Month: January 2009

Aguila o Sol

De la perspectiva de la clase alta, Polito y Carmelo son “pallazos” o “muy corrientes” (Mex: cheap, trashy) como dice el productor del espectáculo. En muchos sentidos, esta película hace un crítica social. O mejor dicho, como todas las películas de Cantinflas, esta película presenta el clash entre la clase alta y la clase baja, que es muy evidente en México. En Aguila o Sol, Polito viene de la calle y entonces obtiene su educacion en ella. Polito utiliza esta enseñanza para ganarse la vida, haciendo burlas de si mismo (en la carpa, él juega un papel muy semejante a su realidad – que hoy en día es la realidad de muchos mexicanos). Al superficie, parece que esta película se burla de la clase baja, pero, en muchos sentidos la clase baja está celebrada. Polito es el protagonista del film. Es, también, el heroé. Los espectadores le siguen, y luchan por él.
Los espectadores que vean el espectáculo en la carpa representan el público mexicano. Ellos no pertenecen a la case alta (igual que muchos los mexicanos que veen las películas de Cantinflas) entonces, no se rien a Polito sino se rien con Polito porque se pueden identificar con él (los mexicanos están ya muy acustumbrados a la gran disparidad entre las clases). En esta película, la gente que pertenece de la clase alta son los que van al Cabaret (en el sueño de Polito, y también al final de la película).
En casi todas las películas de Cantinflas, al principio, su personaje empieza en la clase baja y termina en la clase alta. Su personaje, usualmente llegue a ser un rico, y siempre gana a las mujeres;Usualmente, Cantinflas sube la escalera social gracias a sus trucos de la calle, pero en Aguila o Sol es un poco diferente. En este caso, él no hizo nada para ponerse rico. Al final, Polito obtiene su dinero de su padre, que lo encontra sólo por coincidencia.
En mi mente, el tema de la película es la peocupacion de Polito en hacer quedar su mujer. Los hombres ricos ofrecen a Adriana lo que Polito no puede: el dinero. En Aguila o Sol, todos los hombres quieren a Adriana, tanto por su talento como su belleza. Y al final, el pobre Polito (porque en este momento, todavia es pobre) la gana. cuando Polito se despierte de su sueño, Adriana le dice “Te quiero, te quiero, no te preocupes, a mi no me importan las flores.” Entonces, a Adriana, el amor vale más que el dinero, y entonces, Polito es el campeón del film.

Lo que tiene a interés para mi es el hecho que el cine tiene el poder para cambiar el visión de un país. Después leí el articulo, “The Formation of a Nacional Cinema Audience,” pense sobre mi tiempo pasaba en Argentina. Conoci una chica de Argentina que estudiaba Relaciones Internacionales. Ella me pregunto si los EEUU fuera en realidad semejante a la manera lo representaba por las películas. Ella a mi parecio tener percepciones extranos sobre los EEUU basado de lo que ella miraba. Es interesante notar el gran impacto que las películas se pueden tener.
The article is concerned with the essence of the gaze, which specifically refers to the logistics and way a viewer decides to see an object or subject based upon the perspective they are given. The gaze is established by the framing of the camera. The way the spectator views the world is determined by one particular lens of reference, which further suggests relationships and power roles. However when I think of the concept of the gaze I think of the director, Hitchcock who often used this gaze to call attention to particular themes. I originally learned about the concept in my Feminist film class. Usually when the term is applied, it refers to the power dynamics between men and women. It is commonly argued that women are objectified by the male gaze, which women learn to identify with and eventually desire to emulate. Theoretically this is what supposedly encourages consumerism because women want to be like these women in the photographs. Furthermore, a theme that has been explored before among academics is the idea that sexuality is merely a social construct and performed. Applying this theory in order to better interpret Mexican Cinema, one could imagine that the Golden Era in Mexico helped to shape and construct a collective national identity that could be performed and would be easily identifiable as “Mexican.” In addition, the film industry embellished and romanticized characteristics found in Mexican culture in which the country tried to eventually emulate as well. The gaze often used to describe social power relations between women and men Noble uses in order to describe the gaze adopted by Mexican Cinema, which works to evoke this connection and the country’s attempt to develop a more pronounced sense of Mexican identity.

