Lokas

My Spanish is noticeably improving. Angie and I went to see a Chilean comedy the other night called ‘Lokas’ and I was able to understand the majority of what was said. This was very comforting, because I think even after a month in France, I had more trouble understanding French films. The movie was a comedy about a homophobic man who goes to see his father for the first time in 30 years. And guess what, his father is gay! As you can imagine hilarity ensues. This film must be revolutionary for Chile. According to Lonely Planet Chile has only in the past couple years even been able to talk about gay people. So needless to say, I was surprised to see this ‘Chuck and Larry’ like comedy be out in theatres. They even showed guys kissing and at one point the audience could hear sounds of sexual intercourse. In Catholic Chile. But go see this movie; its gay jokes are cliché by US standards, but what a site it is in Chile.

Oh and one last random observation. All of the advertisements and commercials in Chile as well as all the people and situations in this film were white. White = prestigious and pretty. Most people in commercials are not even light skinned mestizo. And I don’t think there are any Indians or other dark-skinned actors. Everyone is white, even blond or red-haired. Many of them could be actors in a German commercial. In the movie, you could never guess it took place in Chile. You might think Miami or L.A—actually everything in the movie was whiter and generally nicer than much of the US. The cars, the clubs, the houses, the people were all so very posh. So, for people who see this movie, the situations and people represent the rich few. Chile has one of the very highest income disparities in the world. It is a wealthy nation, not really third world--but there is a whole lot of wealth that doesn't make it to the actual peopl who need it.