The Witch in the Woods: An Exploration of Female Representation in Mexican American and Japanese Folklore

Author

Sydni D. Salinas, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Linda Belau

Second Advisor

Dr. Ed Cameron

Third Advisor

Dr. Cathryn Merla-Watson

Abstract

An exploration of female archetypes that examines their display and representation in Mexican American and Japanese folklore. The study ties the two cultures together for the purpose of juxtaposing an older and younger culture utilizing folklore in similar ways of control over women’s narratives. It examines how a patriarchal culture’s folklore provides punishments through the medium of storytelling for transgressive or deviant women. When women act outside of their preferred archetypes or behavior in folklore, they are met with severe narrative consequences. The archetypes discussed in this thesis, “La Virgen Armada and the Final Girl,” “The Bride,” “The Sacrilegious Mother,” “The Witch and La Mujer Loca,” and “The Femme Fatale,” are analyzed as didactic functions that perpetrate patriarchal notions of female identity outside of folklore. Film is treated as a natural extension of storytelling, and observed in the thesis as a modern mechanism of performing the same functions of surveillance and control.

Comments

Copyright 2023 Sydni D. Salinas. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/witch-woods-exploration-female-representation/docview/2842706018/se-2?accountid=7119

Recommended Citation

Salinas, Sydni D., "The Witch in the Woods: An Exploration of Female Representation in Mexican American and Japanese Folklore" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 1254.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/etd/1254