Pride and Prejudice: Fashioning a Cuban Discourse of 'Difference' in 'Fresa y Chocolate'

Abstract

Cinema has emerged as a production site in which representations of sexualities are constructed and inscribed within the symbolic discourse of power and Cuban film Fresa y chocolate represents an enlightening example. Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío´s goal is to make explicit the social construction of the dominant symbolic order and the problems involved in its deconstruction—to show the extent to which sexual politics are deeply rooted in all cultural and social formations throughout history. This study attempts to elucidate the dialectical relationship between the social symbolic order—the norm—and the individual consciousness. The filmmakers strategically construct the relationship and the conflicts and contradictions that arise from it, including criticism of some aspects of the Cuban Revolution, namely, the pathos of queer culture, thus empowering sexual difference as an element of social change.