Lo que me intereso mas a mi fue el caracter de Adriana. A mi me parece que ella es la que desde el principio puede mantener sus relaciones con los dos ninos y con los mas ricos de la ciudad. Cuando es chica, se puede ver que ella tiene un caracter muy fuerte y decide hacer lo que sea para que no los separen. Cuando todos ya han cresidos, Adriana muestra el poder de vivir todos timpos de vida. En el teatro, ella baila chistosamente para los de clase baja, y luego canta canciones bellas para los de la clase mas alta. Usando su arte, y tambien su bellesa, ella puede ser parte do los dos mundos sin romper su amistad con Polito o el otro muchacho.
Ella al final es la que hace que el papa de Polito tenga interes en los del teatro, y cuando esta con el director, es cuando ve la foto que muestra que Polito es el hijo. Aunque los narrativos son, por la mayoridad son mantenidas por los hombres, yo vi que Adriana cambia como los narrativos se desarrollan con su poder femenino.

The Formation of a National Cinema Audience provided a lot of the historical and cultural background that helped me achieve a better understanding of the film Águila o sol. To start off, I would like to point out a few points that I found interesting in the reading. On page 73, it says, “the cinema represented a new point of contact in this hierarchical society … Aurelio de los Reyes invokes an audience scenario that reveals not only that the new invention cut across class divisions, but also that it was a pleasure in which women could legitimately indulge…” Although I am already aware of the influence of media on the society nowadays, I still find it amazing how cinema critically contributed to the merging different social classes in Mexico. On top of merging social classes, it is amazing that cinema also contributed to the gender equality between men and women. In the film Águila o sol, the audience within the film did include more than one social class and female participation was also present. Moreover, I also found “suicide rate and alcoholism was noted to decline in the early decades of the twentieth century, as this pastime became an increasingly popular form of family entertainment” very impressive. I wonder if our cinema today still has this kind of positive influence on us.

In the reading, the author also noted that the most popular comedians were the ones who played “roguish characters embodying elements modeled on the popular audiences” including their “modes of speech, dress and social conduct” (77). This point is evident in the film that we watched in class. When Polito was acting on stage within the movie, he dressed like a lower social class and also talked like a lower class. I did not notice many people from the audience within the film that dressed like him, most of them dressed like middle class, but they were enjoying the show nonetheless. Does it mean that the class distinction between lower and middle class wasn’t that great? Overall I enjoyed the movie, except for some parts where they spoke very fast and I had some difficulty understanding what they were saying.

Es la primera película mexicana y antigua (hecho en 1937) que he mirado y la verdad es que es mucho mejor de lo que esperaba.

Al principio antes de que miraba la película, no podía entender el significado del título, águila o sol, porque la traducción “eagle or sun” es raro y por eso creía que ésta podía ser un drama serio. Despues del cine, aunque hablan muy rápido los personas que no entiendo mucho sinceramente, creo que es más como una comedia pero no es una comedia pura como algunas comedias desde Hollywood en esa época, porque la mayor parte del tiempo no manifiesta acciones cómicas sino su tema importante sobre el amor y la amistad, y las palabras del título que representan los nombres de los protagonistas juntan las relaciones de personajes y el cuento.

Voy a presentar algunas ventajas de esta película. En esa época específica en los 30 años, el argumento es interesante. Aunque vemos muchos cines que tienen cuentos varios y excitantes en nuestros días, me gustan mucho el punto que tres niños perdidos maduran juntos y el sueño tiene Polito. El arreglo de la separación de Polito y su padre es un contexto excelente para el padre su compresión de la importancia del amor, y su entendimiento que no da felicidad sólo el dinero. La adición del sueño de Polito es otra buena idea, porque aunque no pierde su amistad por todo el tiempo en realidad, el pánico tiene Polito que cuando descubre nadie le reconoce en el sueño recalca la importancia de la emoción y la relación entre personas.

