Roma: a Portrait of Mexican Segregational Society

Art Style | Art & Culture International Magazine

Abstract

Through recent years, Mexican filmmakers have become very successful in international cinema contests, particularly in American Academy Awards, the Oscars. In 2018, the film “Roma” was pointed to be the new Mexican sensation, getting ten nominations for the contest. This movie generated many controversies in the Mexican, like an exhibition ban in theaters; the Oscar nomination in the category of Actress in a Leading Role for Yalitzia Aparicio, a rookie indigenous actress; and some others caused by the social situation pointed inside this story located in the Mexico early 1970s, a very particular context. This essay analyzes some of these controversial issues surrounding “Roma”, in order to explain how the post-colonial society in Mexico preserves many of their original values based in gender, class and race segregation, all put together in the narrative structure of Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece.