By: Kaden Luckiewicz
The focus of this paper was the reasons parents can play a negative role in the self-identity of their children in Latinx immigrant families. This recurrence has been incorporated into modern film and is present in films such as Real Women Have Curves and Mamitas. The factors that the parents can negatively affect their child’s self-image in Latin immigrant households are due to cultural ties that the parents may have and do not want to give up, putting up barriers, and their level of involvement. It can be difficult for parents to not aggressively push their old culture on their children especially if their children are growing up in a completely different culture than they did. It is also not uncommon for them to put up a barrier that stunts their individuality. The level of involvement can fluctuate from family to family and plays a huge role in the influences a child has in their day-to-day life.
When I researched the traditional parental mindset and approach to raising children in Latin regions I discovered that there were a few unspoken goals that were ingrained into the culture. These goals were termed “respeto” and “consejo”. Respeto is basically making sure that your children understand that their elders deserve the highest level of respect and validity of anyone. Consejo is kind of the overall control the parent tries to have over their child’s attitudes and behaviors. I found that it was just difficult for parents to not raise their children the way they were raised and in some cases it goes a little too far ultimately negatively impacting the child’s self image which was a factor in the self-identity issue the lead in Real Women Have Curves dealt with. I also noticed in Latinx films it was not uncommon for immigrant parents to unintentionally instill hurtful barriers on their children. In Real Women Have Curves and Mamitas the leads’ parents had set up developmental barriers that ultimately negatively impacted their children’s self-identity. Through researching the interviews conducted on the children of immigrants about their fathers and also a paper written on the reasons Latin youth are pushed to gang and street culture I was able to find that a lack of involvement and connection from the parents leads children to find other sources that can. The easiest and most common place to find that connection is through their surroundings, which unfortunately can sometimes lead them to act in ways that they do not necessarily want to. In the film Mamitas, the viewer sees the lead Jordyn fall victim to this because his father, a single dad, barely plays a role in his life.
This is the scene when Carmen makes negative remarks about Ana's weight to try to make her feel bad. She pushes her because she wants her to fit into the culture, so she believes she needs to lose weight so she can marry young.
Ana and her teacher, who played an important role in getting Ana to think independently and not worry about her mother's opinions.
Jordyn getting into a fight, which resulted from him going to a sketchy party to hang out with people he thought he wanted to be like.
Jordyn trying to figure out his family background so that he discover who he truly is and wants to be.
A video I found that I thought was interesting. It just shows that at the end of the day immigrant parents are giving it their all, they are trying to support their families. They aren't trying to hurt their kids or their development.
Sources:
Halgunseth, Linda C., et al, “Parental Control in Latino Families: An Integrated Review of the Literature.” Child Development, vol. 77, no. 5, 2006, pp. 1282–97, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3878432.
Heredia, Juanita, “From the New Heights: The City and Migrating Latinas in Real Women Have Curves and María Full of Grace.” Mester, Vol. 42, Is. 1, 2013, University of California, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0p97f0mc.
Martinez, Jessica. “LA MERA VERDAD: EXPLORING IMMIGRANT LATINO FATHERHOOD.” Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertions, California State University San Bernardino Scholarworks, 2020.
Herbst, Emily. “The Likelihood of Gang Membership: Immigrant Generational Differences among Hispanic Youth.” OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis, 2013, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1377696883.
First image: https://hellogiggles.com/reviews-coverage/movies/real-women-have-curves-still-important-film-brown-girls/
Second image: https://ew.com/movies/2017/10/18/15-years-later-real-women-have-curves-is-still-a-cultural-revolution/
Third image: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1863323/
Fourth image: http://www.coveringmedia.com/movie/2012/04/mamitas.html
Youtube vid: https://youtu.be/12cQlW209zQ