Hot Chocolate for Bitch Loves

The main development of the film Like Water for Chocolate takes place during the Mexican revolution (1910-1917).The social and political climate were really tough; nevertheless:
“the historical setting of the film could have provided a radical backdrop to the story. However, the political and social causes and effects of the conflict are ignored. The revolutionaries themselves are reduced to folkloric caricatures and are seeing drinking, dancing, and singing, rarely fighting. In addition, only one side is ever seen, that of the Villistas, so it is not clear whom they are fighting. There is one violent attack in the film, resulting in the rape of family’s servant Chencha and the murder of Mamá Elena. However, the audience is not told who is responsible for this, as the ranch hand asks the attackers in English, “What do you want?” While audiences might assume they are revolutionaries, the ranch hand would not speak to them in English if this were the case. The novel clears up the confusion, referring to the attackers as bandits, which contributes to the soft representation of the revolutionaries. Nuala Finnegan has argued that the film follows the Hollywood tradition of representing the Mexican Revolution, particularly in the emphasis of Pancho Villa as the principal revolutionary and in the invasion of political and social issues. (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 41).
In other words, the political climate of that time is really unseen in order to make emphasis on the social issue of women’s place in society; but, despite this, other social aspects of the time are overseen too.
On the other hand, “despite the focus on the personal over the political, Amores Perros, makes a connection between the absent father and an ineffective state. Iñárritu has said that “it is not a political film, but it has a lot to do with the consequences of a political system. […] There is corruption, sleaze, and dishonesty at all levels.” And socially it is “a world where violence denotes masculinity, as do the material gains that come through the robberies and the dogfights. El Chivo’s violence has different motives; his job as a hired assassin has deep psychological and political roots. It is a manifestation of his anger against a society that has incarcerated him.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 59, 60). In other words, even though the film does not talk about politics itself, it talks about the consequences of political and social failure; the film portrays a world of resentful characters that are deviant from what the society is supposed to be, always in a struggle for power and ignorant of many of the moral and ethical values or at least these are not important enough to them so that they stop. Briefly, Amores Perros treats not only a social problem, that is the “doing wrong” of people in society; but also a sociological problem, that is the wrong way in which politics and law work in society.
The main idea of Like Water for Chocolate is:
To provide “an image of a country that fit the notion of the ideal tourist location for the Western filmgoer. Mexico is represented as a country unlike the metropolises in which the film was not successful. It is represented as a rural land, which has maintained its culinary and social traditions. By naturalizing and idealizing the ideology of femininity through Tita and by demonizing the masculine Mamá Elena, Like Water for Chocolate suggests that women can reach fulfillment only within patriarchal codes. This seemingly harmless romance thus conceals and antifeminist subtext. Not only does Tita seduce Pedro through her cooking, beauty, and submissiveness, as well as her brand of magical femininity, she is also used to seduce the public. She is constructed to act as a role model for implied female audiences and an ideal fantasy wife/mother for implied male audiences.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 51).
The latter brings us to the purpose of the film, “Esquivel has argued that women’s natural place is in the home, and suggests that it is time for them to return to that rightful place. She claimed in one interview that women trough their entry into workplace have abandoned the home, a “marvelous and sacred centre”.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 44). That is, that woman in an attempt to be equal to man, have led to a side their femininity, so they should come back to the place were they belong, the housework. This paper personally disagrees with this point of view; I consider that is not that they leave the workplace, but that they keep their women essence, their womanly tasks, values and attitudes; but still, this movie has Machismo and Patriarchal basis.
On the other hand, the main idea and purpose of Amores Perros is to represent “a Mexico that stands for difference. It is a film that offers an escape for city dwellers to a more “authentic,” traditional world symbolized by the natural products used in the time-consuming recipes. Amores Perros presents another model, one that shows images of modern Mexicans that are not “other” to European and U.S. audiences, but images of people who are apparently like us or at least, are images with which we are familiar;
[…] Iñárritu has spoken of his intentions to challenge stereotypes of Mexicans, seen in such Hollywood films as The Mexican (2001) and Traffic (2000): I am not a Mexican with a moustache and a sombrero and a bottle of tequila… Nor I am a corrupt cop or a drug trafficker. There are millions like me. And this is the world I live in and the one I want to show. The world he and Arriaga Jordán create shows characters divided by class and socioeconomic circumstances, but linked to each other through such universal concerns as love, desire, hate, power and loneliness. […] Amores Perros emphasizes the theme of ‘the interconnectedness of human beings,’ despite the separate spaces that social groups inhabit; […] is an exposé of ‘a world where we are losing our social values, our sense of fraternity, and focus only on individual values.’” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 54, 55).
Yet, it is a machista and patriarchal dominant movie, in which the roles of men are preponderant over those of women. To explain the latter, this paper will discuss the significance of the titles of each movie.
