Rosa in El Norte Vs Frida Kahlo in Frida - Essay Example

The Number 13 December Rosa in El Norte Vs Frida Kahlo in Frida While El Norte, Gregory Nava’s 1983 film, is believed to be a modern epic of immigration, thematically, it is certainly more than just immigration, and this makes the film stand out of the crowd. The film tells the story of two siblings – a brother and a sister – who flee from their home country Guatemala to find happiness in the North. So they head for “El Norte”, their long-awaited land of happiness and equal opportunities. Unlike the majority of modern films that prefer to portray women through the secondary roles, in El Norte a Guatemalan girl of native (Mayan) origin is empowered to speak for herself and her actions. Similarly, the character of Frida Kahlo in 2002 Frida film (dir. Julie Taymor) is a central figure in a movie that tells the story of Frida Kahlo’s life. This character, despite some major differences from the character of Rosa, is able to fight for her own happiness and evolves as a strong representation of a Latin American woman. THESIS STATEMENT: Although women in El Norte and Frida are represented through completely different stories, time periods, and in totally different contexts, they have several important things in common. First of all, they both struggle against life circumstances; they both set out on a quest for happiness; they both evolve as strong personalities; and they both face untimely deaths without having found happiness on earth. Rosa in the Movie El Norte Rosa and her brother Enrique are the protagonists of El Norte, an epic movie about immigration and cultural conflicts and the quest for happiness. At its simplest, the movie may be perceived as a chronicled attempt of two Guatemalan teenagers to escape the brutalities of the military regime in Guatemala through illegal emigration to the United States. Rosa (Zaide Silvia Guierrez), a teenage Guatemalan girl, is portrayed epically, through a range of events in her life. She thinks, decides, acts, and eventually occupies the leading position in the film: when she dies, Enrique’s (David Villalpando) life goes empty and he supposedly commits a suicide. In this section of the paper, the focus will be put on the character of Rosa: what role it has in the film, how she changes throughout the film, how she struggles for her happiness, and how she evolves as a strong personality in due course of the film. Rosa’s central role in El Norte is evidenced by her clear decision-making part and her drive to find a better place to live, to achieve happiness and peace. An Indian woman by origin, she takes the decision to take her chances and flee to the U.S. with her brother Enrique. The off-spring of the Maya who have lived in Guatemala for centuries, Rosa makes up her mind to seek peace and happiness in a totally different culture. Raised on myths of the Mayan people, who have their own perception of the world and their own vision of life, Rosa makes a really tough decision. For her, to go to the United States or to go el norte means to enter the world totally alien and appallingly different. Yet she takes this step driven by her desire to find a home far away from the place where she was born and raised. Indeed, Guatemala failed to be her home, so Rosa hopes to find another one. While these dreams are not devoid of practical background (Rosa gets to know from Enrique that in the United States even poor people own their cars), her decision is more romantically inspired than carefully developed. Anyway, in the empty house where she and Enrique are under the threat of being murdered or abducted (just as their parents were), no one waits for them, except for the ghosts of their ancestors. Thus, there is no choice. Yet, there is hope. Hence, Rosa’s central role is displayed through her decision-making, which proves central to the whole movie. As a female character, Rosa constructs her character through a series of morose events and happenings, all of which leave an imprint on her tender yet resolute self. At the beginning of the story, Rosa finds out about her family crisis through the ominous sign: when the girl gets back home, she finds it full of white butterflies. After Rosa follows the butterflies’ trail, she finds out they have emerged from the family altar where her mother’s silver necklace is. The vision of a butterfly emerging from the altar with lots of lit candles symbolizes the soul of Rosa’s mother leaving her body. Having experienced this dreadful encounter in her empty house, Rosa learns that her mother was abducted by soldiers. Next, Rosa has to comprehend another ominous sign: a sight of white cut flowers not far from her. These are probably the symbols of her dead relatives (Hart 103). While Rosa is watching the cut flowers on the grass and the deer that suddenly appears beside her, she probably communes with her parents (the deer symbolizes the soul and the flowers symbolize the deceased members of the family) in a mysterious way. Having met her brother, she makes her final decision to flee from Guatemala. It is on her way “el norte” – which is nothing but “a ceaseless shifting of land, from Guatemala to Mexico, from Mexico to California, from California to Illinois” – that Rosa evolves as a truly strong-willed and powerful personality (Santander, “Immigration and Colonization”). Indeed, on her way El Norte Rosa faces a series of challenging situations, one of the most dreadful – her crawl through the sewers that lead them over the Mexican-U.S. border. The sewers are full of rats that constantly bite Rosa. Another risky situation is the attack of the man who called himself their friend. Jaime from Zacatecas offers the siblings to lead them across the border, yet attacks the two in the forest in an attempt to rob them. This happening also leaves an imprint on Rosa’s soul, so that the travel to her final destination is not a physical or geographical journey, but rather a moral ordeal. Its meaning is the shaping of Rosa’s character. Rosa’s strength as a female character in this Latino film is built through her power to pursue her dream despite the circumstances that prove to be all against her. In the first part of the film, after