Mexican Melodrama: Film and Nation from the Golden Age to the New Wave

222 Pages·2016·1.646 MB·English

by  Elena Lahr-Vivaz

Mexican MelodraMa

elena lahr-ViVaz
Mexican
MelodraMa
Film and Nation from the Golden Age to the New Wave
TUCSON
The University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2016 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3251-3 (cloth)
Cover designed by Carrie House, HOUSEdesign llc
Cover illustration of vintage girl, DoverPictura Label Art / Alan Weller
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment
created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, a federal agency.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lahr-Vivaz, Elena, author.
Title: Mexican melodrama : film and nation from the Golden Age to the new wave /
Elena Lahr-Vivaz.
Description: Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016004474 | ISBN 9780816532513 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures, Mexican—History and criticism. | Motion pictures—
Mexico—History.
Classification: LCC PN1993.5.M6 L34 2016 | DDC 791.430972—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004474
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
To my daughters,
Hannah and Emmy Thompson,
with love and gratitude;
and in memory of my grandmother,
Helen Hughes Lahr
x

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
introduction
3
1 Melodrama and Mexico
7
Key Terms 10
Melodrama’s Golden Age (1930–1958) 13
Crisis and Resurgence (1959–1990) 20
The New-Wave Nation (1991–2005) 24
2 taming Nosotros
33
Enamorada (Woman in Love, Emilio Fernández, 1946) 36
Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate, Alfonso Arau, 1992) 43
Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda (Between Pancho Villa and a
Naked Woman, Sabina Berman and Isabelle Tardán, 1996) 51
3 the ties that Bind
62
La mujer del puerto (The Woman of the Port, Arcady Boytler, 1933) 64
La tarea prohibida (Forbidden Homework, Jaime Humberto
Hermosillo, 1992) 69
Modelo antiguo (Vintage Model, Raúl Araiza, 1992) 77
Ángel de fuego (Angel of Fire, Dana Rotberg, 1992) 81
viii contents
4 Nosotros no More
87
Nosotros los pobres (We the Poor, Ismael Rodríguez, 1947) 87
Amores perros (Love’s a Bitch, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000) 93
El crimen del padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro, Carlos
Carrera, 2002) 100
5 seeing stars
108
Cuando los hijos se van (When the Children Leave, Juan Bustillo
Oro, 1941) 110
Japón (Japan, Carlos Reygadas, 2002) 115
Batalla en el cielo (Battle in Heaven, Carlos Reygadas, 2005) 122
6 re-sounding Melos
137
¡¿Qué te ha dado esa mujer?! (What Has That Woman Given You?!,
Ismael Rodríguez, 1951) 138
Sólo con tu pareja (Love in the Time of Hysteria, Alfonso Cuarón, 1991) 141
Y tu mamá también (And Your Mother Too, Alfonso Cuarón, 2001) 147
conclusion
162
Notes 167
Works Cited 195
Index 211
illustrations
Figure 1. A “tamed” Beatriz follows her general during the Mexican
Revolution (Enamorada). 42
Figure 2. Gertrudis runs toward the villista who will carry her away
(Como agua para chocolate). 49
Figure 3. Gina and Ismael watch footage of Pancho Villa (Entre
Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda). 53
Figure 4. Shots of men are superimposed on a shot of Rosario as
“Vendo placer” (“I Sell Pleasure”) is heard in the back-
ground (La mujer del puerto). 69
Figure 5. María performs her “striptease” to “Qué rico el mambo”
(“Mambo Is Wonderful”; La tarea prohibida). 74
Figure 6. Carmen—played by Golden Age star Silvia Pinal—takes
a last ride in her beloved Cadillac (Modelo antiguo). 79
Figure 7. Don Pilar reacts in fright to what he perceives as the
multiplication of La Paralítica’s eyes (Nosotros los pobres). 97
Figure 8. Octavio waits at the bus station for his sister-in-law
(Amores perros). 100
Figure 9. A wickerwork screen only nominally separates Amelia
and Father Amaro (El crimen del padre Amaro). 105