ABSTRACT
‘Chapter 3: Originality’ builds upon the establishment of ‘the Cuarón brand’ and considers several artistic and philosophical influences on Y Tu Mamá También—namely Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculine Feminine (1966), Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage (1979), and Slavoj Žižek’s argument on a paradox of anamorphosis. Among other things, Y Tu Mamá También redresses classical style and continuity editing for an idiosyncratic ‘conceptual continuity.’ It adapts synchronicity of classical cutting through ‘xenochrony’ and complex rhythmic combinations. It repositions backgrounds against centralized foregrounds. By exposing its own cinematic forms, the telling and the tales, Y Tu Mamá También exposes and upsets the presumed classical paradigm ‘logic’ of storytelling, the social mechanics that are part of its stories, and the values adhering to them. It invites viewers to look and then review recursively.