the girl visits the church where she has lit candles in the memory of her parents, she is confronted by two old ladies who sit near the house. The women ask in Rosa’s native language where she is going. However, when the door bangs shut, it appears that the women were apparitions. From this symbolic mise-en-scene, one can clearly see that Rosa faces an obstacle to her journey and may predict that the journey will probably be unsuccessful. While on the one hand, it might seem unwise that Rosa keeps to her initial plan to leave the country despite a variety of ominous signs that are related to the world of the dead; on the other hand, Rosa’s decisiveness reveals her commitment to find happiness and build her own world based on peace and filled with justice. Finally, even at death’s door Rosa does not give up looking for answers to her questions about the meaning of life and presumed happiness. Of course, this is true that Rosa suffers from knowing that she will not be able to build her dream world in the United States, the destination reached by the price of her life. Yet, she dies in peace. Probably, she dies peacefully because she eventually finds her home – in the afterlife. To illustrate, “In our own land, we have no home. They want to kill us. ... In Mexico, there is only poverty. We can't make a home there either. And here in the north, we aren't accepted. When will we find a home, Enrique? Maybe when we die, we'll find a home.” (El Norte) This is the basic theme of the film, its major idea. And, importantly, it is uttered by the female protagonist: Rosa. Frida Kahlo in the Movie Frida Unlike Rosa, who travels both geographically and psychologically to find happiness and achieve the dreamy world of peace and justice, Frida Kahlo, the protagonist of Frida, travels mostly within the confines of her soul and her mind. To enjoy life, Frida is obliged to fight not the circumstances of the outside world, but, above all, the inner feelings inside her. She has to struggle against physical pain and despair which come as a result of Frida’s life-long crippling disease. Even more, Frida manages to evolve as a unique and powerful personality through her transformation of pain into the arts, namely painting. This means that she manages to build her own world where she can be happy at least artistically. Carrie Rickey, U.S. art critic, is known to apply to Frida Kahlo the specific title of “a transformer of pain” (Rickey, “A Phenom's Phenomenal Art In the Art Museum's Frida Kahlo). As a matter of fact, the life of the extraordinary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who represented the modernist trend and died at the age of only 47, was recognized an experience of unbelievable transformation and really tough decisions. Specifically, Frida managed to rise from pain to art through her unique determination and guidance by love. It is probably this transformational power of the Latin American female that attracted modern filmmakers to the legendary personality of Frida Kahlo and caused them to screen her tragic yet exciting life story. The 2002 movie Frida, directed by Julie Taymor, focuses on the transformational power of Frida’s personality. At the same time, it plunges the audience into the world of Frida’s creativity, passion, marriage, love, and hatred. Frida Kahlo in Frida evolves as a strong personality owing to the sequence of tough choices that she has to make throughout her life, which seems to be a total challenge. Having bitterly suffered from poliomyelitis in her childhood, Frida manages to get over this damaging disease only to get into a disastrous car accident, whose outcome is her physical disability. The latter will be torturing the young woman for the rest of her life. Kahlo’s major step in construction of her strong personality is her involvement in painting. Indeed, as Kahlo starts to paint, she forcefully keeps herself engaged in this activity. Her willpower leads her to retaining her passion and maintaining the active life position by painting. Otherwise, she would have been left bedridden, with her only option being despair or carving for death. Even more, Frida experiences two turbulent but undoubtedly exhilarating marriages to the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera (his role is performed by Alfred Molina). In her evolvement as a strong woman, Kahlo makes a range of life-changing choices and gets recognized as being “never conventional about anything she does”, and as being “always herself” despite the fact it is rarely an easy task to do (“Frida Movie”). Another powerful aspect of this Latino woman’s personality is her ability to transform her pain into the arts. Painting is not simply an occupation to that will keep Frida distracted from her pain and sufferings, it is her means of creation. As a matter of fact, Frida does not give a birth to a child, but she produces a number of unique paintings and portraits, which in some way are her “kids.” Probably, because the pain that Frida suffered was too great, her paintings are so expressive. From the film we get to know the horrific extent of the pain endured by Kahlo. To illustrate, the opening sequence begins with young Frida carried out of her home while bedridden. Further, Frida’s studies at high school are shown along with the devastating car accident she experiences while only 18. Specifically, the protagonist gets stabbed by a metal pole during the collision between a streetcar and the bus. The injurious accident leaves the girl crippled for the remainder of her life. She now has to move on crutches, use wheelchairs, or simply stay in bed. It is at that moment that confined Frida, whose back is shattered, starts to create paintings. Her father delivers canvas to assist in recuperation from the tragedy, and from that time Frida will intensively paint. Through painting, Frida manages to express her inner feelings and suffering, both emotional and physical. Painting becomes her second soul, her life-long companion, and her peaceful kingdom. r most dramatic life-changing choices. Indeed, Frida’s artistic works, as one may see in the film, always accompany her life events. No matter what Kahlo has to face, she goes on painting. This