La Bamba – Chicano/a Topics

Luis Valdez’s film La Bamba(1987) is a perfect depiction of the issues Chicanos were facing during the 1950s. This movie follows the journey of a Chicano musician, Richie Valenzuela, who is struggling to find a way to make it in the competitive industry of music. There are obstacles that he encounters within his family, relationship with a girl, and the society around him. The topics that are presented in this movie cover the issues concerning kinship, gender roles, and racism/discrimination.

The first scene of the movie shows the agricultural working environments of Chicanos during this time. It shows how tightly knitted the family structure is. Each family lives in their tents and the sense of kinship and community are easy to see. This sense of kinship is not limited to the immediate family; it is seen throughout the entire field of workers. You can also see this when the family is planning to set up flyers for Richie’s upcoming show.

La Bamba depicts what a woman family might have looked at in the 1950s. The mother does not have a home to call hers, a child of hers is turning to drugs to cope with stress, and she is raising several children with no husband. She is playing both the role of mother and father. This movie shows how hard it is to find employment that can provide enough income to support a family.

The movie does a great job in showing the machismo attitude that Chicano men carry with them. The character of Bob is determined to get his family out of the fields and into a comfortable home. He later goes on to live with Rosie and treat her with no respect. She eventually gets tired of being uses physically and mentally. Bob is entitled to seeing his baby and woman at his convenience even if he is completely drunk and acting out violently. He treats Rosie as commodity rather than an equal to him. Rosie is torn because she has no wear to go or no way to support herself besides Bob’s family which is already struggling to make ends meet.

Rosie is also more accepting of this behavior and takes on a submissive role in the movie. She is quick to run away from home and move in with a man. She continues to accept the way he treats her (as she is expected to in a machismo society) but she eventually stands up for herself and sets boundaries for Bob.

Lastly, this film presents racism and discrimination that Chicanos/as were facing during the 1950s. The most visited issue is the one Donna’s father has with her dating a Chicano. He makes it a point to make sure his daughter stops going out with him. When the producer tries to decide a name for Richie he proposes one that does not sound too Mexican. He chooses a name that America wouldn’t have a problem hearing. You can see how Richie is bothered by this but does not question it. His identity is being denied in the larger society controlled by patriarchy and American ethnocentrism.

“La Bamba” is a film that tells the story of the singer Ritchie Valens. Ritchie Valens, real name Richard Valenzuela, was a Mexican American rock ‘n’ roll snger during the 50s. The movie follows the life of Valens, from working on a farm to being one of the most popular rock ‘n’ roll musicians in the United States. The movie ends with the unfortunate death of Ritchie. I saw “La Bamba” as a kid with my parents and it immediately became one of my favorite movies. I honestly can not remember how many times I’ve seen this movie. The way I viewed this movie as a kid is much different to the way I look at it now. I still enjoy the movie but now I notice the themes of the Chicano/a family that are found within it. The film and Chicano/a families are connected through the theme of machismo.

The theme of machismo is clearly seen in “La Bamba.” There is one specific character that serves as the embodiment of machismo. This character is Bob, Ritchie’s brother. As a kid, I viewed Bob as the cool and tough older brother. This idea came from the image presented at the beginning of the film. However, now that I know more about issues affecting Chicano families, I realize that he is a representation of machismo. Machismo is something that affects many Chicano families. It implements the idea that males hold all the power. Machismo promotes the idea that males have all the power in the family and that the women should always do what the male wants. Basically it is male dominance over women. In “La Bamba”, Bob serves as a physical representation of machismo. In many scenes of the film, Bob’s machismo can be seen in many of the scenes with Rosie, the mother of his daughter. Bob does not hesitate to degrade Rosie. My devaluing her, Bob is trying to show that he is the dominant one. Bob is showing this idea of male dominance that is connected to Machismo. Bob also shows machismo by creating an image for himself. This image is one of a tough guy who doesn’t show any emotions. This is also another effect of machismo. Males with the machismo ideology tend to create an image so that they are not seen as weak. I believe this is what Bob is doing. In the film there are instances where Bob shows his true emotions. These situations make the viewer think that maybe the “macho” image is just a facade. Machismo is portrayed in this film through Bob and his actions. “La Bamba” is a great film that presents themes relevant to Chicanos/as, such as machismo, through characters like Bob.

