Paternity and the Promise of the Good Life in Diego Vega and Daniel Vega'S Octubre

Abstract:This article critically analyzes the father figure in Diego and Daniel Vega's Octubre. I argue that this film frames male caregiving as a path to redemption by allowing the protagonist to reposition himself within a less toxic form of masculinity. In this context, Octubre reinstates traditional views on masculinity as women relinquish their reproductive roles. As a result, men take charge of the domestic sphere and use it to show the importance of their work beyond reproductive labor. This study engages with Lauren Berlant's concept of cruel optimism to understand the motivations behind male-led care and how it unfolds and to observe the tension between the public and private spheres and its implications for "masculine" and "feminine" labor. It also uses Hannah Hamad's concepts of postfeminist fatherhood and postfeminist melancholia to explain the contradictions inherent in films like Octubre, which appear to eschew toxic masculinity but inadvertently reinforce it through the erasure of maternal figures and the devaluing of reproductive labor.