Reality TV, Poverty Porn, and the "Money Shot": Performing Female Incarceration in Los caballeros las prefieren presas by Minerva Valenzuela

Abstract

Abstract:In her teatro-cabaret piece Los caballeros las prefieren presas, Minerva Valenzuela offers a searing critique of the inconceivably cruel abuses women suffer in Mexico's prison system. She does so by way of the charming protagonist Marilynares. Taking center stage with platinum blonde hair, red lipstick, a white body suit, and black heels, she channels the glamour of Marilyn Monroe. However, Marilynares is not an actress, but an inmate at the fictional Santa Martha Lamitas prison, hence the blue smock she wears over her form-fitting outfit. She is also contestant No. 10, competing for her freedom on the metatheatrical reality show "Hoy se decide mi vida." Coached and directed by an invisible voz en off belonging to Mr. Destino, the show's producer and host, Marilynares is instructed to share the most intimate details related to prison life by way of confessional addresses and musical numbers. However, when our protagonist realizes she is being exploited, she decidedly rejects and subverts central tenets of the neoliberal gameshow model: stark individualism and the sought-after "money shot." In refusing to play by someone else's rules, Marilynares hopes her audience will find compassion not just for her, but also for the thousands of women locked away across Mexico.