Mi Vida Loca & Chicana Feminism

Mi Vida Loca & Chicana Feminism

Mi Vida Loca is the first film to depict working class Mexican-American life through the lives of young Latinas. Even more iconic is its portrayal of Chicana Feminism.

I can still remember my first impression of the film.  I knew my mother would never allow me to watch a movie about cholos, so I waited to watch the movie at my prima’s house.

My admiration for the film, as a young Latina, stemmed from how fierce and beautiful the lead female characters seemed. They were just like the young women I saw around me every day; women who I both feared and looked up to, the cholas that no one messed with. And the storyline, to me at that time, was dark, luring, and dramatic.

Just recently, I watched the film for the first time as an adult, and I cannot tell you how fun it was to relive Mexican-American style, hair, and makeup from the 90s. But what surprised me the most was how before its time, deep, and meaningful the script truly was—something I had missed as a pre-teen sneaking behind my mother’s back to watch the film.

Where then the film was this forbidden, exciting, and dramatic drama about two girls fighting over a boy, as an adult, I now see that the true story was never about the boy, but about Latina sisterhood and female empowerment. The boys were but a prop, necessary for the protagonists’ growth.

I also now realize that the film never truly received the credit it deserved as the first onscreen portrayal of modern Chicana Feminism, nor its place in Latino cinema history.

My analysis of the film as the earliest portrayal of modern Chicana Feminism starts with the growth of the women throughout the film. In the introduction, Mona makes it clear that the story to date, of life in East Los Angeles that is, has only partly been told by “white people who leave a lot of stuff out.”

For some context, at this time in East Los Angeles,  gang violence filled news headlines. Mona’s reference to the story only being partly told by others, sets up the framework for the film. Mona is about to give a first hand account of real life in East Los Angeles, like it has never been told before, from the women who live it, that is La Vida Loca.

This depiction of life in East Los Angeles centers on the friendship between Maribel and Mona and their circle of friends, Las Locas and Los Locos, both Echo Park gangs. While the men, Los Locos, are off participating in adolescent acts throughout the entire film, like graffitiing, low riding, and chilling, it’s the women who are tackling real life decisions and problem solving, like child rearing, bills, and incarceration.

The way the women stick together, support one another, and even fight, yet eventually return to each other, and remain loyal, is symbolic of the bond they share and female empowerment. The more the women mature, the clearer it becomes to them that in this Vida Loca, a women must take control and make her own way because to depend on a man, is no longer an option.

To make my point, I’ll draw you to the growth of the characters via their attitude about men and self-reliance.

The opening lines in the film are a narration by Mona and Maribel. In the introduction, we learn Mona and Maribel were once best friends who as children lived in the same apartments. As Maribel and Mona enter young womanhood, they continue to be inseparable. They even get their periods together and are jumped into a gang at the same time. Mona shares how their nicknames were chosen and it is in this scene that the notion of growth is introduced:

“My name is mona, but that’s not what they call me. When Mousie and me first joined a gang, all the names were taken expect Mousie and Sad Girl.  Everybody said Maribel should be Mousie because she was so little. My homeboy Sleepy said, ‘no stupid because then we’re going to have to name Mona sad girl and she is not sad at all’. Rascal said, ‘Stupid, it don’t matter.’ Sleepy was mad and he just kept saying, ‘she’s too happy to be sad girl.’ But they don’t say that no more…”

The idea that Mona was once happy, leaves the audience to wonder what changed her. The film, however, does not leave us wondering for long. In the next scene, the narration switches to Maribel.  Maribel begins to tell the story of how Mona betrayed her by stealing her boyfriend, Ernesto, with whom she and Mona each end up having a child with.

From this moment on, the women become arch nemesis. The feud between them escalates to the point that Mona and Maribel agree to a duel to settle their beef once and for all. But in a change of heart, once face to face, neither woman actually has it in her to hurt the other. Their years of friendship, as it turns out, runs deeper than their love for Ernesto.

Mona states, “We stood face to face at the logs. And all I ever knew about Mousie and all she ever knew about me flashed before our eyes. We had a serious past her and me and I guess that’s why we just couldn’t do it.”

This is an important scene because that same night Ernesto is killed by a client of his. Ernesto sells drugs on the side to make money.  He considers himself a businessman. But this night, a client shoots him, and Maribel and Mona lose not only the love of their lives but their safety net too.

That the girls decided, even before Ernesto’s death, that their friendship was more meaningful than any man, makes it clear that their friendship, not Ernesto’s death, was what brought them back together.

One evening, Mona and Maribel run into each other at the park. They take solace in each other and how much they each miss Ernesto. This is where their friendship picks up again.