Sin embargo hay algunos inconvenientes también. En primer lugar, un guión ocupa demasiado tiempo cuando ambos Pelito y Carmelo estan de pie en el escenario. Aunque es una comedia y aunque tiene la intención de que ellos son humoristas famosos, se toma demasiado tiempo en sus representación cómico y la reacción positivo del público, y si sus acciones y lo que dicen en el escenario no tenga ninguna relación con el tema del cine, es un poco redundante. Lo mismo como ésta, hay demasiados cantos y bailes (I do like dancing though) en la película que tal vez no sean necesarios. A pesar de esto punto, muestra una cultura y costumbre mexicano. En segundo lugar, la conexión entre los argumentos no son naturales y ajustados, por ejemplo, el último guión que el padre de Pelito lo descubre despues del sueño de Pelito es un poco repentino, y creo que puede añadir un poco más en el fin.

En pocas palabras, es una película significativa y demuestra lo que pasaba entre diferentes clases sociales en Mexico en esta edad y lo que más importante para vivir en el mundo.

The film Aguila o sol was filmed in a way that made for some confusing scenes that did not help out with the films storytelling and which aided to disrupt the flow of the plot. It starts off with the three children, Polito, Adriana and Carmelo being abandoned in a convent when they are born and then they later escape at which during this time Don Hipólito, Politos father decides to search for his son. After this the story explains the direction of the lives of the three children which result in them staying together performing in theatre. When the film explains more about their adult lives it is then that some confusion occurs. It seemed that certain scenes focused too much on the great costumes of the cabaret dancers, Adriana singing abilities and the stand-up acts performed by Polito and Carmelo which all took away from the plot. What I found to be poorly filmed were the camera shots when it would turn to the crowd for their reaction of the comedic acts.
The ending was also confusing. The dream sequences where Polito dreamt of losing his friend Carmelo and love Adriana did not fit in well with the storyline as the dream comes about from his concern of losing his girlfriend after listening in on a conversation about her potential as a solo performer. As he wakes up he realizes he did not lose his friends but then also is introduced to his father who was searching for him.
One of the concerns I had during the end of the movie which wasn’t clarified was that whether the Politos father was in awkward position since he had assumingly had shown interest in Adriana. And whether or not Adriana decides to go onto performing alone or would the three of them continue on performing together.

The readings for this week were alright, I liked reading about Cantiflas. I found it interesting to learn that Mexican cinema comments more on socioeconomic differences and cultural issues. The film tonight felt ahead of its, in my opinion. In terms of camera angles and some of the acting, it felt more real than many films of its time, even from where there were more resources for film, like the states. It was also nicely shot, the still shots for a while, the connection between the two entertainers, it all felt more palpable, and timeless in some aspects. I didn’t entirely comprehend all of the dialogue, but from what I could understand, I really felt a connection between the two male protagonists.
Cuando estaban borrachos por la mayoria del tiempo, pensaba que este fue un comentario en como la clase social mas abajo maneja su lugar an la sociedad. Para el sueno, no comprendi por que el sueno era tan largo, o que el sueno realmente significaba. Por que fue el baile tan larga y que significaba la novia cantando por mucho tiempo? Eran las palabras que cantaba de ella importante al sueno, y la idea y tema de la pelicula?
In the reading “the Formation of a National Cinema Audience,” I found an interesting note on page 73: “Where the church had previously been one of the few public spaces in which different sectors of society would have encountered one another in their leisure time, the cinema represented a new point of contact in this hierarchical society.” It’s so fascinating how Mexican cinema came to be a bridge between the social classes, as well as a major commentary on the disparity between rich and poor. It’s always great to see film as a means to enlightenment and understanding of human nature, instead of some cheesy, lowest common denomonator film that helps to form drool on the side of one’s chin while watching it, ie “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

Esta pelicula me hizo pensar en las peliculas que fueron creado durante la epoca de 30. Estas peliculas servian como puro entretenimiento y muchas personas iban ver las peliculas para que podrian escapar de los duros realidades parte de estos tiempos. La pelicula se refleja intres en muchos temas unicos. Es interesante como los classes sociales bajos son representado en contrasto a los clases altos. A mi parecio que esta pelicula se concentro en los conflictos entre los clases socialies. “Aguila o Sol” me hizo recordar la pelicula con Charlie Chaplin se llama Modern Times. Esta obra hace comentario political sobre el mundo de capitalismo y como eventualmente la pobreza llegaria a ser peor aunque la majoria del esta pelicula tiene el objectivo principal hacerse reir la audencia. En contrasto los hombres principales se hacen rico despues huyeron de la iglesia. Se niega estar controlado por las fuerzas de la iglesia dogmatica y los aspectos negativos parte de su clase social son obvio.

Aguila o Sol………what an interesting movie. I’m really glad that this is a blog because the language was way too fast for me to understand most of what they were saying and I wouldn’t be able to give concrete examples like I would have to in an essay. That said, I guess it didn’t really matter too much that I didn’t really understand what they were saying because I still understood that there wasn’t much of a plot. The whole movie, even the parts where they weren’t on an actual stage was like stand up comedy………When they were on stage though, just from the way that they dressed up, it seemed like they were trying to appeal to a lower class as well as an upper class..also when they were selling newspapers, it seemed like they were trying to make a connection with a lower class audience so that the comedy would appeal to them as well as the upper class. It reached out to all classes because it showed that they worked themselves up from the bottom when they were orphans and on their own to when they had their own act (this could perhaps give hope to a lower class audience?) and also to an upper class audience, as we could see when the characters were performing on stage, the camera kept showing how much the audience like the comedy….but going back to what I was saying before, this doesn’t really apply to when they were children, but I noticed that they were constantly trying to entertain the audience (I mean the audience watching the movie, not the audience that was watching the show) through constant stand up comedy and slapstick…even the transitions attempted to entertain…for example when Cantinflas and Carmelo are going from the theatre to the bar, and the movie shows comedy with “El Gallego” before going back to the main characters. I also noticed that when they’re drunk, they talk in nonsense and then sing when they are transitioning to another joke or section of the stand up comedy or to end the scene.

The plot can’t have much purpose other than to entertain, especially if they have to put in such a large and random dream scene. They seemed to want to show off the talent of the other characters ( I guess that’s what the other show was for too) some more, and add more slapsticks with the coconuts falling on their heads (or rather a crew member throwing coconuts at their heads)…otherwise there wasn’t much point it, or any part of the movie. So the movie was made up of a combination of the two points that I mentioned here (and probably more)…constant entertainment, and appealing to more than one class…maybe the dancing in the dream appealed to a higher class…I have a question though, and it’s not really relevant, but here it is. When Cantinflas and Carmelo are on stage and they are talking about verb tenses, doesn’t that imply that they have had some sort of education? Or do you learn grammar from selling newspapers on the street? This most likely isn’t important, but it’s something I noticed…At the time when they are telling the joke they seemed to be dressed up like lower class people, so if they did need an education for that then it doesn’t really make sense.

I think that this film’s main purpose is to entertain, like was most films at the time, but shows prevalent traits of distinct social classes. Throughout the movie, there is a fear that the rich will mess everything up, at least in the eyes of Polito. However, he does nothing to stop it at any point of the film and expresses his true feelings only when he is drunk. It is in his dream when he actually tries to do something about it and go to the dance. The fact that he would never do it in real life shows how he feels oppressed by the higher class, probably something that was true in Mexico at the time. Polito just smokes a cigarette every time he feels stressed about the situation. Also, in the theater it is shown how people laugh at the ignorance of the lower class. This is emphasized by the shots of the audience only when they are laughing and not at any other point. In addition, the name “Polito” a derivation of the real name “Hipolito” shows the ignorance of the lower class to even spell a name correctly. When Adriana is asked to perform in the “cabaret” and asks if Polito and Carmelo can also perform, she is answered that they are too ordinary and are not suitable for it.

However, at the end of the story, the poor “win” and are happy as a whole. They overcome every obstacle that they face, starting when they are children. It is key to identify that money does not bring happiness to them, but true friendship and love. Since the start of the film, when the 3 performers are kids, although they have no money they are still shown having fun. At a point in the movie Polito even mentions how the three of them were happy and kept going when they were small even though they didn’t have anything to eat for three days. Also, Hipolito, Polito’s father, even though he is rich, he said he was not happy because he didn’t have anyone beside him all the time and felt lonely. The importance of love and friendship is also shown in Polito’s dream where he feels betrayed by everyone and unhappy because no one he knows recognizes him, even though he is at this fancy “caberet”. Thus, love and friendship is always shown to be stronger than money.

