This research focuses on the study of Mexican comics and films from 1969 to 1976. It uses the language of humour to understand how these media expressed contemporary social and political concerns. After reviewing theories of humour and proposing an eclectic theory to analyse visual sources, three different comic books and four films were examined in order to gain an understanding of the issues that troubled the society at the time. This eclectic theory considered academic approaches from a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, linguistics, psychology, and others. The theory of humour proposed in this thesis can be used to study humorous visual expressions from other cultures and historical times. Thus, one of the novelties of this research is the proposal of an eclectic theory of humour to study visual culture. A second original contribution of this thesis is that it proposes an approach to social history through the analysis of two relevant cultural manifestations: humour and visual culture. This work also invites us to reflect on Mexican society during the presidency of Luis Echeverría Álvarez, as well as the circumstances of the mass media and the arts, both of which enjoyed some freedom in what was called the apertura democrática. Nevertheless, since some topics were still prickly and difficult, humour helped society discuss them, kept them on the social agenda, and acted as a safety valve to express the discomfort of the members of society. Finally, this thesis considers social manifestations, such as humour, as sources through which to study culture and history; it highlights the relevance of the cultural legacy of comics which have been considered as a sub-cultural product; and it shows how we can use films to discover something new about a specific time and social group.

This study investigates the participation of cinema in the continuing debates over Mexican national identity. Part one lays out the problem of defining “Mexicanness” in contemporary society, and demonstrates that during the 1990s a new attitude emerged amongst a younger generation that sought to redefine the image of the cosmopolitan Mexican urbanite. This section is devoted to the problematics of traditional discourses on Mexican identity, as well as to a theoretical shift away from a nationalist paradigm of identity formation towards a more flexible model that takes into consideration the global processes shaping contemporary Mexico. Part 2 analyzes three early Mexican films made by Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, respectively Cronos (1993), Y tu mamá también (2001), and Amores perros (2000). I demonstrate through a heuristic model of the Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic how these films allegorize Mexico’s “coming to age tale” under the weight of political and economic changes. Part 3 shifts to the Hollywood films by these directors. Using a scalar concept, I illustrate how these directors’ works yield a new model for understanding the interconnectedness between the national and the transnational in a way that neither term is necessarily privileged, but rather coextensive.

This report will summarize the process of developing, producing and finishing the short film Ex-Votos. Shot on HD video in Real de Catorce, Mexico during the fall of 2012, the film was produced as my Graduate Thesis Film in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of my Master of Fine Arts in Film Production degree. / text

This study investigates the participation of cinema in the continuing debates over Mexican national identity. Part one lays out the problem of defining “Mexicanness” in contemporary society, and demonstrates that during the 1990s a new attitude emerged amongst a younger generation that sought to redefine the image of the cosmopolitan Mexican urbanite. This section is devoted to the problematics of traditional discourses on Mexican identity, as well as to a theoretical shift away from a nationalist paradigm of identity formation towards a more flexible model that takes into consideration the global processes shaping contemporary Mexico. Part 2 analyzes three early Mexican films made by Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, respectively Cronos (1993), Y tu mamá también (2001), and Amores perros (2000). I demonstrate through a heuristic model of the Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic how these films allegorize Mexico’s “coming to age tale” under the weight of political and economic changes. Part 3 shifts to the Hollywood films by these directors. Using a scalar concept, I illustrate how these directors’ works yield a new model for understanding the interconnectedness between the national and the transnational in a way that neither term is necessarily privileged, but rather coextensive.

This study is concerned with the Self/Other dichotomy, originally formulated by scholars of South Asian history in the context of European imperialistic treatments of the peoples whom they colonized for centuries, as applied to Mexican history. I have chosen some visual, cinematic, and literary representations of indigenous and other dispossessed peoples from both colonial and post-colonial Mexico in order to gain some insights into the vision of the powerless, (the 'Other'), held by the powerful (the colonizers, whether internal or external), especially, but not exclusively, in the context of race. Some public and private works of Mexican art from the 18th , 19th. and the 20th centuries are used to understand the perceptions of the Other in Colonial Mexico City, at the time of Independence, in state-sponsored pre and post-Revolutionary spectacles representing indigenous peoples, cinematic representations of the marginalized and the dispossessed from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and in the representation of the marginalized in the literary and photographic works of Juan Rulfo. I conclude that an ambivalent mixture co-existed in Mexican culture through the centuries, on the one hand, honoring the blending that is expressed in the word 'mestizaje', and on the other, adhering to a thoroughly Eurocentric world view. This ambivalence persisted from the 18th century through Independence and the Revolution and its aftermath, albeit in transformed ' / M. A. / Mexico presents an interesting contrast to the United States with respect to the history of race since colonization. The 16th century Spanish conquerors, and the colonizers who followed them, acknowledged the offspring of their unions with indigenous women, setting a tradition that resulted, by the 20th century, in mixed race peoples becoming the major component of the Mexican population. Despite this, there remained a sense in the culture that Europe and those of European descent were still the ideal towards which Mexico aspired, while from time to time, there were paradoxical displays, honoring the ethnic diversity that was New Spanish/Mexican reality. In light of this ambivalence, I have examined some literary and artistic examples of the perception of the colonizers, internal or external, of those whom they marginalized.