The film “La Bamba” is a musical biography based on the life of Ricardo Valenzuela released on July 24, 1987. Ricardo, or better known as Ritchie later in life, was a 15- year old migrant worker who worked with his mother Connie in the fields. Their life as a migrant worker was typical and habitual, until Ritchie’s stepbrother, Bob, came soaring on his Harley bike and changed their life. He persuades them to leave the camp and move to Pacoima where he has a house. They agree and the next morning they pack up their belongings and leave. Bob also brings along a young women named Rosie Morales who is so tired of the same life, so she hops on the back of the Harley and doesn’t look back. Life soon settles down for them in Pacoima. At the local high school Ritchie meets a young woman by the name of Donna and he falls for her. Although her conservative father is against the relationship, Ritchie proves his love later by writing her a love song with her name in it. Along the path to fame, Ritchie auditions for a local band that turns out to be envious of his talent. Therefore, he decides to go solo and with his family’s support is able to perform for his town. Although his relationship with Bob is rocky, he helps Ritchie and distributes fliers to promote his show. After the show Ritchie is scouted and his big breaks begins, but in order to assimilate he needs a new alias. So, instead of Ricardo Valenzuela, he is now known as Ritchie Valens. As his fame begins to rise, he doesn’t forget about his family. He buys his mom the home she always wanted, he encourages Bob to follow his drawing dreams and he buys himself a new car. His love for Donna was the same as the day they met even though the father disagreed. During his tour he refused to fly but had to compromise a few times. The last one was unfortunately the last gamble of his life. He boarded a small passenger plane in Clear Lake, Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. The Plane was hit by lighting, crashed to the grounds and instantaneously killed everyone aboard.

The fall of Ritchie Valens was a big downfall for Chicano Rock n’ Roll.
Although, Ritchie paved the path for Chicanos into main street America, the struggles he faced are tangible. He had to struggle in accepting his newly found name, Ritchie Valens. He wanted to keep his original name because he was proud of the fact that his father left him with the last name Valenzuela. In the poem “I am Joaquin” by Corky Gonzalez he speaks of standing strong in one’s roots and for all Chicanos to demand acceptance. Obviously Ritchie made the choice that best suited him and he changed his name unwillingly. This is a good example of how Chicanos had the dilemma of trying to assimilate with American culture and trying to stay true to their roots.

I believe the success of Ritchie Valens had to be because the support of his family. Chicano Families have strong family ties to each other. The mother is a single parent who has a strong will and supports her children, even if that means working in fields. Although Bob is his step-brother he returns back from jail to “liberate” his family from poverty. Bobs character has notes of machismo in him because he feels obligated as the oldest man in their life to rescue them. Furthermore, bobs new girlfriend receives the worst end of his machismo. He impregnates her and treats her like a “sex slave” and disregards her feelings. He goes out on binges and demands respect even after Ritchie is now the biggest contributor of the family. Bobs character in the movie is a perfect example of machismo because he rapes women of their freedom.

The movie, Real Women Have Curves has a variety of examples that were taught in our readings and films. The main examplesthat were shown in the film were what “women duties” are, the value of women and the importance of having value, and how Chicanos are seen in society. In the movie it begins with a teenage girl, Ana, cleaning the windows very angrily and then becomes even more upset when her sister, Estella, calls her because their mother is looking for her. When Ana goes to her mother she asks her what’s wrong and as they talk, her mother Dona Carmen says she isn’t feeling well and that Ana is going to have to cook breakfast for the men before they go to work. Ana responds by saying no because it is her last day of high school. Her mother calls her ungrateful and tells her that she is in pain but “struggles with it” the same way she did in raising her and taking care of the family, as they begin to argue the father intervenes. Throughout the whole movie Dona Carmen and Ana are constantly bickering because Ana does not want to do the stereotypical women job.

A few things that had been discussed in class was in Maria Hinojosa’s podcast of Family Values. This podcast talked about what it means to be a family, what the family values, and things they do and talk about to stay a family. This relates to the film because a lot of what Dona Carmen wants to do is forher family. In the beginning of the film there is a discussion she has with her husband about Ana and her role in the family. She claims it is Ana’s turn to take responsibility the same way she did when she was 13 and she compares it to Ana not wanting to cook, clean, work to help provide for the family, or work to help her sister in the factory and she’s 18. This discussion had been brought up because her English teacher in high school, Mr. Guzman, believes Ana should go to college because of the potential he sees in her and he stopped by her house to tell her parents this. And while Ana’s father agreed that he wants her to receive and education he also needs Ana to help support the family. Later that night when he and Dona Carmen discuss it she mentions that she can teach Ana too, that she can show her how to cook, sew, and take care of her children and husband. Everything that is “expected” of a women is shown throughout the film and when it relates to the readings it goes back to Richard Rodriguez’s, chapter one in Next of Kin, in the readings they discuss often that the woman is beneath the man and she should be teaching her sons they are to be in charge, and should have little household responsibilities and she is supposed to teach her daughters how to take care of her family, how to clean and how to provide.

