Y Tu Mama Tambien

The book Cinema: A Visual Anthropology, written by Gordon Gray, describes that in the 1970’s the study of psychoanalysis contributes greatly to the theoretical field of film. The early psychoanalyst, Lacan, influences Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze in mainstream cinema. Mulvey discusses how males take pleasure in watching and interacting with the films they watch.  Pleasure is usually drawn from three major categories; identification, voyeurism, and fetishism.  (2010 59) Men typically watch film in order to identify with a strong male protagonist, imagine they are living the lifestyle of a character on screen, or view their sexual fantasies played out by another man in the world of cinema.  Applying Mulvey’s theory can help analyze the Mexican film, Y Tu Mama Tambien.

This Spanish film begins with two friends, Julio and Tenoch, having sex and then saying goodbye to their respective girlfriends before the girls depart on an excursion to Italy.  The boys then attend a wedding where they meet Tenoch’s uncle’s wife, Luisa. The boys find this older woman very attractive and attempt to impress her by inventing a trip to a beach they call “Heaven’s Mouth”.  She declines their initial invitation to accompany them, but when her husband confesses that he has cheated on her, she asks the boys if they will again extend the request.  The three set out on a road trip, although Julio and Tenoch have little idea where to find the promised beach.  One night, after they have checked into a motel, Tenoch visits Luisa to find her crying.  Luisa proceeds to invite, seduce, and have sex with him.  Julio sees them together and out of jealousy and anger admits that he slept with Tenoch’s girlfriend.  The following night, Luisa has sex with Julio, and Tenoch confesses that he too had slept with his friend’s partner.  The boys fight, and Luisa calms them down.  Continuing on their journey, they come to an isolated beach.  They spend the day there, and in the evening they all drink excessively and have sex together.  The following day the boys return home while Luisa stays at the beach.  The two do not remain friends for much longer.  The movie ends with a chance meeting of the two boys many years later, where it is revealed that Luisa had cancer and died a month after the trip, knowing all along what would happen. The two friends part and never see each other again.

According to Mulvey, Y Tu Mama Tambien is a film that many men can appreciate and find pleasure watching. This movie takes the man on a journey and the male viewer can seek and find control over Luisa.  Luisa is set out to be the older, experienced, seductive and attractive woman while the young boys are straddling the line between youth and adulthood. Mulvey would agree that many men can relate to this awkward and sexually driven transition as well as identify with these sexually successful boys. First, the boys are having sex with their girlfriends and then they even both manage to have sex with the older and experienced Luisa. Male viewers can appreciate this success as well as envision their chances with Luisa or another attractive woman.  Male viewers would not feel inadequate watching this film, because they would not believe to be any less than the two boys succeeding.  Thus, their pleasure intake is at an all time high during the viewing of this film.

Feminists tend to pay much attention to Mulvey’s theory because it gives them many reasons to criticize and attack cinema.  Mulvey’s theory is focused on male pleasure, thus by having feminists focus on the male, they argue that cinema draws attention and justifies male stereotypes and male domination.  Feminists are not thrilled that male viewers take pleasure in watching the male hero dominate the woman or her body. The male is looking at the female character as a sexual object of desire and thus this does not do much for the image of women in the minds of men.  Cinema allows and caters to this idea of male domination over the female subordinate. One can see why feminists are not keen on this subject matter that Mulvey theorizes about.

That being said, I could see feminists going either way, with dislike or like, for the film Y Tu Mama Tambien. While using Mulvey’s theory about the male gaze, they would dislike the film for promoting pleasure for men.  The male viewer sees Luisa as a woman who can be easily dominated, because even these two young fellows can score a chance with her. Yet, feminists may see the other side. They may give the power to Luisa, as she is the older and seductive party. Tenoch enters Luisa’s room looking for a towel as Luisa is in a manipulating state; she seduces Tenoch and instructs him sexually. The power is not in the young Tenoch’s hands, but rather in the more experienced woman’s hands.  She also makes the decision to have sex with Julio to even the score among the two friends.  All the while, these boys are just pawns in Luisa’s last journey, as she knows her life will soon come to an end. However, according to Mulvey’s theory, male viewers will probably never pick up on this twist of events, where the female is left with the power.