Is AYMT Life Affirming? (was What Cuaron will bring to PoA)

[Nia]

 "Tim Regan" wrote:


> | "Y Tu Mamá También" Spoiler space
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> Is this true? Whilst Ana's role is life affirming, she also makes 
> the homosexuality which has lain implicitly inside Tenoch and 
> Julio's relationship come explicitly to the fore. The result of 
this 
> realization is that they stop seeing each other and only meet once 
> more in their lives, for a brief cup of coffee. Is that life 
> affirming? It wasn't for me. It was thought provoking, and it was 
> believable, but I wouldn't call it life affirming.
> 
Me:
Thanks for the kudos.  
Perhaps I need to explain further to clarify my meaning:  
In this film the farther the three get away from the city, the more 
truth emerges. I think the fundamental truth of the boys' existence 
was they were `naïve innocents.'  There is a very real innocence 
about the two of them. No one but a child would think you could live 
your life without consequences for your actions.  My first 
impression of all their bawdy talk was "how naïve, and how simple."  
There was a great deal of  Adam and Eve symbolism you could read 
into this film also.  It's impossible not to make some biblical 
connections with the name of their destination being "Heaven's 
Mouth.".    I think their nakedness in the leaf-covered pool when 
they had car trouble might have served as a metaphor for truth too 
and seemed to foreshadow the final scene where everyone laid their 
souls bare.  The climatic three-way uncovered truth that destroyed 
their `innocence.'
Perhaps three-way-thing and the kiss at the end was as close to 
truth as they could get.  Remember the Charolestra manifesto rule 
ten, next to the last rule: "Truth is cool, but unattainable." The 
Charolestra Manifesto seems to be an extremely telling roadmap to 
the course of the film.  In the beginning, of course, the two 
Charolestras do precisely whatever they want.  By midpoint, when 
Luisa, tired of their childishness, establishes what amounts to a 
new manifesto, they are beginning to lose this freedom.  By the end, 
they have no sayso at all and their friendship is destroyed by their 
sexual preoccupation--their childishness.  The "astral cowboys" are 
forced to come down to earth.

I think, because they were so preoccupied with sex, the only way 
they could relate to people was sexually (either as sexual partners 
or as partners in sexual `crime') or not sexually, there was no 
middle ground.  I know you saw how distant Tenoch was from his 
parents, and we never even saw Julio's mother.  During the drinking 
scene, just before the triangular thing, the boys describe 
themselves as `brothers.'  The fact that they are revealing more and 
more details about sleeping with each other's girlfriends has no 
more meaning.  I think that in the distorted mindset in which they 
are trapped, this is as close as they have ever been to love.  And, 
because they are not equipped to deal with real love, they relate in 
the only way they can—sexually.   I don't get the feeling that this 
is at all a gay revelation.  I feel that it's about love.  I think 
Luisa understood this and that is why she tried to balance things 
out between the boys by having both of them. And that, I think, is 
why she approached both of them during the last drinking scene.  
During the three-way whatever, did you notice how she slid out of 
the picture—literally.  The truth of the boys' existence—that they 
loved each other—was impossible for them to process and deal with in 
the superficial mental environment they'd established for 
themselves.  Does that make sense?  I still have questions. But I 
guess the whole truth is unattainable.
	I found the picture life-affirming because even though 
Tenoch and Julio lost their friendship at the end, they found a new 
maturity and deeper perceptions.  That is what growing up is all 
about.  More than likely they could not have remained friends 
becasue all they shared was drugs and various and sundry sexual 
situations--superficial things without meaning.  The road trip was a 
passage from careless, irresponsible childhood into adulthood, where 
one realizes that every action has a consequence and self-
gratification is not the be-all and end-all of life.

I think we're going to be able to see Harry's layers for the first 
time in PoA and I, for one think it's great.

Judy