Analysis #7-Selena & Ethnicity Studies

The Mexicans don't like us because they think we are too American, and the Americans don't like us because they think we are too Mexican. "

"We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans andmore American than the Americans."

In order to better understand the ideas of Gloria Anzaldua and her evaluation of culture, I provided quotes from the movie “Selena.” Both quotes are similar to one another in that they describe the judgment by people based on their cultural condition. Anzaldua discusses in her essay “from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” about the struggle between borders. This struggle encompasses the idea of the mstiza which “is a product of the transfer of the cultural and spiritual values of one group to another” (anzaldua; 2099). This transference of culture across cultures can caused conflict within an individual or within groups that lead to them being lodged between or straddled in multiple cultures. Anzaldua argues that this will leave individuals to have “inner war” (Anzaldua; 2099). For example if we look at the first quote from Selena it states, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” Anzaldua describes how “commonly held beliefs of white culture attack commonly held beliefs of Mexican culture” and vice versa (Anzaldua; 2099). It is this attack that causes us to turn on ourselves “subconsciously” (Anzaldua; 2099). This “counterstance locks one into a duel of oppressor and oppressed…” (Anzaldua; 2099). This is apparent throughout the movie as we witness several instances of prejudice or preconceived stereotypes performed in the Anglo Saxon behaviors (i.e. sales clerk telling the Latino characters they wont want to try on a dress because its $800).

Another connection we can make between Anzaldua and the quotes from the movie Selena is through evaluating the dualisms/binaries or relationships between groups (cultures). The quotes above reads, “The Mexicans don’t like us because they think we are too American, and the Americans don’t like us because they think we are too Mexican.” With this quote in mind we can turn to Anzalduas argument regarding dualities. Anzaldua states that the work of a “mestiza consciousness is to break down the subject-object duality that keeps her a prisoner and to show in the flesh and through the images in her work duality is transcended” (Anzaldua; 2101). We can recognize that from the quote that the identity of one culture is recognized through its confrontation with another culture.