The day Ana begins working at her sister’s factory she tells two other workers that her working at the factory is only temporary because she knew she did not want to work there and wanted to do something more. This interaction had gotten them off to a bad start because they began making fun of her and then that conversation changed to Normita, the “thinner and prettier” coworker getting married and Dona Carmen praising her and then telling Panchita, the “thicker and older” coworker that her getting bigger and bigger after getting married is probably what made her husband stop buying her clothes. In different occasions Dona Carmen also tells Ana that being big is not going to get her a husband and neither will all the talking back that she does. Throughout the film Ana begins to talk to a guy from school, Jimmy, and as they get closer and closer one night they decide to have sex and before they begin Ana turns the lights back on and tells him she wants him to know the real her. The next day after they had sex Ana had gotten out of the shower admiring her body and her mother notices whatshe is doing and says “you tramp…you lost your virginity didn’t you? Now you’re fat and a puta.” This part also reminded me of Rodriguez’s reading in chapter one, “In this context, it is easy to imagine the male penetration of, and ejaculation in, a woman’s body, the “natural” process that in turn reproduces the bronze bodies over which adult men ultimately take charge”(27).

Aside from this film showing how women should be act, and what their responsibilities are they also touch base on how Chicanos are viewed in society. When Ana is at her last day of school they show the class going around mentioning what they plan to be doing five years from now and they all mention all types of schooling they would be going through and Ana simply says she’ll be traveling Europe. This displays that Chicanos won’t go to college either because of grades and/or money. But, Mr. Guzman pushes those stereotypes to the side by being a Chicano teacher at Beverly Hills High School and when he tells Ana she has the grades and can apply for various scholarships. Another time we see how Chicanos are viewed in society is when Estella goes to talk to the head of the department store which she makes dresses for. She had gone to talk to her to try and receive an advance to keep things up and running but the lady (who is also Chicana) is put off as rude and not wanting to help. This portrays once someone (even of your own kind) once they make it to the top they begin to assimilate and act the same way most Caucasians do to minorities. These examples relate toEl Plan de Aztlan where they mention how Causcasians will try and get rid of us and how we have to stay as a unity.

This film as a whole shows how Ana speaks up for herself that women don’t have to always cook, clean, take care of the family. She demonstrates that regardless of how thin, thick, race, etc. you should be proud of yourself and own up to being you. That Chicanas have a lot to stand up for and should not settle for less simply because she is a minority. She shows that working hard and believing yourself can get you to various place just how she was able to get into Columbia University with a full scholarship. Lastly, she stands up against every stereotype that is thrown out about Chicana women as a whole.

The movie Quinseanera, is about a young Latina girl who becomes pregnant before her quinseanera (before her fifth teen birthday). A quinseanera is an important traditional celebration that Mexicans celebrates, A quinseanera signifies the transition of a young girl into  young lady. She moves into her uncles and cousins house, because she has nowhere else to go, after her preacher father kicks her out. The father blames the mother for the pregnancy and calls Magdalena’s pregnancy a disgrace and dishonor to the family as well as to the church that he preaches in. The responsible boy is sent away by her mother and Magdalena has no way of contacting him. When she goes and looks for him at his address, the mother tells Magdalena that Herman is not coming back that he has school to focus, and that she should just move on without him.

In this film the “Mexican stereotype was broken. Unlike many movies about Mexicans, this movie did not use Mexicans as gang members, and sex icons. Instead this movie did not follow the typical Mexican stereotype. Beginning with the family. Mexican families are supposed to be strong and united. However in this movie, the family has many flaws, although he father still plays the head of household, macho role.  The stereotype of Mexican patriarchal machista lifestyle is also interrupted by Carlos character. Carlos is Magdalena’s cousin. Carlos portrays a macho character, and seems to b very masculine in the beginning of the film. However as the character develops, he turns out to be gay. Being gay in a Patriarchal Mexican family is very wrong, it is looked down upon and because of this man men and women hide true identity. Carlos who was also kicked out of his house because he was caught watching gay porn goes to his uncles house, for the same reason that he had nowhere else to go.

The grandfather is non -judgmental and understanding and accepts both Magdalena and Carlos, is not a stereotype that Mexican grandfathers take. Grandfathers are supposed to be machistas and instigators.

Many stereotypes were fulfilled, however other stereotypes were broken. For example. Mexican women are suppose to become mothers at a young age. Magdalena became pregnant at 14, without ever being with a man. It was interested how this stereotype was fulfills. Mexican women become pregnant at a young age eve if it happens miraculously, like in the case of Magdalena. In one of the scenes, Carlos tells Magdalena, that her life is over. In Mexican families when a women becomes pregnant, it signifies that she no longer will be able to pursue a career or become successful.

This movie shows that not all Mexican families carry the same values and beliefs. Like all families in the world, every family is different, many things are similar, but not all are the same. This movie is able to show this though the different roles that each character takes. We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and learn to understand that not all Mexicans are the same.