1. Magic Realism and Extraordinary Characteristics
El Norte
Magic Realism and Extraordinary Characteristics

2. Magic Realism
Supernatural images that interrupt seamless logic of realism.
Offers marvelous-real aesthetics that interrupt the narrative logic and/or reinterpret the past or prophesize the future.

3. Examples of Magic-realism
Butterflies--as Rosa attempts to flee her home in Guatemala.
Deer/Flower--as Enrique and Rosa meet before fleeing their town.
Odd Sisters--As Rosa hurries out of town.
The Bus Ride--as they flee to Tijuana
The Tunnel--heading to the United States
Appearance of the parents in the U.S.
Full Moons and circles.

4. Some Extraordinary Elements
Rosa and Enrique as the heroic twins in the Mayan Popol Vuh (a Mayan creation myth).
Articulation between political repression in Guatemala and exploitation of the undocumented in the United States.
Arturo Xuncax: the indigenous experience
El Coyote: immigrant exploitation and the immigrant experience.
El Norte: life as an undocumented immigrant.

5. Extraordinary Elements cont.
Trilinguality (Mayan, Spanish, English)
Sympathetic to the plight of undocumented.
Elements of Magic-realism.
Asexualization of the female character.
Chicanos as villains.
The border as the “ominous character.”