This document summarizes an article that critiques the movie "Tortilla Soup" for failing to authentically portray the experiences and culture of a Mexican-American family. The article argues the movie presented a superficial "touristic" view that privileged whiteness over accurate ethnic representation. It aimed to appeal to white audiences rather than depict the real struggles of Mexican-Americans.

1. VISITING THE MEXICAN
AMERICAN FAMILY:
TORTILLA SOUP AS
CULINARY TOURISM
 By: Megan Wright
CMCL-C427
Spring 2012

2. SUMMARY
 This article breaks down why the movie Tortilla Soup ultimately failed at
showing it‟s viewers what a TRUE Mexican-American family is like. The
article explains that, just like every other cultural movie, it fails at
portraying the real life of what a Mexican-American family would be like.
Tortilla Soup “attempts to deconstruct homogenizing notions of
Latinidad”.But, in the end, Tortilla Soup ultimately ended up being
“hegemonic ideologies about Latinos/as that privilege whiteness and
contain ethnic „otherness‟”.

3. METHOD
 . I believe that Lindenfeld used the critical approach in guiding her
study. According to our textbook the critical approach is, “a
metatheoretical approach that includes many assumptions of the
interpretive approach but that focuses more on macrocontexts, such as
the political and social structures that influence communication”. Since
Lindenfeld used how our society makes, watches, and interprets other
cultures in the movie industry, I believe, that this method best describes
her research findings.

4. RESEARCH FINDINGS
 Linda Lindenfeld was bothered by the portrayal of the cuisine in
Tortilla soup . She states in her article that the movie portrays the
ethnic cuisine from a “touristic approach” rather than an authentic
approach. Linda feels that this is the movie industry‟s way of
appealing to white audiences.

5. RESEARCH FINDINGS
 Lindenfeld was also bothered by how people who viewed the
movie never talked about how it portrayed the family in the movie. In
the movie it not only shows the “authentic” cuisine but also what the
family had to go through in their struggle as Mexican-American‟s
during the time. Lindenfeld was bothered by the representation of
Latino‟s in Tortilla Soup.

6. SIGNIFICANT QUOTE
 One quote that I found to be interesting was:
* “Hollywood does not represent ethnics and minorities: it
creates them and provides its audience with an
experience of them.” – Ana Lopez
I found this to be quite true. Most people believe that the way a movie
portrays a certain culture is how it must truly be. But, the truth is, it is
not. Hollywood creates what they think the audience would want the
culture to be and then creates it.

7. SIGNIFICANT QUOTE
 One of the quotes that really stuck out to me as I was reading the
article was:
• “Multicultural bellies, full of tacos, falafel, and chow mein are
sometimes accompanied by monocultural minds” –Ella Shohat and
Robert Stam
This quote is very interesting. We seem to be able to accept other
culture‟s cuisine but not their ideas, religion, etc.

8. MY QUESTIONS
 1. Why, do you believe that Tortilla Soup, failed at being
true or authentic in the way that it portrayed the
“normal” Mexican-American family and their cuisine?
Do we tend to be racist when we create films such as
this one?

9. MY QUESTIONS
 2. In the article it states, “US mainstream culture has, as Probyn
eloquently writes, a „hearty enthusiasm for foreign food that is supposed
to hide the taste of racism‟”.
* Do you believe that this is true? Do we accept foreign
foods to try and prove that we are not racist? Do you
believe that just because you eat a certain foreign food
that it makes you more knowledgeable about a certain
culture?

10. REFERENCES
Lindenfeld, L. (2007). Visiting the Mexican American Family: Tortilla soup as culinary tourism.
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 4(3), 303-320.
Martin, J. and Nakayama, T. (2010). Intercultural Communication in Contexts. 5th Ed. McGraw Hill