Doc. No
Hispanic Cinema
June 6, 2013
Shut up, be a good wife or else:
1.Spousal abuse physically and mentally are obviously the central theme to this movie, there are however a few other underlying themes. First of the theme of reforming or not reforming is shown through the abused women´s decision in whether or not to go to Madrid and start a career she loves or to stay home with an abusive husband. In the end, the main character finally chose not to reform to her cultures ways and leaves for Madrid. Unlike her mother who stayed with an abusive husband until he died. Another theme would be how abuse affects the entire family. This is really seen with the son of the abused mother and abusive father. Even though the father was never abusive towards his son, he was still gravely affected by the abuse. The sister of the abused women was also affected because she saw what was happening and tried to help but her sister wouldn’t listen. This would have definitely kept her up at night at least.
2.There is explicit and implicit violence throughout the film. The beginning starts out with a ransacked apartment and the abused mother and her son running to her sister’s house. This would be an example of implicit violence. On the other hand when the husband slams her against walls and throws her around that is an example of explicit violence. The director does a good job of not using too much explicit violence because it could cause the film to become hard to watch by some viewers.
3.It is said that the eyes are the portal to one’s soul. When the husband demands for his wife’s and sons eyes, he is attempting to force his control into their soul. The tittle “take my eyes” represents the husbands need to have everything of her even her soul. The sex scene when he says give me your arms, give me your legs, and so on, is meant to show that he has not changed at all and still sees her as an object. In that scene however, she followed his request by saying take my