Frida Kahlo: Artist, Feminist, Revolutionary, Unibrow - Complete Research Paper - Bertha Gonzalez - English 110

Bertha Gonzalez

Professor Lewenstein

English 110

26 Jan. 2022

 

Frida Kahlo:  Artist,  Feminist,  The Revolutionary, Unibrow

     Frida Kahlo made herself known through the art she created.  Some knew of the health problems she had dealt with in her life, such as polio and injuries from a bus incident. Later in her life, people learned of her politics and her views on feminism. Still,  there are many people in the present who don’t know much about Frida.  One writer put it this way: “There’s Frida the feminist, Frida the communist, Frida the Mexican, Frida the folk hero, Frida the controversial Barbie Doll, and on and on” ("Impossible to  Label  Frida").  Most people recognize the Mexican painter first by her unibrow and last by her artwork. Her life work is being forgotten due to people focusing on superficial aspects of her being. 

    Although a lot of people know of Frida Kahlo, they only know that she was a painter and had a unibrow. They know this because of items that have been sold that use her face. This doesn't take into account everything that she did when she was alive or accurately describe her legacy. Frida Kahlo was a feminist and political figure who expressed her tragedies and love through art and yet, not many people know of the legacy she left behind.

Fig. 1. "The Two Fridas (1939): Duality and Surrealism in Kahlo’s Famous Portrait", Singulart Magazine, 23/07/2019, Accessed 19/01/2022.

    In her article, “How the Commercialization of Frida Kahlo Has Weaponized Her Legacy against Her,” author Sarah Krichel argues Frida’s legacy is diminishing due to her commercialization. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who endured many tribulations, including illness and heartbreak. Those who truly know about her, know about her politics, art, and feminism. There are many people, though, who only know Frida for her physical features and for being a general artist. Because of this, people are commercializing Frida, and that’s causing fewer and fewer people to recognize her historical and cultural legacy.  Within the last five years, the commercialization of Frida has intensified.  Within this time, people have been going on vacation and attaining shirts with Frida’s face or posting pictures with a Snapchat filter of Frida without actually knowing about her and what she stood for. People are doing this all over the Western Hemisphere. People, who live in Mexico, have sold items that represent Frida, and people who have gone to Mexico have bought those items. People are using her physical image to make items to sell and others are buying those items to seem cool.  It is important to note that there is more to Frida besides her eyebrows.

            Surrealism was an artistic movement that incorporated the human experience, deep thoughts, dreams, and unexpectedness. Surrealism is not something common; it's unreal. Surrealism in an artist's work includes illogical, dreamlike images. Artists often depict the human experience in a bizarre and fantastical way. With paintings, the human experience may be depicted in unreal ways. At first glance, the painting may seem like nonsense but there's a deeper meaning within. A way to look at it would be like listening to a song and watching the music video. The video may not seem like it goes with the song but when you pay more attention to both, you can see the meaning behind it. Frida Kahlo's paintings often depicted surrealism and unless you looked at both the painting and her life, someone may not have known the meaning behind her paintings because of their bizarre picture. In one of the film's most surrealistic scenes, Frida Kahlo gains her inspiration for the painting The Two Fridas. The painting is depicted in a bizarre and fantastical way. It combines the physical traits of the artwork with Frida's personal experiences and feelings. Surrealism is a difficult concept to understand. Many artists use it as a different way to express their human experiences and feelings.

        Frida Kahlo was a troubled soul. She had endured so much in her forty-seven years of life that both contributed to the heaviness in her heart and served to inspire passion. Frida dealt with a lot of inner struggles. She had a hard time believing her paintings and drawings were good. In turn, she found it hard to believe that others would like her art. In particular, she sought the approval of Diego Rivera. Furthermore, she had some conflicts outside of herself. Frida's entire life was filled with tragedies. She had to deal with health issues, including the polio she had when she was a child and the bus incident when she was a teen that left her with multiple injuries that would affect her the rest of her life. Additionally, she had problems having a baby, a result of the bus incident. She also had a great conflict in her marriage to Diego Rivera. Rivera's infidelity caused many problems including a strained relationship with her sister because of their affair. Although these struggles caused great pain, they were the inspirations for many of her works. Kahlo, as a person, was very complicated. She had many positive qualities. Not only did she have great talent, but the actions she took throughout her life showed the type of person she was. She was a socialist and took an active part in her country's politics. She often reflected these views in her paintings. Frida was also a feminist. Her paintings often depicted real struggles of women. She defied gender stereotypes, which at the time she was alive, was a difficult thing to do. Even with the many great things about Frida, she did have some negative qualities. Among those is her infidelity to her husband. She had done it because her husband had been unfaithful to her in the first place but she did decide to do it as well. She had trouble understanding that Rivera would never be monogamous but she loved him deeply. The events that occurred throughout her life as well as her reactions and feelings towards those events, helped shape who she was. It helped to form a complicated artist whose legacy would be left behind for many to admire.

