Lesson 13: Resistance ain’t futile, is it?

Lesson 13:Resistance ain’t futile, is it? Professor Daniel Bernardi/ Professor Michelle Martinez

In the Last lecture • The three waves of Chicano/a Film • Postmodernism and the Mexican-American border dilemma • Lourdes Portillo: Chicana Cinema • La Ofrenda (1988) • The Devil Never Sleeps (1994)

In this Lecture • The Actor’s Role • Using Acting as Subversion - Lupe Vélez - Gilbert Roland - José Ferrer • Zoot Suit

The Actor’s Role Lesson 13: Part 1

Actors Without Power? “Many purported analyses of film acting are actually discussions of a fictional character, which is created by the screenwriter, rather than the way that the character is embodied, which is the work of the actor.” (88) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Isolating the Actor “After all, the actor is dressed by costumers, coifed by hairstylists, made up by make up artists, lit by the director of photography, and presumable guided in every shot by the director. In addition, actors speak words written by the screen writer, and the editor shapes their performances into their ultimate form. Where then, is one to locate the actor’s creative participation?” (88) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Semiotics Ramirez Berg points to Theorist Richard Dyer’s argument: “…what the performer does in addition to the actions/functions she or he performs in the plot and lines she or he is given to say. Performance is how the action/function is done, how the lines are said.” (88)

Reminder

Semiotically Speaking Dyer’s breakdown of signs of performance: • Facial expression • Voice • Gestures (principally of hands and arms, but also of any limb, e.g. neck, leg) • Body posture (how someone is standing or sitting) • Body movement (how someone stands up or sits down, how they walk, run, etc.)

The Big Point The actor participates as a cog in the wheel of the filmmaking process, a hired hand, and implements the part as directed and groomed to do so. Audiences often confuse character for actor and vice versa. The actor’s true power is in interpreting the signs and signifiers in the physical aspects of the role.

Using Acting as Subversion Lesson 13: Part 2

Reminder “The antidote to stereotyping is knowledge, that is information. In social stereotyping, the more the in-group knows about the Other, the less accurate they will find the maligning stereotype to be. A stereotypes usage declines as it becomes a less reliable category.” (89) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Film Representation Richard Dyer has argued that: “In film representation…white characters are depicted as individuals, and people of color as part of an undifferentiated mass…white people in their whiteness…are imagined as endlessly diverse, complex and changing.”

The Invisible Knapsack “Whites are taught to think of their lives asmorally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal,so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work whichwill allow ‘them’ to be more like ‘us’.” -Peggy McIntosh Click here to read the article by Peggy McIntosh “Unpacking the Knapsack of White Privilege”

Fighting Back “Anything the filmmakers can do to enrich the flat, stereotypical image of an Other character is probably a progressive blow against stereotyping. The more the film contextualizes its Latino characters, the more background the screenwriters provide for them so they appear as fleshed-out characters as opposed to cardboard types, the less stereotypical they will appear.” -Charles Ramirez Berg

Enriching Characterization “Anything actors can do to enrich their screen characters, to allow them to become individuals rather than remain types, undermines their existence as a mere stereotypical sign.” (89-90) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Examples of Early Subversion Performative excesses as counter-stereotypical devices: • Lupe Vélez • Frenetic comic performance • Gilbert Roland • Posture • Self-costuming • José Ferrer • Dulcet voice • Lyrical line delivery

Lupe Vélez (1908-1944) • Starred in many lead or co-sarring roles • Early sex symbol (comparable to Mae West) in 1930s before pre-Production censorship codes • Starred in series of films: Mexican Spitfire • Lead role, fashionable clothing, “heroine of series”

Vélez as Slapstick Comic “In terms of the history of performance in film, what Vélez was doing—and this is unique for a woman in American sound cinema – was continuing the slapstick tradition of silent comedies into sound films. Her whirligig comic style had its roots in Mexican vaudeville and was similar to the slapstick pioneered into an art form by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and others.” (96) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Vélez as Subversive “…we can assume she was allowed to ad-lib her Spanish outbursts as long as they were not offensive…she takes the opportunities to wink at the Spanish speakers in the audience, underscoring for them the difference between stiff and cold Anglo values and human and warm Mexican ones.” (97) -Charles Ramirez Berg

Gilbert Roland (1905-1994) • Born in Mexico,raised in El Paso • Matinee idol of the late 1920s and 1930s • Became a well respected character actor • Earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Roland as Subversive • Presented himself with a straight, yet graceful posture • Avoided stereotypical costuming for ‘Latino’ characters • Visually commanded this scenes

Stealing the Scene “Whenever his trademark costume tricks were constrained, he still stood erect in the frame, never slouched or drooped at the shoulders. In graphic terms, the vertical line created by upright posture is a strong power line in the frame, and when standing, Roland always presented such a figure to the camera.” (98) -Charles Ramirez Berg

José Ferrer (1909-1992) • Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico • Graduate of Princeton • Won Academy award in 1950 • Subpoenaed by McCarty during ‘Red Scare’ • Father of actor Miguel Ferrer • Uncle of George Clooney

Ferrer as Subversive • Worked as actor, director, writer, and producer • Won numerous awards • Worked with renowned film directors • Rarely cast as a Latino in films, came to be known as an actor, rather than Latino actor. • When playing Latinos, used voice to avoid stereotypes

Ferrer in Crisis (1950) “…Ferrer the actor breaks with the dictator-as-bandido stereotype by creating a character who is far from a one-dimensional caricature. He is a complex of contradictions, part visionary, part savage, and always intelligent (both because it is so well written by [Richard] Brooks and so well spoken by Ferrer).” (104) • Charles Ramirez Berg

The Big Point Actors have limited power for subversion, however since the Golden Age of American Cinema, some Latino actors have developed techniques and found projects to subvert stereotypes.

Zoot Suit Lesson 13: Part 3

Zoot Suit (1981) • Written and directed by Luis Valdez • Starred Edward James Olmos • Tells alternative history of Sleepy Lagoon Trials • Politically contestational

As Subversive • Adapted from the play by Luis Valdez • Employed “meta-theater” and Brechtiaan techniques of poltical subversion • Latino cast and filmmakers

The Big Point Latinos making films about Latinos, casting Latinos to play ‘themselves’ or casting Latinos to play non-Latinos or roles which de-emphasize ethnicity are all ways to subvert stereotypes and seek to de-familiarize stereotypical roles, therefore resisting their persistence.

End of Lecture 13 Next Lecture: So where are we…again?

Lesson 13: Resistance ain’t futile, is it?