signification,” etc., etc. Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of my favorite movies, but it’s hard for me to talk about it in such a way that detaches the emotion from the film. For me, film is such a visceral, intense, emotional experience, especially Y Tu Mama, and it’s hard for me to turn into a set of chattering words that turn it into a mathematical equation of social commentary.
It’s also hard for me to agree or disagree with Noble’s thoughts on this upcoming movie, as it’s next week’s choice and I haven’t seen it yet. But there was one idea I was intrigued by on page 31, reading a motif in the movie of “the male body being closed and the female body being open.” Anyone can gather certain evidence from random motifs in any movie, we can read into anything as we see fit. But this idea struck a chord with me, not because of any literal meanings, but the idea that men and women gather information and cope with life in different ways based on our genetic make-up and what constitutes our sex as well as gender. That not only culture helps shape how we handle the world, but that our physiology plays a part, too.


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