Comentario Social Como Visto En Y Tú Mamá También

Where a story takes place is vital to comprehension and understanding; locations and backdrops create certain situations and circumstances. More than just providing a setting, films have the opportunity to show these backgrounds with precise detail. The setting has become the set, entailing all that is in a scene, all that frames the characters in a surrounding. It is the set that can defineand portray characters, can convey feeling and emotion, or even provide a tool to tell the passing of time. More than this, the sets can be used to provide a certain commentary wished to be presented by the director. Specifically, the film Y Tu Mamá También demonstrates extreme social disparities of Mexican society within various sets used throughout.
Foremost, the audience is presented with animage of the upper class: it is a wedding whereat even the president attends. Elegant fabric covers the tables and wraps the chairs, atop which are elaborate place settings with glass stemware. The expansive patio opens over the rodeo ring, while the guests look down upon the entertainment from above. Amidst the tinkling of glass and hum of intellectual conversation, hang just the right amountof festive decorations which even line the bar that serves high-end drinks in fancy glasses. This scene displays all that is proper in high society, from the expensive wine to the audacious décor. It is obvious that this is the society to be in, right in the middle of grand Mexico City.
Yet, this picture of the upper class would not be so fiercely portrayed if not for the contrasts presentedas the story carries the protagonists away from the heart of Mexico and toward the coast. As the car travels further and further down the road, past stretches of desert and wasteland, the cities literally diminish. Towns with populated buildings and stores transgress to deserted bus stops and rusted car frames. The trio passes garbage strewn streets and trailers, to towns whose sheds were builtwith boards that have been rotten before being nailed together. The economic disparity becomes ever more apparent by the mile.
At one point during the journey, the threesome stays at a hotel while waiting a tire replacement. This hotel is statuesque: seemingly abandoned by wealth, its façade is frozen in time, halted before completion. Time and poverty are swallowing the building slowly, andit shows. The cement machine is rusting mid-pour, still waiting to finish what has been started. Piles of bricks are stacked next to the neglected pool, weeds peeking through the cracks. What was supposed to be beautiful and refreshing pool has turned into a dirty pond, covered in dead floating leaves. The unfortunate pool in front of the deteriorating hotel brings to mind another vibrantscene, one that ultimately foils this picture of desolation.
It is towards the beginning of the film that Tenoch and Julio swim in another pool, but the former is at an exclusive country club. There is no clutter or hint of waste, not for the wealthy. Plush lawns cascade down to the edge of the tranquil and crystal clear water; rhythmically pulsing sprinklers water the lawns and add to this calm.Perfectly matching white sunning chairs are scattered in organized chaos, looking towards the multiple lanes and several diving boards. The perfection this pool emanates almost demands a shower from anyone who may enter, so pristine that it merits cleanliness. Everything about this set screams wealth and high society, a luxury not to be had by the ordinary public. It is in remembrance of thispool, moreover, that the rot and decay of the second pool seeps through the screen.
Additionally, this contrast in social class reaches its height near the end of the film. The last night of the trio’s journey, that has ultimately brought them to the coast, ends at a run-down hut as their only means of shelter. Along with the family of Jesus, the three visit a local bar for what turns...