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Spanish and screen studies professor Marvin D'Lugo and student Jessica Smith examine issues of cultural identity and ideology in Spanish language films. |
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Meet the researchers:
Classic Mexican films
Interview with Jessica Smith
Jessica Smith '03 is combining studies in English, Spanish and Geography into self-designed
major called North American Cultural Narrative, in which she focuses on the cultural geography
of North America as seen through literature. Spanish and film studies professor Marvin D'Lugo
sponsored the presentation of her paper "The Ideology of Cultural Representation in Mexican Films
in the 1940s" at Academic
Spree Day 2002. Jessica discussed her work in a recent interview.
You chose two Mexican films to examine in your paper. What are they, and can you give a brief synopsis of each?
The two movies are Maria Candelaria (1943) and Allá en el Rancho Grande (1936). The first is the story of an indigenous woman. She lives in her village as an outcast because her mother was considered a sinful woman. Maria eventually gets malaria and her husband is put in jail. She has to try to get him out, and because of this is unable to conform to "womanly" roles. A painter asks her if she wants to be painted. He paints her face and asks her to take off her clothes, which she refuses to do. Although he substitutes another model, the whole village thinks that Maria has taken her clothing off, and stones her to death. She ends up going to the "greater place" where she belongs. It's very melodramatic.
Allá en el Rancho Grande is a musical set on a ranch in pre-revolutionary* Mexico. It's a classic love triangle--the hero wins in the end.
Is it correct that these two movies are a product of what is called Mexico's Golden Age of film?
Yes. The 1930s and 1940s were a time of melodramatic films that the public really loved. The movies were often set in a mythical, idealized pre-revolutionary past. In the '30s and '40s, two Congresses were formed to promote "hispanidad"--the idea that Spain and Latin America were cultures united by the Spanish language. The goals were to help Spain, which was isolated in Europe by the surrounding democracies, and to compete with the U.S., the number one exporter of movies. Spanish-language movies about specific locales would obviously be preferred over subtitled American movies. Mexico became a huge exporter of films to the rest of Latin America, many of its directors and cinematographers having learned the trade in the U.S.
Why do you think that these films were so popular with Mexican audiences?
Who doesn't like melodrama? It can be very satisfying if you want a break from reality. It tends to be pretty one-dimensional and full of stereotypes, and because of that there is no ambiguity. It always ends the way you want it to; there's nothing to question. Even though Maria Calendaria is tragic in many ways, Maria's portrayed as being almost too good for earthly life. At the end of the movie, her body floats down the river and she lays surrounded by flowers with a wrap over her head, looking exactly like the Virgin of Guadalupe. The movies were also very Mexican--the actors, settings, and themes--as opposed to the American movies that were available.
In your paper you focused on how both the landscape and men's and women's roles conformed to cultural ideals. How did cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa portray the Mexican landscape in these two films?
The initial image in both films was of a pristine, too good to be true, picturesque landscape. Gabriel Figueroa's signature is his filming of clouds. In Allá en el Rancho Grande the clouds are always very beautiful. In Maria Candelaria clouds are important, but Figueroa also focuses on the water, a river crossed by little bridges, that runs through the region. Also, in Allá en el Rancho Grande it's always sunny. But in Maria Candelaria, Figueroa uses the weather--storms, sun breaking through clouds--to mirror Maria's emotions.
Can you talk about how gender roles were portrayed?
The films reflect the attitude that women are supposed to confine themselves to the domestic sphere, men are supposed to be macho, and that marriage is the preferred state for both. Women are to remain in private spaces, while men can appear in public spaces. In Allá en el Rancho Grande, the heroine, Cruz, is very frail and not that smart. Her fiancé, José, has a rival for her love as well as for the position of director of the ranch, in the person of Martin. Finally, Felipe, the son of the owner of the ranch also is interested in Cruz, and at one point invites her into his house. She goes, not knowing that he's going to try to seduce her. Her going out of her private space puts her fiancé's honor in question, so José and Felipe have a duel by song in the courtyard--a public space-where everyone can see. Cruz's honor is reinstated, all the couples, including a trouble-making widow, get married, and everything is fine.
Maria Candelaria can't remain in her private space because she's trying to get her husband out of jail and eventually is willing to let the artist paint her. She ends up being stoned in a public place. Her death might also be seen as her husband's punishment for not being macho enough to save himself.
How do you go about analyzing a film?
It's a lot like analyzing a novel. I watch the film and take notes on things that strike me. I like to analyze the visual treatment of a theme. I ask myself why the filmmaker makes certain choices and think about what those choices could signify. I also read many articles on cinema in Mexico. You have to know the context of what's going on in cinema at the time. Sometimes for more recent movies there are interviews with a director or writer and those are very helpful. I think it's exciting to be able to research something yourself.
*the Mexican Revolution occurred between 1910 and 1920.
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Additional Resources
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Jessica Smith
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