Page - 97 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Using Latinx Theology’s Lo Cotidiano | 97www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 87–106 immortalizing a reductive and discriminatory, racist even, view of Puerto Rico as backward, indeed justifying the colonial agenda of both Spain and the United States!28 In the eyes of empire, any difference between cultured and uncultured in El Velorio vanishes. Simply stated, in his critique of Spain and imperialism, Oller sacrifices his own people. Sullivan argues that his art “mirrors the colonial experience” and is “marked by ambivalence and con- flicted affinities”.29 El Velorio as pictorial God-talk is both colonialized and, worse yet, colonializes its beholders. Signification in a Latinx Key: Life not Death, Redemption not Sin, and Creation not Chaos As evidence of a real cultural event, the bakiné shown in El Velorio, like all baki- nés, is not an “orgy” in the strict sense of excessive indulgence but literally an everyday family and community event. And it is from this that lo cotidiano’s decolonial force can spring: bakiné is now seen as a religiously orthodox and popular celebration of full humanity. First, whether this specific celebration was excessive for 19th-century “elite” morality or an incipient “Puerto Ri- can-ness” is beside the point in a decolonial lo cotidiano reading. What bakiné represents is a celebration of life at the border with death. For these mourn- ers-celebrants, death does not win – bakiné, like the smiling mother, is actual- ly laughing at Death. Oller sees disrespect for the dead child, that is, a lack of attention by empire, Church, the community, and the family. However, that is colonialized thinking. From the standpoint of those that truly matter in all funerary rituals, that is, family and friends, paying respect means celebrating life, the joy that was on earth and will be in heaven. From the perspective of lo cotidiano, Oller misses the bakiné’s point. Indeed, celebrating life upon death is orthodox Christian belief: through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascent to heaven, believers affirm that death does not have the final word.30 28 Calling El Velorio “discriminatory, racist even” is justified by the analyses below. However, that interpretation does not determine Oller’s own views on race, which could arguably be not racist (see note 24). Many times, decolonializing work sheds light on implied or less visible traces of racism yet conclusions remain open to critique. 29 Sullivan 2014, 7. 30 The doctrine of the resurrection is central to Christianity in all its forms (see for example Catholic Church 1994, §988–991). Christians believe that, just like Christ after his earthly