Ethnocentrism can be defined as using standards and perceptions of your own culture to judge the culture of another person, causing someone to judge different cultures and groups relative to their own, mostly as it relates to language, customs, or religion. This paper will analyze my own culture experience while viewing the Spanish film All About My Mother.
Pedro Almodóvar, a Spanish filmmaker, uses his films to address the idea of Spanish identity in regards to family, sexuality, religion, and gender. He tends to have characters that are on the margins of society, and whose genders and sexuality are nothing more than a construct of that society. Before viewing the film I researched Almodovar to familiarize myself with his cultural background to better understand where he was coming from, as I believe this is an important part to not being classified as an ethnocentric citizen of society.
Therefore, in recognizing how Almodóvar explores Spanish identity, it is important to understand the context of the type of Spain in which he was raised. Under Franco rule, censorship and repression were often used as expectations of morality. It was a very patriarchal society, yet the father figure was often absent and distant. Almodóvar uses this idea oftenin All About My Mother when the mother searches for meaning and her own identity after her teenage son is killed. These Franco era ideals of censorship and morality can be seen as relating to that of the Puritanical ideals that the United States was founded on, so I oftentimes found myself almost identifying with the characters in the film as they seemed to be searching for identity and a sense of self just as many people my age are.
Almodóvar places great emphasis on sexuality and gender as a part of identity throughout the film; he generally focuses on how gender is socially constructed, and then tries to deconstruct those roles. To him, gender is a point of fluidity rather than certainty. The main characters in his films are often transvestites, homosexuals, or bisexuals. Ernesto Acevedo-Munoz points out, “generic definition has come with a volatile gender un-definition of key characters whose transitional identities are paradoxically symbolic of their stability and not of crisis” (Acevedo-Munoz, 26).
Almodóvar also makes use of setting in his All About My Mother to convey identity, in particular to convey the importance of transition and discovery throughout life, which seems to be a universal process regardless of geographical location or culture. The Madrid Barajas airport is seen in nearly every one of his films, which is something I found to be intriguing as I have never visited or seen pictures of the place. He uses dressing rooms often, in film studios, theaters, and clubs, to make use of their many mirrors in reflecting one’s identity. He uses cemeteries often as well, which is where the film Volver opens on. All of these settings are not only places of transition (the airport and cemeteries), but also of transformation (the mirrors of the film/theater studios). Almodóvar effectively uses space to convey a sense of freedom that is associated with the discovery of one’s identity (Mouat).
Ultimately, Almodóvar uses this film as a statement that the transition is just as important as the discovery in his characters, as well as that of the post-Franco Spanish identity, which is something I find to be culturally relevant as world citizens, not citizens of a specific country. The film All About My Mother asserts that identity is a construct of society that is fluid and changeable, and works to glorify the characters on the margins of society that is changing its views. Almodóvar’s cinema is more about glorifying the individual that finds their identity through accepting themselves without letting society influence their personality, which I found to be an intriguing cultural phenomenon to witness on screen in another language, as it is so heavily present in the United States.
The unique cultural experience I encountered through the viewing of the Spanish film All About My Mother was one of enlightenment and connection. I felt enlightened to the scenery and customs of the Spanish characters while simultaneously feeling a sense of connection with them as they traveled through life much as I do as an American citizen. I oftentimes found myself exerting my own sense of culture onto the characters at times when I felt they should approach or react to a situation differently than I would myself, but did not feel this came out of a feeling that my culture is superior in any way; it is just what I have grown used to, which is the basis of ethnocentrism.
Works Cited
Acevedo-Munoz, Ernesto R. "The Body and Spain: Pedro Almodóvar's All About My
Mother." Quarterly Review of Film and Video Vol. 21 (2004): 25-38.
Mouat, Cecilia. "Camp and Queer Aesthetics in Almodovar Films." NCSU, 2010. Web.
