What do Reggaeton and Normative Heterosexuality have to do?? This is what we talk about in our last video Dismantling “This does not sell” (Eso no vende) that we carry out with El Consell de Nois i Noies de L’Hospitalet. Raquel Rey, activist and director of documentaries with a gender perspective, is now in charge of the audiovisual area of elParlante. We talk to her to know the most interesting aspects of this new edition, without spoilers!
The group decided that, before going in to work with us, it should first brainstorm
to choose those clichés with which they would want to deal with. This gave rise to the idea of dismantling gender stereotypes, a topic that appears increasingly strongly among groups of young people in the neighborhoods and areas where we usually work. In this case the objective was clear from the first workshop, its idea was to disarm the discourse on “the presunction of heterosexuality” in today’s society. For Raquel this was the ideal setting to share her experience and knowledge about the stereotypes that she herself has been working on and dismantling in her documentary stories. But, as usually happens, he found that, beyond theory and media debate, “they were more interested and interested in the story they wanted to tell.”
Music.- When everyone decided that the argument should develop within a heteronormative universe Some debates were generated around the hetero-patriarchal system founded on the objectification of women’s bodies and the reinforcement of masculinity. A part of the group believed that Reggaeton was the ideal context, since the imaginary of the reggaetonero It is that of a young, handsome, heterosexual man surrounded by many girls. The idea of the short story was precisely this: “to break with the stereotypes and taboos that exist about Latin music”, although in the group itself there were some people who claimed that Reggaeton is music “kills neurons”. These projects make us think and analyze what is our work as educators when we detect certain attitudes that are emerging when it comes to making important decisions for the project.
Protagonists.- When the time came to choose who would be the
Protagonists of the short, the debates returned, since one of the scenes proposed by the group in the opening script was a kiss of liberation at the end of everything. At that moment, Rachel says, “something interesting happened the boys started asking who was kissing, and while the girls didn’t mind kissing each other, the boys were uncomfortable about the situation.” Is it essential to make narrative decisions at that moment, and the approach that was made, is it essential to kiss at the end for the plot to be understood? The answer was clear, it was not necessary and since from the beginning a story was planned with two boys and a reggeatoneros girl, so the casting was carried out. The competition was reinstated, Rachel recalls, “because the whole group voted for whoever they considered to do better (…) There was a moment I was pretty much reñido because the role of the protagonist was 50/50 between two girls.” But, the result was submitted to a new vote, so with the casting finished it was only thrown into the adventure of recording.
It is already known that with five sessions and a short the impact on the group is not very great due to a matter of time, but we are sure that they will ruminate on the topic discussed. In the end, we are all traversed by a heteronomative system that punishes dissent and breaks with the norm is nothing more than trying to change the world, as Rachel says, even with a little shortness like “This doesn’t sell”.
And remember, you can watch all our videos and receive notification from all the stars by subscribing to
elParlante’s YouTube Channel
.