Signature Move talks about a romantic relationship between a Pakistani woman(Alma) and a Mexican woman(Zaynab) in Chicago. Their love faces multiple obstacles, including racial and cultural differences, social pressure, and family issues.
In this film, Alma receives less social pressure on coming out than Zaynab. This difference is one of the reasons why the couple quarreled at the end. Alma condemns Zaynab for not being honest to her mom about their relationship, but Zaynab thinks it is not the time to tell her mom yet. This conflict in conception is mostly due to the different family backgrounds. Alma talks to her mother about everything, while Zaynab has an invisible barrier in communication with her mom. For me, it is difficult to completely define this difference as part of the larger cultural differences between the two cultures Alma and Zaynab represent. The varying elements between smaller family units are too great to make one family represent a single culture. However, some characteristics can be shared between similar cultural groups. For example, the lack of communication between children and parents is common in Asian families.
Almaguer’s point in the reading is interesting. It is something I have never thought about. This “Chicano Men” mindset kind of reminds me of Pariah. From Pariah, I saw how the more masculine characters(dress, hair) make butch lesbians more vulnerable and easier exposed to criticisms. In Chicano society, the homosexual person acquiring the characteristics from the opposite sex has less power (although I am not sure if butch lesbians have less power than feminine lesbians or not, I do think there is a similarity between these two groups.)
Almaguer’s article points out how the more masculine and active role in a gay relationship has more power and is not even considered as homosexual sometimes in Chicano society. But the article left out the current social situation for Chicana lesbians. I am actually quite curious about this: if “active” and “masculine” means power, does a butch lesbian gain power from a homosexual relationship? If so, how much? How does a butch lesbian compare to a “passive” gay? I am also quite interested in Chicano lesbians and gays who play the “passive” role in a homosexual relationship. None of the articles speaks from their perspectives. If one society places such prejudice on sexual “passiveness”, how do they cope with it to remain in the same position?
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