In my dissertation I show how the hegemonic power of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico utilized the figure of legendary Pancho Villa in literature and cinematography to create a national myth that represents a consensus in a mestizo patriarchal Christian society. I examine how the use and abuse of the image of Villa in post-revolutionary literary works and films caused this figure to acquire mythical characteristics and dimensions, and to become a key element in the construction of national identity and masculinity in Mexico. I argue that the figure of Villa is a confirmation of a traditional rather than a revolutionary proposal in gender terms. Equally important, I demonstrate how the literature and film of the Mexican revolution constitute instrumental devices for the formation of masculinity and the strengthening of a homo-social culture in the Mexico’s post-revolutionary stage, a process that would later determine the structure of the Mexican state. I also contend that in the construction of the mythical figure of Pancho Villa at least two sources of representation are participating: the Mexican state machinery on the one hand, and the American media on the other. By the same token, I show how the figure of Villa nurtures a national project and constitutes one of the most diffused perceptions of Mexican identity in the United States. / text

As one of the major directors of Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema (1936-1956), Emilio “El Indio” Fernández (1904-1986) created films which for many came to express the official vision of Mexican identity. Part of this identity was based on the ideology of indigenismo, which posited that the pre-Columbian past held the basic kernel of Mexico's national essence while advocating the incorporation of modern Indian groups into mainstream society. El Indio's films reflect the paradox of indigenismo: praise for indigenous cultures and a simultaneous effort to make them disappear. The following study examines three of his indigenista films, Marí­a Candelaria, Rí­o Escondido, and Maclovia, to see how Fernández created representations of Mexico's indigenous populations that contributed to and deviated from indigenista policies in post-Revolutionary Mexico. This representation relies on the formation of a national myth based on a static, aestheticized Indian which incorporates all Mexicans into official state history.

Notre mémoire cherche à identifier les traces du cinéma de “l’âge d’or” dans le cinéma mexicain des années quatre-vingt-dix. Au Mexique, l’apogée que le cinéma industriel a connu entre 1935 et 1955 a établi les principaux genres et normes du cinéma national. Le cinéma produit durant cette période, abondamment diffusé par la télévision et la vidéo et apprécié de la critique, continue d’influencer la production contemporaine. En concentrant notre analyse sur deux films en particulier, Danzón (1991) de María Novaro et La ley de Herodes (1999) de Luis Estrada, nous étudions d’une part, comment le cinéma des années quatre-vingt-dix rend hommage au cinéma de l’âge d’or et, d’autre part, comment on l’utilise pour commenter les nouvelles tendances dans la politique et la production culturelle. La diffusion continue du cinéma de l’âge d’or nous permet d’expliquer en partie son influence sur les cinéastes mexicains contemporains. Par ailleurs, le contexte de néolibéralisme et de globalisation des années quatre-vingt-dix nous permet d’avancer d’autres hypothèses concernant les raisons qui ont amené ces cinéastes à récupérer des éléments de la culture “nationale-populaire”. Nous pensons que ce contexte pourrait expliquer autant l’hommage que la critique que font les films contemporains du cinéma de l’âge d’or. Notre analyse des références au cinéma de l’âge d’or dans le cinéma des années quatre-vingt-dix s’appuie sur la théorie de l’intertextualité dans le cinéma. / This thesis studies the traces of the so-called “golden age” of Mexican cinema in films produced in the nineties. In Mexico, the upsurge of cinematic production between 1935 and 1955 established the principal norms and genres of a national cinema. The cinema of this era, critically acclaimed and widely diffused through television and video, continues to influence contemporary filmmaking. Focusing our analysis on two films, María Novaro’s Danzón (1991) and Luis Estrada’s La ley de Herodes (1999), we study how films from the nineties at once render homage to golden age cinema and use it to comment upon new trends in Mexican politics and cultural production. The continued diffusion of golden age cinema allows us to partially explain its influence on Mexican filmmakers working in the nineties. The nineties’ historical context, strongly marked by neoliberalism and globalization, allows us to propose further hypotheses as to why contemporary filmmakers have recuperated elements of “national-popular” cinema. We believe that this context explains both the homage and the criticisms that today’s films direct towards the cinema of the golden age. Our analysis of the dialogue between the films produced in these two periods borrows from theories of filmic intertextuality. / Nuestra memoria busca identificar las huellas del cine de la llamada “época de oro” en el cine mexicano de los años noventa. En México, el auge de la producción cinematográfica que tuvo lugar entre 1935 y 1955 estableció las normas y los géneros principales del cine nacional. El cine de esta época, altamente difundido por la televisión y el video, y apreciado por los críticos, sigue influyendo en la producción contemporánea. Concentrando nuestro análisis en dos películas en particular, Danzón (1991) de María Novaro y La ley de Herodes (1999) de Luis Estrada, estudiamos cómo el cine de los noventas rinde homenaje al cine de la época de oro, por un lado, y cómo se refiere a ese cine para comentar las nuevas tendencias en la política y en la producción cultural, por otro. La difusión continua del cine de la época de oro a través el tiempo nos permite explicar en parte su influencia en los cineastas mexicanos de los años noventa. Por otra parte, el contexto de neoliberalismo y de globalización de los años noventa nos permite avanzar otras hipótesis en cuanto a las razones que empujaron a los cineastas a recuperar elementos de la cultura “nacional-popular”. Pensamos que ese contexto explica tanto el homenaje como la crítica que las películas contemporáneas hacen hacia el cine de la época de oro. Nuestro análisis del diálogo entre las películas producidas en estas dos épocas se apoya en la teoría de la intertextualidad en el cine.

