1. Transcultural possibilities and limits in Gregory Nava's My family
Guido Rings 1

2. Agenda Topic: Cultural self-portrayals in Chicano cinema
The “American Dream” in one of the most successful Chicano films: My family (1995)
Research questions:
In how far does Nava succeed in exploring the transcultural potential of his Chicano family story?
Where are the limits, and who/what slows down further exploration?
Methodology:
Transcultural theory as developed by Welsch (1999), Huggan (2006), Antor (2006)
Postcolonial discourse theory (Said 1978, 1993; Bhabha 1994; Spivak 2006, Antor 2006)

3. 1. Gregory Nava and Chicano cinema
Definition: „made by, for and about Chicanos“? (Pitman 2011)
Differentiation: 3 „waves“ (Berg 2002: 185f.)
– 1) from Yo soy Joaquín (El teatro campesino 1969) to El corrido (Valdez 1976), „politically contestational and formally oppositional“;
– 2) from Alambrista (Young 1977), „rebellious, not separatist“;
– 3) from late 1980s, including River‘s Edge (Hunter/Jiménez 1986) and El Mariachi (Rodríguez 1993), “made either within the Hollywood system or, if not, adhering closely to the Hollywood paradigm”; “Third Wave films do not accentuate Chicano oppression or resistance” (Berg 2002: 187)
Gregory Nava – second or third wave?
El Norte (1983), My family (1995), Selena (1997), American Family ( ), Bordertown (2006)
My family: $5,5 million budget, $ 11 million income US cinemas only (Llano 1995: 22, IMDB 2011); following La Bamba (Valdez 1987), Born in East LA (Marin 1987), American Me (Olmos 1992)

4. 2. My family – shifting or blurring cultural boundaries?
2. 1. Preliminary remarks
‘My family’ – ‘100% real’? (Nava, in Cervantes 1995: 8)
Second wave (Berg 2002: 186) or third wave (Raab 2009: 177)?
Mirror of the ‘American Dream’: ‘the great American story […] of how our families came to this land and tried to make it better for their children‘ (Ebert 1995) -> transcultural potential?
Jennifer López as example (second generation, Ponce/Puerto Rico -> Bronx)?

5. Leo Ventocilla (1995): Interview with Gregory Nava and main actors
Leo Ventocilla (1995): Interview with Gregory Nava and main actors. USA: VPE Production.
clip

6. 2. 2. ‘My family’ – a model for transcultural relations?
‚El Californio‘ – Mexican/US frontier ‚a line in the dust‘
East LA – LA city centre; bridges over Los Angeles River
Hybridity: María – Virgen Mary and the River Spirit (paralel: Qutzalcoatl-Tezcatlipoca); Chucho – Jesus and River Spirit; in cyclical times (day/night, seasons)
Christian family (Josef, Mary, Jesus/Chucho) AND ‘creator couple’: Ometeotl; 4 sons: Huitzilopochtli/Chucho, Quetzalcoatl/Paco, Xipe Tote/Memo, Tezcatlipocas/Jimmy
House and ‘barrio’ (East LA) as ‘third space’: decoration, language use, music
-> laboratory for transcultural
encounters?

7. My family (1995): „Repatriierung” und Chuchos Musik (Teil 1)

8. 2. 3. The limits of transculturality
Back to traditional cultural boundaries?
Internalizing the American Dream: José Sánchez as Uncle Tom?
„Is there one law of submission and non-resistance for the black man, and another of rebellion and conflict for the white man? […] Are there two Christs?“ (anonymous review about Uncle Tom’s cabin/Stowe 1852, in: Rosenthal 2005: 35)
Chucho and Jimmy: Chicano criminals from the ghetto
New cultural boundaries
Memo-Katren: assimilation strategy
From hybrid Chicano culture to different forms of imagined Americanness: materialistic focus of 1st generation, rebellious 2nd generation, 3rd generation in search for ‘home’
Toni-David: the most successful transcultural couple: not elaborated, objectifying Latin Americans, distracting from socio-political challenges in US; US as ultimate hope
The narrator: focus on understanding identity constructs ends in fatalistic summary: ‚Jimmy carried a lot of shit for the rest of us‘

9. My family (1995): Memos neue Familie
My family (1995): El Californio
My family (1995): Memos neue Familie

10. Concluding remarks Key messages of the film:
Ghetto and assimilation concepts are complementary
Continuity of monocultural binary constructs underneath superficial or temporary limited transcultural perspectives
Correlation: Suppression/rejection of rebellious characters, melodramatic tension, Nava‘s (and his actors‘) Hollywood success
Overall,
shift of boundaries from Mexican and Chicano hybridity to Anglo American transculturality
transculturalization as Americanization follows neo-colonial paradigm
re-establishment of North-South American binaries contradicts contemporary director’s transcultural perspectives and stabilises the basic concepts they set out to destabilise.

11. Born in East LA (Cheech Marin 1987): trailer
Bajo la misma luna (Patricia Riggan 2007)