Ernesto’s death has made life in Echo Park difficult, not only for Maribel and Mona, but also for the others who depended on him, like Shadow, his younger brother, and Whisper, his once business partner.

Enter Angelica, gang name Giggles. Giggles is a much older and wiser friend of the Locas. Giggles is released from jail after having served time for a crime she did not commit.  Giggles release from jail brings great excitement to Las Locas.  They are counting on her to help them get their life in order.

After picking up Giggles from jail, Las Locas take her to lunch.  While catching up, Mona and Maribel reveal how financially difficult life has become without Ernesto.  It is then that Giggles is surprised to learn that neither woman is aware of the lowrider truck Ernesto left behind, Suavecito, which Giggles suggests they sale to help with money.

Upset that Ernesto hid a truck from them, Mona and Maribel begin to bicker. Giggles becomes upset by the friends disrespect for one another and schools them.  Giggles first reminds the women that they are never to put men before each other. Her exact words, “Girls, you don’t ever throw down with your homegirls over a guy. Guys come and go. They aren’t worth it!”

Giggles, however, doesn’t stop there. She also schools the girls on their lifestyle, sharing her new plans for the future,

“I had a lot of time to think in prison.  Know what I’m saying?

And If I learned anything, it was this: We girls need new skills because by the time our boys are 21 they are either in prison, or disabled, or dead. It’s fucked up but that’s what it is. We’re left alone to raise our kids. We gotta think about the future.

Me, I really worked on my skills while I was away, and I know what I have to do. Computers are the key to the future. Homegirls, I’m going to get a job!”

Maribel, Whisper, and Mona are taken aback by Giggle’s new outlook on life. At first, they do not take the advice seriously. They even begin to resent Giggles for not wanting to continue on with the gang life. For a while, the Locas even avoid her, shunning her, but Giggles is persistent and eventually, the women have a wake up call and it is then that they begin to realize Giggles is right…

Giggles quest to find work and become self-reliant turns out to be harder than she realized it would be. One night, frustrated by the dead ends, she visits an old friend, Sleepy Sr., who like Giggles, the Locos look up to.

While visiting Sleepy Sr., Giggles and he rekindle an old flame. Sleepy Sr. reveals to Giggles that he still has feelings for her. Upon hearing about her struggles to find work, he asks her to move in with him and he promises that whatever he has is hers and that she can lay her worries to rest by moving in with him. Giggles, however, is not interested. Staying true to her new liberated self, she responds, “The last man who said that to me is dead. No, I don’t ever want to depend on nobody. Never again in my life.”

And this is why I’m certain that Mi Vida Loca is a story about Latina empowerment and not about a boy or truck.  Giggle’s story is the at center of the film. Her realization that she must make her own way, to truly be free and secure, becomes the main theme by the end of the film, as the other women finally come to the same realization.

Soon after her night with Sleepy Sr., Giggles calls a meeting with the Locas to share an update on Suavecito.  Sleepy revealed to Giggles that the Locos have plans to enter the truck in a low rider competition. The grand prize is $500. Giggles calls the Locos out for their selfishness and points out to Sleepy Sr. that it’s unfair that the women were not given a say in the truck’s future.

In their meeting, the Locas vote in favor of selling the truck and dividing the money between Ernesto’s children, mother, and Whisper. This is the first time the Locas hold a vote in the history of their gang. The women are so impressed by Giggles organization of the impromptu meeting, they begin to have a change of heart about her new maturity and start to take her advice seriously.  

One day, Maribel, and Mona decide to take a look at Ernesto’s truck.  On their way, the women finally have a heart to heart about who Ernesto really was. Mona asks Maribel why she thinks Ernesto kept the truck a secret. Mona points out that he likely used it to pick up girls. Mona at first is hesitant accept this about Ernesto, but Maribel challenges her, pointing out that just as he cheated on each of them with the other, he likely did the same to them both with other women. Mona, realizing Maribel has a point, finally accepts this truth.

Upon seeing the truck, Suavecito, the women are filled with excitement. They imagine all the places they can go in it, like taking the kids to the beach, or to buy groceries and do laundry. Maribel also teases, “Imagine all the vatos we could pick up.”

In the end, the truck is stolen. The Locos jump to conclusions and, without concrete proof, decide a rival gang member, el Duran, who had been eyeing the truck, stole it.  The Locos also suspect that el Duran killed Ernesto, despite the women knowing the truth, that Ernesto was shot by a white girl who he sold drugs to.