Jouée par María Elena Velasco depuis la fin des années 1960, la India María met en scène une indienne « authentique » qui, malgré son statut et ses limitations sociales, dénonce le traitement des institutions auxquelles elle est soumise : les systèmes politique, judiciaire, économique et religieux. Néanmoins, lors des premières projections des films sur le grand écran, la critique portait essentiellement sur les aspects superficiels et a réprouvé la façon dont les indiens et le Mexique étaient représentés, car jugée réactionnaire. Au début des années 1990, des chercheurs ont commencé à étudier ses films en proposant une lecture « négociée » : ils s’intéressent à l’effet humoristique produit sur le public par sa performance et ses aventures, en même temps qu’ils reconnaissent l’ambigüité du personnage et des narrations, tout en soulignant les discours ethnique et de classe. À travers l’analyse de Tonta, tonta pero no tanto (Bête, bête, mais pas trop) de Fernando Cortés (1972), Ni de aquí ni de allá (Ni d’ici ni de là-bas) de María Elena Velasco (1988), et Sor Tequila (Sœur Tequila) de Rogelio González (1977), mon mémoire contribue à cette lecture en étudiant trois sujets : le stéréotype cristallisé dans ce personnage, afin de démontrer comment celui-ci permet une critique de la société mexicaine ; les nouveaux enjeux culturels auxquels le système néolibéral affronte les autochtones ; et la transformation du masculin et du public à travers une construction alternative du féminin. / Played by María Elena Velasco since the late 1960s, La India María brings to life an “authentic” indigenous woman who despite her social standing and limitations, denounces the treatment of institutions to which she’s subjected: the political, judicial, economic, and religious systems. However, since her first appearances in theaters, critics have focused more on superficial aspects of her performance, judging that indigenous peoples and Mexico were represented in a reactionary way. Since the beginning of the 1990s, researchers have proposed a “negotiated” reading of her movies: they paid attention to the effects Velasco’s humorous performance and adventures had on her audience, but they also recognized the ambiguity of the character and storylines, all the while stressing the ethnic and class discourses. Through the analysis of Tonta, tonta pero no tanto (Foolish, Foolish But Not so Much) by Fernando Cortés (1972), Ni de aquí ni de allá (Neither From Here nor From There) by María Elena Velasco (1988), and Sor Tequila (Sister Tequila) by Rogelio González (1977), my thesis contributes to this reading by studying three subjects: the stereotype as represented by this character, in order to show how it criticizes Mexican society; the new cultural challenges that the Neoliberal system presents to indigenous peoples; and the transformation of masculine gender models and the public through an alternative construction of feminine gender models. / Representada por María Elena Velasco desde finales de la década de 1960, La India María encarna una indígena “auténtica” que no obstante sus limitaciones y su posición social es capaz de denunciar el tratamiento de instituciones a las cuales está sometida: el sistemas político, el judicial, el económico y el religioso. Sin embargo, desde su debut en la pantalla grande, la crítica se concentró esencialmente en los aspectos superficiales de su interpretación, juzgándola reaccionaria por la manera de representar a los indígenas y a México. Desde comienzos de la década de 1990, algunos investigadores comenzaron a estudiar sus cintas proponiendo una lectura “negociada”: teniendo en cuenta los efectos cómicos que su interpretación y sus aventuras tenían sobre su audiencia, pero reconociendo la ambigüedad del personaje y de las narrativas, y considerando los discursos étnico y de clase. A través del análisis de Tonta, tonta pero no tanto de Fernando Cortés (1972), Ni de aquí ni de allá de María Elena Velasco (1988), y Sor Tequila de Rogelio González (1977), mi memoria contribuye a esta lectura con el estudio de tres temas: el estereotipo encarnado por la India María para demostrar que su uso critica a la sociedad mexicana; los desafíos culturales para los indígenas con la entrada del sistema neoliberal; y la transformación de lo masculino-público a través de una construcción alternativa de lo femenino.

