Las medias rojas, Naturalism, and Natural Born Killers

Las medias rojas by Emilia Pardo Bazan, was a great introduction to Naturalism. In contrast to the supernatural, and subjective style of Espronceda's poem El estudiante de Salamanca, Bazan introduces us to the harsh reality of the human condition that is experienced in everyday life. Some of the main themes common to Naturalism we find in Las medias rojas are violence, poverty, and the inequalities in society.

The cool thing about this short story is that it tells some much about the world that Ildara and her uncle live in and is so very powerful in so few lines. You get a good sense of the contrasts that are a reality in their world. Ildara is weak, beautiful and young and her uncle is while kind of a lazy bum has all the power, is strong, ugly and old. He doesn't want his life to change, whereas Ildara yearns for the "suerte" of the new world and dreams of breaking from her life of poverty and hard work to a life a luxury and leisure.

Bazan does a great job of reproducing the grittiness and their world. This is not an invented world like the dream world Espronceda created in his poem, this world actually exists; and as one of the main goals of the writers of Naturalism, Bazan objectively reproduces this world as it existed during that time in the mountains of Galicia. She also gives us a raw description of the ugliness of the human condition of that world where women had little power or freedom and without the means to change their condition. The brutality in the scene in which Claudio beats Ildara is horrific. This horror is actually felt by the reader not by any tricks or ghosts but by drawing the reader into Ildara's world where she is weak, trapped, terrified and beaten. Her chances of changing her life were indeed just a dream and that is all it would ever be, just like so many people in the real world and great writers of the Naturalism like Bazan draw the reader into that world and help them experience it.

This short story reminded me of the sitcom scene of Natural Born Killers. This scene is a parody of the fake or idealized world created in the American sitcom by showing the harsh, violent and sexually abusive world in which Mallory grows up in only on a sitcom set with a laugh track. Oliver Stone, like Bazan, gives a gritty and raw description of a poor family that is stuck in cycle of abuse...its not pretty but its real and that evokes strong emotions in the viewer as it does in the reader of Las medias rojas. Here is a link to the scene....

Warning: Some may find this clip uncomfortable. Violence, language, and sexual themes.

Natural Born Killers