Hermeneutics, Semiotics, and Cultural Poetics in the Film Roma

AutorMaryann Pasda DiEdwardo
Páginas598-605
598
PÉREZ ADROHER, A. , LÓPEZ DE LA VIEJA DE LA TORRE, MT., HERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ E.
Hermeneutics, Semiotics, and Cultural Poetics in the Film Roma
Maryann Pasda DiEdwardo
Universidad of Maryland
Mad207@lehigh.edu
Abstract
Through the lens of hermeneutics and semiotics, consider the cultural poetics in
the film Roma. The director Alfonso Cuaron portrays the injustice and suffering of
the main character, Cleo. He engages viewers to explore archetypical cultural
milieu of Mexico in 1970. Semiotics is the study of signs. Moreover, as a reflective
inquiry, hermeneutics interprets film as visual literature. Interpretation of current
films such as Roma directed by Alfonso Cuaron, tells the story of Cleo who is a
domestic worker who experiences the death of her child. Cleo helps take care of
the children of Antonio and Sofia. The story is complex, since Antonia suddenly
runs away with his mistress. The story unfolds as Cleo becomes pregnant. When
she tells him of her upcoming pregnancy, he threatens to kill her and the baby. Yet,
the baby is stillborn. Cleo goes on a vacation to the beach and experiences healing
when she saves two of the children from drowning in the ocean. Cleo is a character
that embodies the life of a servant who does not have rights in the society, but who
has found a caring employer during the 1970s in Mexico. The audience feels
empathy for Cleo who is mute after the loss of her child. Cuaron directs a
passionate cast in a heart wrenching film which we interpret as a social discourse.
Cultural landscape, which portrays the places in the film, is also significant. Cleo
uses water to clean as a metaphor for the place and space that she portrays in the
film. She has not experienced human rights in the relationship with her child’s
father. Article 3 in the Declaration of Human Rights follows: “Everyone has the
right to life, liberty, and security of person” (United for Human Rights).

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