The Ideas of Family, Values, Machismo in the Movie, Star Maps
Throughout the movie, Star Maps, many ideas about family values, machismo among the males, and patriarchy passed on through generations are easily observed. They begin with simple, common, stereotypical ideologies such as having the family eat dinner together, or by having the father stress the fact that he brings home the bacon. These ideas later progress into more complicated, as well as disturbing matters. The movie expresses these ideas by having the father hurt women physically or by displaying violence and disrespect to those that you are supposed to love. The first idea about family that I recognized was when the family sits down and eats dinner together.
This scene is towards the beginning which made me believe that they were similar to other families and that there wasnt that much tension between them. Another issue that kept constant throughout the movie was the strong bond between Maria and Carlos. They always supported each others dreams, had good communication and would try to give each other advice. A good example of this was when Carlos got back from Mexico and Maria told him not to go to work with his dad. Instead, she told him that he should pursue his acting career alone. The last family value that was present was how Maria, the daughter took over her mothers role.
Because the mother was sick Maria became completely responsible for everyone else. She had to put her life aside in order to cook dinner, clean the house, take care of her mom, and try to keep the family together. It seemed as if Maria didnt do it no one else would. Especially not her father, he was too busy being with his girlfriend and making money. This leads me to the ideas of machismo that are also present in the movie. The fathers character is the best example that displays these two ideas the best. He always has to be in charge and he also sees women as property. He feels that because he is a man that he can cheat on his wife and everything is fine.
In one scene, Maria invites a male friend for dinner. When her father gets there he tells her friend that hes just her friend in order to get a piece of ass. He continues by saying that if he wants her, he has to pay fifty dollars and that he should accept the offer because its pretty cheap. In another scene, the fathers girlfriend finds out that his wife is not dying so she slaps him for lying to her and he hits her back as if she was a man. He puts her down by telling her shes a whore and displays machismo when he says, Who do you think you are? The last form of machismo that is displayed is the fact that the father keeps bringing up the whole idea that he gives his family a house and food and that they are ungrateful because they dont even thank him, likes thats all a father has to do. This brings me to the issue of patriarchy.
On numerous occasions the father mentions the fact that his dad put him on the streets when he was young and that he taught him to be a man. His father taught him that in order to be a man he had to give up his dreams and make money by selling his body to strangers. It seemed that he idealized his father and for that reason he thinks that what he does is what a man is supposed to do. The movie Star Maps tried to display these ideas throughout the film. Although the ideas were a bit extreme and exaggerated, it still let us see some of the problems a Latino family goes through.