activity, perhaps, helps Frida deconstruct her suffering and her unbearable pain, physical and psychological alike. Undoubtedly, paintings help Frida live and who knows how many years Frida might have stayed alive but for her unique passion for painting and her continuous self-expression via self-portrait. In her struggle with the life circumstances, Frida emerges a winner. It seems that Kahlo has managed to locate her new identity. Confined to bed, invalid, and physically disadvantaged, Frida makes every effort to develop her spiritual world and try to show her inner self with the help of a brush. Interestingly, the decision to survive and keep struggling for her life with the help of a brush and a canvas does not befall the protagonist immediately. Kahlo first needs to get used to the idea that she is restrained physically and collect all her strength and hope to do the act of courage – take up painting - which will finally transform her whole life. At the same time, Kahlo has probably taken up art also because of the fact that she has an inner feeling that her calling is to be an artist and because she realizes this is what she came into this world to do. Frida’s power as a personality is enhanced by realizing the importance of her act of courage that helped her to break the limits of her disabled and suffering body. Frida’s artistic work will be passed down to the upcoming generations. Just as many people will again get inspired by Frida’s art and ability to convert or, better, transform pain, anyone may want to know more about her. Remarkably, Frida manages to partially realize herself as a woman. This is another decisive choice made by Frida. As portrayed in the movie, Kahlo gets married to Diego Rivera, a famous mural artist of the Mexican origin. After a series of tumults followed by a divorce, Frida is filmed recognizing that she has suffered two principal main accidents over her life: the first was when she was run over by a streetcar and the second occurred when Frida became Diego’s spouse. Indeed, marriage to Diego Rivera is full of tumult and ends in a divorce and further remarriage. Frida has to use all her stamina to enjoy being Diego’s third wife since the artist is well-known for his frequent love affairs. It is worth mentioning that Diego’s unfaithfulness hurts Frida. At the same time, this marriage remains a source for inspiration for Frida, whose paintings meet Diego’s appraisals. Frida manages to create her own “one-for-two” world, in which her husband performs the role of not merely a passionate lover, but Frida’s advisor and guide in the arts. Besides, she emerges as an active socialist since marriage to Diego alters her political affiliation. In the film, Diego, a passionate Marxist and Trotskyist, along with Frida are represented as active socialists whose views are radical and extremely left. While the marriage to Diego seems to help Frida evolve as a strong and broad-minded personality, it is still unclear whether her relationship with Rivera is a way to happiness. Rather the opposite. It evidently has a twofold impact on Frida’s life: it is the source and cause of Frida’s love and inspiration as an artist and her grim disappointments rooted in some fatal happenings, including Frida’s miscarriage. Conclusion Having contrasted and compared the stories of Rosa from the film El Norte and Frida from the film Frida, one can draw the following conclusions. There are a number of differences between the two female protagonists, their life stories and evolvement. Specifically, Rosa and Frida lived up to different age and were of different ethnic background. While they are both Latin American female characters, they represent different social groups and their fates are largely different. While for Rosa the major obstacle in life is related to being haunted by the outer hardships: danger of being arrested, poverty, and inability to find a place where to live; for Frida, this is mostly the inner struggle that needs to be won. She struggles with pain, despair, unfaithfulness, and inability to lead a typical life. Moreover, due to life circumstances and a different choice of opportunities, Frida’s personality gets better developed. She emerges as a politically, artistically, personally and socially fulfilled personality who has set views on a range of issues and things in life. As for Rosa, she has not managed to develop such a range of views. We only learn about her basic views: how she perceives the reality, how she deals with hardships, etc. This can well be explained by the fact that there is a difference between two the emphases of the films’: Frida is devoted solely to the life and artistic heritage of Frida Kahlo while in El Norte the major emphasis is on cultural conflicts and the issue of immigration. So Rosa’s character is naturally not that developed. Despite the differences discussed above, the two characters share a range of essential similarities. First of all, they are both female characters empowered to speak for themselves and make life-changing decisions. Next, both of them are involved in a struggle and set in the quest for happiness. Both characters evolve as strong characters with a clear moral backbone: they have their set outlook and their values. In addition, both characters face untimely deaths, without having found happiness on earth. Indeed, only in death does Rosa find her home; only in death does Frida get rid of her pain and suffering. Therefore, the similarities between the two Latino women characters are essential, and they demonstrate the will power and emotional strength inherent in Latin American women. Works Cited El Norte. Dir. Gregory Nava. Perf. Zaide Silvia Gutierrez, David Villalpando. Cinecom International PBS, 1983. Film. Frida. Dir. Julie Taymor. Perf. Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Antonio Banderas. Miramax/Ventanarosa, 2002. Film. “Frida Movie Review”. Frida Detailed Movie Reviews. N.d. Web. Dec 13, 2012. Hart, S. Companion to Latin American Film. Boydell & Brewer, 2004. Print. Rickey, C. “A Phenom's Phenomenal Art In the Art Museum's Frida Kahlo. Feb 17, 2008. Web. Dec 13, 2012. Santander, H. “Immigration and Colonization”. 2002. Web. Dec 13, 2012. Read More