Systems Of Oppression In The Movie Real Women Have Curves

Surname 1

Name

Instructor

Course

Date Submitted

Systems of oppression in the movie real women have curves

Real women have curves is an American award-winning film produced in 2002. The

Youth Jury Award and the Imagen Award are among the awards that the film has received and

hence earning it massive publicity. The film was authored and directed by Josefina Lopez and

Patricia Cardoso respectively (Candelaria 26). It is set in Los Angeles and features a young

woman, Ana Garcia, who is torn between her dream and ambition of going to college and family

responsibilities amidst economic hardships. One thing that stands out in the film is its setting in a

Hispanic neighborhood and the depiction of a Mexican-American family (Katzew and Deans-

Smith 47). Among the themes that the movie presents include the immigrant experience, mother-

daughter conflicts, self-acceptance, generational conflict, and positive body image.

The issues of oppression against women feature prominently in the film real women have

curves. Systems of oppression in the movie include body image concerns, family obligations and

societal expectations, the Latino culture, domestic violence, an exploitative marketplace and

labor force, and the immigrant experience. The concept of body image comes out clearly in the

movie. Women are oppressed by the fact that society expects them to have a perfect body and

size. A woman is labeled as attractive if she is thin and blonde; otherwise, she is not attractive.

Gledhill (79) states that idealized female bodies fit in the glamorous and small sized dresses that

Estela and her colleagues made. Carmen, Ana`s mother, often barbs her about her hefty figure

and expects her to have a perfect body that an ideal woman should have (Scott 127).

Surname 2

Nevertheless, Anna beat the tyranny of the perfect body and embraces her less-than-perfect

body. This self-acceptance gives Ana the strength to initiate a relationship with her high school

love interest Jimmy. In a scene at Estela`s factory, Anna helps her colleagues to overcome the

perfect body mentality and accept their imperfect bodies. The women get a chance to appreciate

and feel pride in their work and body. After working for twenty-four hours without rest, Ana and

her co-workers are both sweaty and tired. Ana leads her co-workers in stripping their blouses and

continuing their work in bras. What follows is the other women shedding off their clothes to

display their huge bodies, stretch marks and scars. This act liberates women from the ideology of

the perfect body and they display their bodies publicly.

Family obligations and social expectations are a system of oppression in the movie.

Family obligation is a form of oppression against women that comes out conspicuously in the

film. Ana just graduated from high school, and is on the verge of becoming a woman. As a

woman, Ana is expected to devote her life to her family and provide for them. She is expected to

neglect any dreams and aspirations she has for the sake of her family. Ana`s parents share this

ideology and expect their daughter to remain at home and help with the factory. Carmen wants

Ana to embrace the role of a traditional Mexican woman and become a homemaker and

wageworker. Anna is torn between going to college to pursue her ambitions and maintaining her

cultural heritage by staying at home with her family. Ana is faced with societal expectations and

is obliged to comply with gender roles. The movie starts with a scene of Anna who is about to

leave for school and her mother who is unwell. Carmen urges Ana to skip school and take care of

the men in the household because it is a woman`s duty to take care of men in the family (Scott).

However, Ana is reluctant to do so and opts to go to school instead. Anna is expected to find a

husband to start a family with and have children. Carmen advises Ana to lose weight so that she

Surname 3

can have an ideal thin body image to “catch” a man and become a good wife. She is anticipated

to forget all her dreams and ambitions in life and adhere to societal expectations without

question. When one of Ana`s high school teacher`s tries to persuade Carmen, to allow Ana to

further her education, Carmen disagrees. Carmen supposes that Anna has an obligation to marry

and give her grandchildren, something that Anna`s sister, Estela failed to do. From this part of

the film, it can be deduced that women have an obligation of marrying and having children,

whether they like it or not. Carmen is presented as an ideal woman because she complied with

this expectation; married and had children.

The Latino culture is a system of oppression in the film. It obliges women to be

dependent and submissive and not make decisions that compromise the cultural norms. When

Ana makes a decision to accept the scholarship to Columbia University in a bid to attain

independence, Carmen is unhappy. Carmen refuses to give Ana her blessings as she leaves for

New York and even locks herself in her room. It can be deduced that Ana`s mother blames

herself for not raising the ideal woman who is both dependent and submissive. Although Ana

still leaves to pursue her ambition, she is sad because she did not adhere to her role in the Latino

culture. The film portrays domestic violence as a system of oppression. It features a scene of Ana

and her co-workers listening to a talk show on the radio on abusive spouses. Ana asserts that

women should leave abusive spouses because they have the right to control their sexuality,

destiny, and bodies. She contends that a woman should not hold on to an abusive relationship

because she is dependent on the spouse, for the sake of children, or the church advises her to

endure. This scene depicts a type of oppression for women who cling to their abusive spouse due

to various reasons. Ana states “we can`t allow ourselves to be abused anymore.”

Surname 4

The movie real women have curves presents an exploitative marketplace and labor force

as systems of oppression. Estela runs the family sewing company that is not doing well and risks

closure. She is dedicated, talented, and works hard to ascertain the smooth running of the factory.

Also, Estela has a healthy relationship with her employees particularly Pancha and Rosali.

However, amidst Estela`s hard work, she receives a small compensation for her dresses while the

department store sells them at a high price. The department store buys Estela`s dresses at $18 per

piece and sells them at $600 per piece (Scott 67). This is a depiction of marketplace exploitation

and oppression whereby the producer who does a majority of the work gets a small

compensation, while the seller gets a hefty compensation for little or no work. Apart from

marketplace and labor exploitation, Estela`s dresses also depict the normative ideal of slender

beauty. The dresses only run to size 12 and hence are meant for slender women. Although Ana

admires the dresses, she can neither fit into the dresses nor afford them.

The immigrant experience comes out prominently in the film and immigrants are

portrayed as an oppressed population. The movie is set in a Mexican American family that is

experiencing various obstacles such as economic impoverishment and repressive gender roles.

Just like Ana, many youths of color and low income have limited choices in life and many end

up soliciting for employment opportunities to help their families financially. The economic

impoverishment of the family forces Carmen, Estela, and Ana to work in the garment industry.

According to Candelaria (24), the garment industry is both a difficult and low paying

employment sector for immigrant women globally. As immigrant women, Ana and her

colleagues, experience poor working conditions, low wages, and long working hours. For

instance, in a bid to meet a dresses order deadline, Ana and her co-workers work for 24 hours

straight. Also, they work in a dimly light and poorly ventilated environment. As a wageworker,

Surname 5

Estela and her employees make dresses they cannot wear because they cannot afford the dresses

and they are real-sized yet the dresses are meant for slender women (Scott 87). As a person of

color and immigrant, Ana`s family cannot afford to take her to college and Ana applies for a

scholarship that is successful.

Surname 6

Works Cited

Candelaria, C. Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture, Volume 1. Westport: Greenwood

Publishing Group, 2004. Print

Gledhill, C. Gender Meets Genre in Postwar Cinemas. Champaign: University of Illinois Press,

2012. Print

Katzew, I and S Deans-Smith. Race and Classification: The Case of Mexican America. Redwood

City: Stanford University Press, 2009. Print

Lopez, J. Real Women have Curves. 2002

Scott, R. What is Eating Latin American Women Writers: Food, Weight, and Eating Disorders.

New York: Cambria Press, 2009. Print

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."