Seeking Happiness in an Unjust Society: Roma

A featured film analysis by Freya Abbas

Content Warning: Mentions of abuse, gun violence, and explicit language.

The Intersection of Race, Gender and Class in 1970s Mexico

From the opening scene of director Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, the historical setting is revealed to be one of political turmoil in the era that would be known as the Mexican Dirty War (1964-1982). During this time, the Institutional Revolutionary Party used a combination of electoral fraud and violence to remain in power. Indeed, it appears that state-lead violence was so regular during this time that it is one of the features that the characters of the film are all accustomed to and is a key element in characterizing the setting. While sitting around the breakfast table, Paco, a young boy, recounts an incident where a child throws water balloons at an army jeep and then “The soldier gets mad, he gets out, and shoots him,” (Roma 0:9:15-0:9:33). Paco is not disturbed by the story, and the incident exemplifies that even children are not ignorant about the chaos and violence of the time. Women, despite winning their right to vote nearly twenty years earlier, are still not seen as equal and are often the victims of state-lead violence and oppression during this period. At the same time, the government regularly seizes land from Indigenous peoples such as the Mixtec, many of whom decide to flee rural areas and seek employment in cities which are perceived as safer. The protagonist, Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez, embodies the political strife of her time through her intersecting identities of being a lower-class maid, Mixtec, and a woman. Through concealing her emotions, adopting a stoic outlook on life, and committing herself to absolute servitude to a middle-class household; Cleo eventually reinvents her own identity. She devises a way to attain happiness without having to engage in the dangerous confrontation of the race, class and gender hierarchies of her time.

Many women regardless of their social class are vulnerable to abuse during the time, yet Cleo does not have the same privileges that rich, white women do when it comes to seeking justice after facing abuse. When Cleo’s boyfriend, Fermín, impregnates and abandons her, Cleo can do nothing to make Fermín feel any sense of responsibility towards her. She adopts a stoic attitude and does not even flinch when Fermín threatens to beat her, points a gun at her and insults her class by calling her a “fucking servant” (Roma 1:25:27). Cleo’s employer, Mrs. Sofía, is emotionally abused by her adulterous husband yet chooses to respond to this challenge with hysteric outbursts rather than concealing her feelings the way Cleo does. Sofía weeps inconsolably and has outbursts of anger when she finds out about Antonio’s infidelity, projecting her emotions on her children by hitting them and also yelling at Cleo. At one point, she grabs Cleo and looks into her eyes to deliver one of her most important lines, saying “No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone” (Roma 1:31:17). This line shows Sofía recognizing herself in Cleo, as Sofía is aware of what Fermín did, and realizes how similar her situation is to her maid’s despite her upper class and high status in society. Her words are her way of stating that women are oppressed for their gender in every class of society during the time period in which she lives. It is clear that there is a mirroring plot structure in Cleo’s life, despite the fact that she is very different from Sofía in terms of class. Both women deal with abusive circumstances by responding to them in opposite ways. Thus Mrs. Sofía acts as a literary foil for Cleo, meaning that though the two women suffer from gender oppression and abuse at the hands of men, Sofía uses her privilege to challenge her husband while Cleo must remain silent or Fermín might kill her. Cleo is in no position to speak out against the patriarchy and must accept gender oppression as a fact of life if she is to function in society and stay safe. She decides that it would be too large of a risk to confront the unfair treatment of her gender and that she must find a different way to achieve happiness that does not involve direct confrontation.

Losing One’s Identity in Selfless Devotion in Order to Attain Happiness

Working in Mexico City, Cleo does not have many opportunities to stay connected to her rural, Indigenous community. Her work as a maid is so demanding that she rarely has the chance to visit her family. Cleo’s culture is also stigmatized in the city. She speaks to another maid, Adela, in Mixtec. This irritates one of the children in the household who complains “What are you saying? Stop talking like that” (Roma 0:07:46). Children are taught the attitudes of their parents, and this line represents that Mexican society frowns down on Indigenous people who do not assimilate into Spanish-speaking Mexican society. The only time Cleo allows herself to feel nostalgic and miss her home is when she goes on vacation with the family for New Year’s Day to a farming community. There, she stands on a hill and speaks to herself saying “This feels like my village. It’s drier there but it feels like it… it sounds like this and smells the same” (Roma 1:07:56). This establishes Cleo as a complex, wellrounded character with so much more depth to her identity than her current job.

It signifies the part of herself that she is sacrificing to serve Sofía’s family. Cleo commits the ultimate act of selfless devotion when she risks her life to save Sofía’s children from drowning. This incident causes her to make the massive realization that she did not actually want her stillborn daughter, lamenting that “I didn’t want her to be born. Poor little thing” (Roma 2:02:50). Cleo expresses that she already views Sofía’s family as her own and is more than satisfied with her role as a servant in the household. By essentially declaring that her role as a maid is the most important and fulfilling part of her life, Cleo demonstrates that she does not wish to rise above the expectations for her race, class and gender and has willingly accepted them. Yet she still subverts this hierarchy, in a small and pragmatic way, by achieving the most happiness she can and finding a place where she feels like she can belong within the confines of societal norms.

Cleo as an Embodiment of her Times

Representing the entire political atmosphere of a country can simply not be accomplished if the story were to focus on an influential historical figure. Instead, it is best captured through a protagonist who is marginalized. As an impoverished maid, Cleo is one of the most vulnerable members of society. She also has an intimate connection with the land as an Indigenous person. The struggles that Cleo faces are inextricably linked to the circumstances she is born into. Despite this, the theme asserts that while Cleo is powerless to change these circumstances, she can still control her reaction to them and thus eventually find happiness. In this way, a maid’s life could be more complex and fascinating to focus on than the lives of people with more political power. She does not lead a large-scale rebellion, as she has already witnessed many of them lead unsuccessfully by her own people against the government over land conflicts. She knows they would likely cause her to lose her life. Cleo’s rebellion is strong and personal. It manifests itself in Cleo’s stoic attitude and unwillingness to give up. The story is a representation of resilience in some of the worst imaginable situations, and this message is conveyed perfectly through the protagonist. The ultimate defiance of an unjust political system can be achieved if an individual with marginalized, intersecting identities can still gain contentment and satisfaction with their life.

Works Cited

Roma. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Espectáculos Fílmicos El Coyú, 2018. Film.