        When  Frida was a teenager, Frida suffered major injuries from a bus incident which left her with a permanent limp. This incident forever altered who she was. She also had trouble identifying what she was in terms of sexuality. She engaged in sexual encounters with both men and women. Furthermore, Frida struggled with clothing styles. She wore dresses and suits. When she wore dresses, there were two different styles of dresses that she'd wear, a European style dress and a traditional Mexican dress. She had a difficult time identifying the type of person she was, and she was able to express it through her painting, The Two Fridas.   In the movie Frida, Frida was shown completing her painting, The Two Fridas. As she seems to be suffering internally from many negative emotions, an old lady sings in the background. Frida drinks and cries as the lady sings a song in Spanish. The lyrics at the end, when translated, state, "If I have already given you life, llorona/What else do you want?/Do you want more?" As the song ends, Frida is shown completing The Two Fridas. Frida drowns in emotion as she thinks about how she struggled with her identity and how she's given herself to many people. The song helps the audience understand her thoughts and what led her to create the painting. As shown, Frida struggled immensely to find who she was. She had differing feelings about herself which were made more difficult by others in her life. She was more complex than people in the present may know. 

    The scene in the movie allows people in the present to understand the complicated person Frida Kahlo was and what difficulties she had to endure. People in the present may not know of the conflicts Frida dealt with and how that affected her art. Analyzing this one scene allows for a person to learn more about Frida than getting a shirt with her face on it.

    The movie poster for Frida includes many elements that appeal to people (see above - top of the essay). In the center of the poster, there are two Fridas presented. One of the Fridas is wearing a shirt and skirt with flowers in her hair whereas the other Frida is wearing a suit and nice shoes. The two Fridas are holding hands which shows the connection between the two Fridas. Frida Kahlo was known to show both sides throughout her life. Frida was unapologetic about who she was. If she wanted to wear a dress, she'd wear a dress. If she wanted to wear a suit, she'd wear a suit. For example, when Frida and her family took a family portrait, Frida wore a suit despite her mother’s protests. The movie poster wanted to demonstrate both sides of her, the feminine and masculine side. As soon as I saw the movie poster, I recognized the Frida in the suit from her painting Self Portrait with Cropped Hair. The movie showed the painting and I had seen the painting when researching her. At the bottom of the poster, the words "Prepare to be Seduced" are written. Frida was enticing. People were attracted to her because of her personality and way of being. The people who made the movie poster wanted the audience to prepare themselves for an intriguing woman who they were most likely going to love. The people who designed this poster didn't want to take attention away from Frida. They didn't add too many extra things that would deviate from the audience focusing on Frida. They wanted people to see her, both sides of her.

    Roger Ebert, the movie critic, liked the film, Frida. He recounts certain scenes that caught his attention such as when Frida Kahlo had her bus incident and when Diego Rivera painted the mural for the Rockefeller Center. He praised Alfred Molina for his role as Diego Rivera as he showed a talented artist who was entitled. He praised the director, Julie Taymor, for her other films including Frida. He liked how she showed magical realism to depict what was happening in Frida Kahlo's mind. He also liked how bizarre their life was displayed and how she showed when Frida would get in the "zone" when she was painting. He explained how biopics about artists are difficult to make. He did think that the writers had some difficulties with the movie because they presented one event after another without much time in between. Even so, he thought it made sense because it might've been how Frida interpreted her life. 

    In his review, Ebert explains how the best biopics bring a connection to the art and bring the audience to empathize with the artist. Frida highlighted the events that led to some of Frida Kahlo's most well-known paintings. The audience was able to see the connection between the events in Frida's life and her paintings. They were able to see the emotions Frida felt while creating the paintings. The depictions of her life events and her compelling nature allowed the audience to empathize with Frida. We were able to fall in love with her. When she was happy, we were happy. When she was sad, we were sad. Frida was a compelling film that allowed audiences to dive into Frida Kahlo's life and experience her joy, her tragedies, and her passion. People were allowed to learn about and appreciate Frida Kahlo through the movie which is much more than a mug with Frida’s unibrow could do.

 

Works Cited

Authers, John. "The Many Faces of Frida: John Authers Explores the Antipathy to a New Film about the Painter Frida Kahlo in Her Native Mexico: [LONDON 1ST EDITION]." Financial Times, Feb 21, 2003, pp. 13. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/many-faces-frida-john-authers-explores-antipathy/docview/249321018/se-2?accountid=38876.

Demopoulos, Alaina. “It’s Impossible to Label Frida Kahlo. That’s Her Power.: In Life, Frida Kahlo Rejected Labels. Today, They Plague Her Legacy. A New Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum Aims to Explore Kahlo the Complicated.” ProQuest, 7 Feb. 2019, https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/s-impossible-label-frida-kahlo-that-her-power/docview/2177005768/se-2?accountid=38876.

Frida. Dir. Julie Taymor. Miramax, 2002. Film.

Krichel, Sarah. “How the Commercialization of Frida Kahlo Has Weaponized Her Legacy against Her.” ProQuest, 19 July 2018, https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/how-commercialization-frida-kahlo-has-weaponized/docview/2072366468/se-2?accountid=38876.

McNearney, Allison. Frida Kahlo’s Missing Adultery Painting: After Frida Kahlo discovered that her beloved husband Diego Rivera had conducted an affair with her younger sister Cristina, she painted ‘The Wounded Table.’ Then it disappeared. ProQuest, Mar 25, 2017, https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/frida-kahlo-s-missing-adultery-painting/docview/1880578715/se-2?accountid=38876.

Ramirez, Alicia. “With ‘What Would Frida Do’ Arianna Davis Finds Inspiration in an Acclaimed Feminist Icon.” Shondaland, 20 Oct. 2020, https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34417698/arianna-davis-what-would-frida-do/.