Hoy fue la primera vez que miré una película en español, entonces veremos cuanto entendí. La historia fue relativalmente simple. Esta película tiene aspectos tipícos de una comedia musical. Cosas tragícas, como un bebe abandonado, es horible. No hay un proceso compleja cuando el hombre que no han visto su padre por muchos años le encontra. No hay confusion, preguntas, o dudo, solamente alegría. Pero los connotaciones de estos eventos no sean importante, solo el evento.
Las tres personas crecían en un asilo de monjas – pero se escapían cuando sean niños. Sin embargo, pueden trabajar mucho y tener éxito en sus vidas como artistas. Tal vez es una relexíon de la vida en Mexíco en la epoca de los años 30s; sí una persona tiene recursos y puede trabajar con estos, puede tener exíto. Tal vez, es la verdad en todo los países. Es difícil de decir cual aspectos de la película reflejan “Mexíco”…especialmente en 1938. ¿Se ven personas en Mexíco en los personajes del filmo? No soy suficiente familiar con Mexíco para preguntar es

Una otra pregunta que tiene sobre la historia es, ¿porque el padre de hijo quiere encontrarlo después de abandonarlo?

El artículo sobre los cinemas en Mexíco destaca la historia del cinema en Mexíco. Pienso que es interestante que haya diferencias entre las clases de la sociedad y los cines. No realizó que es tan importante de pensar sobre la audiencia.

Normalmente, no me gusta películas tan viejas, pero pienso que Aguila o sol es divertida. Porque es una historia muy simple, pienso que es posible de pensar a los procesos de la sociedad que están representados, porque están tan general que pueden aplicar a la vida de toda la audiencia.

Alright… Well…
I should preface this post (and perhaps all my posts) by informing you that I don’t speak a word of spanish…
WOW THAT’S RIDICULOUS! Yeah it is.
Okay…
I am a Film Studies major though and I’m going to try and slog it out.
So,
For that reason my observations will lean towards the aesthetic elements of these films and whatever else I can soak up…
Sorry if I repeat anything that was said in class by someone else but I didn’t understand a word any of you said.
Perfect.

Águila o sol

The first thing that fascinated me about this film was the ability for a story to be conveyed to a viewer who lacks
language comprehension. Visual cues (the three marks on the chest) helped denote the primary character, facial
expressions revealed character emotion (confusion in the dream), vocal inflections did the same, music set the tone,
and the editing/shots conveyed the basic story elements.
In fact, I felt very confident regarding the narrative and that surprised me.
Unfortunately,
The comedic elements of the film were lost on me, aside from visual sight gags such as the chair collapsing or the
policeman entering. The comedy seemed to be very quick, punchy dialogue that naturally requires a strong sense
of timing. If the film were to be subtitled in English, the comedic impact would be dulled down, if not lost completely.
Okay, that was my impression.
– Devin.

La pelicula Aguila o Sol fue estrenada en el ano de 1937, el cual pertence a la llamada edad de oro del cine Mexicano. Algunos elementos mencionadoes por Noble sobre el cine mexicano de esta epoca se evidencian en la pelicula. Por ejemplo, la importancia simbolica de las mujeres, la apelacion a la identidad mexicana y las diferencias sociales entre los mexicanos.

Adriana representa la mujer perfecta. Ellas es buena, bonita y fiel a sus sentimientos. Como discutimos en clase ella mantiene el orden. Ademas ella es el centro de atencion en la pelicula por su carisma y su talento. Es interesante que muchas de las canciones revelan diferentes aspectos de mexico, hay una cancion folklorica, una mas tropical (el cabaret), hay tango, hay bolero y hay un poco de flamenco. Me parece que la condicion humilde de los protagonistas forma parte del intento del director por acercarse a la audiencia mexicana de clase media.

En general me parece que el objetivo principal de esta pelicula es entretener y que lo mas importante son los segmentos donde se presenta la musica, el baile y el teatro. Me parece interesante que la pelicula trate de representar algo que podria verse individualmente como los skits de los dos amigos. Lei un poco en internet acerca del fil y encontre que aguila o sol traduce al ingles “tails or heads” y que los apellidos de Polito y Carmelo eran Sol y Aguila respectivamente. Me parecio interesante porque solo en el sueno vi la exclusion que la particula o implica, entre los dos amigos. Siempre estuvieron juntos y asi permanecioron hasta el fin de la pelicula.