' The film suggests that assimilation does come at some cost, though, like to the lawyer Memo, who marries an Anglo woman and must play down his Mexican heritage to fit in with his in-laws. But overall the movie suggests that Latino participation in the American dream is both comparable to that of other ethnic groups. Living as a Mexican-American is possible, and the second generation does not have to entirely sacrifice family and heritage to become a part of the American mosaic, contrary to what was suggested in earlier Hollywood images, chronicled in "The Bronze Screen."
The film "Real Women Have Curves" (2002) even more convincingly demonstrates that Latino struggles with American identity are not necessarily always negative. The protagonist Ana must overcome images of the Western media to find a sense of peace and security. She is ambitious professionally, and does not just want to get married, as her mother urges her to do. The film suggests that Latino women must find a balance between tradition and American possibility, between the past and the present. Latino culture's highly sexualized images of femininity and American stereotypes, as all of these cultural and media pressures force women to deny their...
The central character must resist her mother's urges to lose weight and to make her natural body shape desirable to men just as she must resist pressures to wholly assimilate into American culture. Ana must fight the messages given to her by her Hispanic family as well as from the Western media to feel as sense of personal empowerment.
But in the new world of America, even if some past American images have been negative, "Real Women Have Curves" suggests that, for all of its flaws, the fluidity of social mobility and identity that is possible in America makes becoming an American a positive experience for Latino women. Ana finds love in the arms of an Anglo boy who can love her for who she really is, and becomes determined to use the opportunities for education provided by America while forging her own identity that looks to the future.
Works Cited
The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in Hollywood." (2002). Directed by Alberto Dom'nguez (IV) and Nancy De Los Santos.
Mi Familia." (1995). Directed by Gregory Nava.
Real Women Have Curves." (2002). Directed by Patricia Cardoso.