In Like Water for Chocolate, the title serves as a metaphor that refers to the magical culinary arts and the idea of a man and a woman that are meant for each other. The film makes its case through emotional appeal, since it “relies on romantic ideals and conservative values for its success.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 36). In other words, it is version of romantic version of old school love, which is a love that gives the man the active role and the woman, just follows and falls for her man. In Amores Perros; in reference to the title, “the dogs that feature in each “chapter” link the characters while signaling their distinct characters. Octavio and Ramiro’s mastiff, Cofi, demonstrates the violence of the streets that condition the brothers’ behavior; Richie, Valeria’s pretty pet, symbolizes the spoiled life she has lived before her accident, then shares a similar fate to her in its fall; while El Chivo’s love for his strays reflects his initial rejection of people.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 57). Obviously an allegory to Jean-Paul Sartre’s words: “The more I know men, the more I love my dog.” But then “Cofi, the dog who kills dogs, finds his natural owner in the man who kills men. It is Cofi who teaches El Chivo the implications of his own actions; El Chivo’s horror when Cofi kills all of his dogs leads to his redemption” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 58). The title then is a metaphor that establishes the connections of the situations by incarnating them in the different dogs, but beyond that, it is a metaphor to describe the complexity of the different love stories that take place in the movie; even though these loves are complex, cruel and realistic, they portray that the patriarchal male role is in crisis. “The male characters in the film are inked by the need to redefine their masculinity, whereas the women are seen as victims of a patriarchal society and are often in marginal positions. […] The film does critique machismo and patriarchy and succeeds in examining the complexities of heterosexual gender relations, unlike Like Water for Chocolate, which is a celebration of the traditional femininity, with men only of interests as objects of desire.” (Contemporary Cinema of Latin America, 2003, 66, 67). Still, is more than obvious that the base on which this various loves rely are the same as the loves in Like Water for Chocolate; that is the Alpha male and the submissive female in disposition the male needs whenever he pleases.
The main themes on which both movies converge are Love, Betrayal and Death. We have to be aware that every one of these topics is structured over the latter explained parameters. Being said that I will start by the theme of love. Love in Like Water for Chocolate is an allusion to the old school romantic love, a love which is mutual and gets thru no matter the obstacles that get in the middle is love per se, the novelistic ideal love with which people like to get in touch or better get to feel in flesh. On the other hand in Amores Perros, and its established in the title, the existent love is one that yet profound is not corresponded, but even worse is a love that is used as a strategic way to climb up in the scale of power; nevertheless, it is a more realistic love. It is a love that can be disturbed and that not always gets thru. It is a love that is not inherent but constructed; but even more it is a love that does not inhabit in the mind in a perfect wonder world as it does in Like Water for Chocolate were it does not mix with other feelings or interacts, but a love which is more in touch with our deepest humanity and greed, it can almost become a tool to fit or to get to an ulterior purpose. Then is the topic of betrayal, which holds hands tightly with the theme of love. Betrayal in Like Water for Chocolate is seen more in terms of going against oneself and others, it is a dual-betrayal, like the marriage of Tita’s beloved one with her sister in which he betrays Tita and himself at the same time; Tita’s sister betrays Mama Elena’s values and principles which were their own; and Tita betrays the doctor in the most tasteless way after having accepted to marry him. But according to the movie, it is a betrayal which is justified by love, I consider is not. On the other hand, in Amores Perros, the betrayal is entirely pushed by love. Octavio betrays his brother and gets him knocked by his friends while he fucks his brother’s wife; Daniel betrays his family for a new Barbie, leaving them on their own and El Chivo betrays his family to for the love he has for his ideals. None of these betrayals can be realy justified, but they are certainly more accurate to human nature and behavior, to the struggle for power, for the greedy desire of love. Finally, there is death; in Like Water for Chocolate death is treated as a relief for those in this world from the annoying individuals, death in this film is treated as a supernatural religious thing, those who were good go to heaven and those who have unfinished businesses in earth will try to stay and solve them. Conversely, in Amores Perros, death is seen as a punishment, a biblical reference of envy, as they bring Cain and Abel story portraying it in the Octavio and Ramiro, but even more on the Garfias brothers. Also and even more important is that death in this film is seen in an abstract sense; that is the death of ideals that are obsolete then we purify ourselves and reborn as new men.
All in all, death and betrayal are caused by love, being it pure or played for whim. It is a resemblance to the oldest story in the book of life: Man always desires the most that which he can not have. This impossible love is the duel in which men knows that he also is that which he has lost and is unable to acquire so tries to get it thru force or deceive. This love is the ultimate sorrow that needs to be calmed down, is the fact that reminds us to drink a hot chocolate for these bitch loves.