Stephanie Espinoza
McNair Scholar 2023
- Major(s): English
- Classification: Senior
- Anticipated Graduation Date: Fall 2023
- Career Aspirations: After attaining a bachelor’s degree, Stephanie plans to pursue graduate programs in Mexican-American or Latin-American studies.
“I loved doing the research for my project, and I enjoyed being around my cohort. Victoria and Kirbi are awesome.”- Stephanie Espinoza
“Exploring Elements of the Horror Genre in La LLorona”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alex Hunt
La Llorona’s roots are deeply connected to Mexico’s post-colonial history, which, by extension, is connected to Mexican American history. La Llorona’s influence in Mexican American literature and art has been researched and analyzed by academics within the last century. However, in recent times, La Llorona’s influence has been shown to go past the Mexican and Central American border into present day Guatemala with Jayro Bustamante’s film La Llorona. The unfortunate lack of academic research into the flourishing horror media, art, and literature coming out of Central America adds urgency to the research conducted in this study. Artists and authors have used La Llorona to analyze topics of classism, gender inequality, and racism in their work. Bustamante continues these conversations within his film by putting the Guatemalan genocide under a magnifying glass in his movie. The horror elements used to explore the generational trauma in La Lloronabrings awareness to the taboo conversation surrounding the genocide. Bustamante’s La Llorona explores the anxieties felt throughout Guatemala as the current and future generations grapple with their horrific past.