Skip to main content
Article
Mixing Mourning and Desire: Alfonso Cuarón's 'Y Tu Mamá También'
Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture
  • Andrew Slade, University of Dayton
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2009
Abstract

Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mamá También was one of a series of hit movies from Mexico in the early years of the millennium. From the beginning, the movie generated shock and scandal for its representations of graphic sex, but more than that for its representation of queer desire between the emerging young stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. As the two established their careers, they continued to answer questions about Julio and Tenoch, the two adolescent, urban cowboys they played in Y Tu Mamá También. The road movie as coming-of-age story on its own would not produce any disconcerting effects on any audience, but this film proves a scandal because of its representation of the love that binds Julio and Tenoch. From the beginning of the film their love is colored by eroticism and, by the end of the film, that eroticism becomes explicit. Cuarón reports in interviews that the final love scenes received mixed responses. For some spectators, the sight of the two boys kissing is to be celebrated, a response confirmed in a review in The Advocate. For yet others, the kiss activates homophobic revulsion.

Inclusive pages
149-162
ISBN/ISSN
0024-4414
Document Version
Published Version
Comments

From Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture (subsequently renamed Listening: Journal of Communication Ethics, Religion and Culture). The document available for download is provided with the express permission of the publisher.

Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher
Duquesne University
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Disciplines
Citation Information
Andrew Slade. "Mixing Mourning and Desire: Alfonso Cuarón's 'Y Tu Mamá También'" Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture Vol. 44 Iss. 3 (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrew_slade/5/