Notre mémoire cherche à identifier les traces du cinéma de “l’âge d’or” dans le cinéma mexicain des années quatre-vingt-dix. Au Mexique, l’apogée que le cinéma industriel a connu entre 1935 et 1955 a établi les principaux genres et normes du cinéma national. Le cinéma produit durant cette période, abondamment diffusé par la télévision et la vidéo et apprécié de la critique, continue d’influencer la production contemporaine. En concentrant notre analyse sur deux films en particulier, Danzón (1991) de María Novaro et La ley de Herodes (1999) de Luis Estrada, nous étudions d’une part, comment le cinéma des années quatre-vingt-dix rend hommage au cinéma de l’âge d’or et, d’autre part, comment on l’utilise pour commenter les nouvelles tendances dans la politique et la production culturelle. La diffusion continue du cinéma de l’âge d’or nous permet d’expliquer en partie son influence sur les cinéastes mexicains contemporains. Par ailleurs, le contexte de néolibéralisme et de globalisation des années quatre-vingt-dix nous permet d’avancer d’autres hypothèses concernant les raisons qui ont amené ces cinéastes à récupérer des éléments de la culture “nationale-populaire”. Nous pensons que ce contexte pourrait expliquer autant l’hommage que la critique que font les films contemporains du cinéma de l’âge d’or. Notre analyse des références au cinéma de l’âge d’or dans le cinéma des années quatre-vingt-dix s’appuie sur la théorie de l’intertextualité dans le cinéma. / This thesis studies the traces of the so-called “golden age” of Mexican cinema in films produced in the nineties. In Mexico, the upsurge of cinematic production between 1935 and 1955 established the principal norms and genres of a national cinema. The cinema of this era, critically acclaimed and widely diffused through television and video, continues to influence contemporary filmmaking. Focusing our analysis on two films, María Novaro’s Danzón (1991) and Luis Estrada’s La ley de Herodes (1999), we study how films from the nineties at once render homage to golden age cinema and use it to comment upon new trends in Mexican politics and cultural production. The continued diffusion of golden age cinema allows us to partially explain its influence on Mexican filmmakers working in the nineties. The nineties’ historical context, strongly marked by neoliberalism and globalization, allows us to propose further hypotheses as to why contemporary filmmakers have recuperated elements of “national-popular” cinema. We believe that this context explains both the homage and the criticisms that today’s films direct towards the cinema of the golden age. Our analysis of the dialogue between the films produced in these two periods borrows from theories of filmic intertextuality. / Nuestra memoria busca identificar las huellas del cine de la llamada “época de oro” en el cine mexicano de los años noventa. En México, el auge de la producción cinematográfica que tuvo lugar entre 1935 y 1955 estableció las normas y los géneros principales del cine nacional. El cine de esta época, altamente difundido por la televisión y el video, y apreciado por los críticos, sigue influyendo en la producción contemporánea. Concentrando nuestro análisis en dos películas en particular, Danzón (1991) de María Novaro y La ley de Herodes (1999) de Luis Estrada, estudiamos cómo el cine de los noventas rinde homenaje al cine de la época de oro, por un lado, y cómo se refiere a ese cine para comentar las nuevas tendencias en la política y en la producción cultural, por otro. La difusión continua del cine de la época de oro a través el tiempo nos permite explicar en parte su influencia en los cineastas mexicanos de los años noventa. Por otra parte, el contexto de neoliberalismo y de globalización de los años noventa nos permite avanzar otras hipótesis en cuanto a las razones que empujaron a los cineastas a recuperar elementos de la cultura “nacional-popular”. Pensamos que ese contexto explica tanto el homenaje como la crítica que las películas contemporáneas hacen hacia el cine de la época de oro. Nuestro análisis del diálogo entre las películas producidas en estas dos épocas se apoya en la teoría de la intertextualidad en el cine.