The Locos, however, full of machismo and pride, refuse to believe the women, and seek retaliation against el Duran. The women happen to be present when this happens. The retaliation takes place at a party where the women are on a mission of their own…

Alicia, Mona’s sister has fallen in love with el Duran, who she believes to be an imprisoned poet named Juan Temido. Alicia is not part of the Locas, she is a college girl. But upon reading a poem written by Juan Temido, she falls for him.

When Juan Temido stops writing to Alicia, she falls into a deep depression. Mona’s homegirls, the Locas,  feel sorry for Alicia and decide to reveal Juan Temido’s real identity. They take Alicia to a party and it is there she learns Juan Temido is actually el Duran, a known womanizer.  

Alicia, upset that she was lied to, slaps him and runs off. At that moment, the Locos arrive and shot him in retaliation for stealing the truck and killing Ernesto, and this is where the story of life in East L.A. begins to come to an end.

In the final scenes, Mona begins to narrate again. Alicia is shown tossing Juan Temido’s letters in the Echo Park Lake. As the letters float away, Mona’s voice states, “Once her pain was gone. It didn’t matter to her who he really was. Her heart was stronger for the love she gave…”

These final lines brings the notion of growth full circle. The women, wronged by men, grow stronger, and with this growth comes wisdom and empowerment. This is made clear by the lines that follow in which Mona repeats what Giggles once advised. Mona states:

“By the time our boys are 21, most of them will be disabled, in prison or dead. We need to learn new skills for the future because we can’t count on the boys to take care of us and our the kids.

We have our own meetings now, our own operations, and we defend our neighborhood. By the time my daughter grows up, Echo Park will belong to her and she can be whatever she wants to be.

The homegirls have learned to pack weapons cause our operations have become more complicated. It makes me nervous to have so many guns around the kids, but we are safe and practical. Women don’t use weapons to prove a point, women use weapons for love.”

It seems Mona, Like Giggles, has finally realized that in this life, a woman must make her own way, because to depend on a man is not only reckless but no longer an option.

In the opening lines of the movie, Mona summarized life in Echo Park like this:

“We take life as it comes in my neighborhood, the good and the bad… You keep going knowing in your heart that what goes around comes around.  That’s life in the Echo, hey.”

One day, Sleepy Sr. is at a market in Echo Park when el Duran’s girlfriends pull up to the market and shoot’s Sleepy Jr. in retaliation for el Duran’s death. By accident, Sleepy Sr’s daughter is hit by the bullet, instead.

The movie ends with the Locas and the Locos attending the child’s funeral and the movie’s theme song playing in the background.  

The lyrics go…

It ain’t easy, girls, it ain’t easy

To keep the man you love satisfied (No, no)

It ain’t easy, girls, it ain’t easy

To keep the one you love by your side

Looking back, had my mother watched the film with me, she may have realized it was actually a film about female empowerment.  While the film does center on cholo life in East L.A., it doesn’t glamorize it.

As for me, I never joined a gang.  My mother, fearful my sisters and I would do so, due to the troubled middle school we were zoned for in the city, moved our family to a rural town. Looking back, I am grateful to her for making the choice she did. I eventually got into college and it was there that I learned about feminism while majoring in English and studying literature.

My choice to review Mi Vida Loca through a feminist lens, similar to how a literary work of art is analyzed, stems from my appreciation for Mexican-American art in all its formats, including cinema.

As a Mexican American, growing up in the U.S. there was little representation, least of all in Hollywood or even Latino TV. The stories depicted in Hollywood were always white, and Telenovelas were no better, always centering on wealthy Mexican light skinned women whose lives I could never relate to. So for me, at such a young age, to see women who looked like me in Mi Vida Loca, and whose stories I could relate to, was empowering.

And even though at that time I knew nothing about feminism, the notion of female empowerment in the movie resonated with me.

Because you see where feminism is often thought of as an ideology for educated women,  among working class women of color, feminism is  Mi Vida Loca. It’s women like Giggles and Mona and Maribel who do what they have to do to house, clothe, and feed their children.

Mi Vida Loca gave us the first glimpse of Chicana feminism through the lives of working class women. While this film on its surface seems to be about the cholo life, a boy, and a truck, it’s actually about Chicana feminism. That the women are in a gang is really just life. Those who try to label cholos as thugs, gangsters, and drug dealers may not realize that for many lower class urban Latino Americans in the 90s, there was very little divide between cholos and non-cholos.  Even if you were not in a gang, you knew someone who was, and often, these were individuals you loved, so the drugs and violence and the chaos caused by gangs, sadly impacted us all.  

In summary, Mi Vida Loca was not about the crazy life, but about life in general, and the women at the center of it all, who are done depending on men. 

Spanglish Girl