Identity Mediations in Latin American Cinema and Beyond

Identity Mediations in Latin American Cinema and Beyond:

Culture, Music and Transnational Discourses

Edited by Cecilia Nuria Gil Mariño and Laura Miranda

Identity Mediations in Latin American Cinema and Beyond: Culture, Music and Transnational Discourses

Edited by Cecilia Nuria Gil Mariño and Laura Miranda

This book first published 2019

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2019 by Cecilia Nuria Gil Mariño, Laura Miranda and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-5275-3883-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-3883-2 TABLE OFCONTENTS

Acknowledgements ...... viii

Introduction ...... 1 Redesigning Cultural Cartographies to Reflect on Processes of Identitary Configuration Cecilia Nuria Gil Mariño and Laura Miranda

Section 1 – Musical Flows in Latin American Classical Cinema: Towards the Configuration of a Model

Chapter 1 ...... 10 The Creation of Imperio Argentina as Film Star Vicente J. Benet

Chapter 2 ...... 28 The Musical Representation of Latin America in Hollywood’s First Sound Films (1927-1932) Juan Carlos Poveda

Chapter 3 ...... 48 Intercambios musicales entre Argentina y México: el tango y el bolero como fuentes para la difusión de los cines nacionales Silvana Flores

Chapter 4 ...... 73 O início do cinema sonoro no Brasil e os (en)cantos da língua Carlos Roberto de Souza e Suzana Reck Miranda

Chapter 5 ...... 103 Seeing Mexican Music in ¡Así es mi tierra! Carlos Belmonte

vi Table of Contents

Section 2 – National Stereotypes Under Consideration: Revisiting the Nationalism-Cosmopolitanism Antinomy

Chapter 6 ...... 128 From The Jazz to SingerLa La Land and Some Others In Between Kathryn Kalinak

Chapter 7 ...... 152 Aportaciones musicales de Chucho Monge al nacionalismo mexicano (1934-2014) Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro

Chapter 8 ...... 166 El folclor musical veracruzano en el cine mexicano de los años treinta Rosario Vidal Bonifaz

Section 3 – Political Identities: Propaganda and Censorship in 1940s Spain

Chapter 9 ...... 190 Music for Fiction Films During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939): Identity Functions of the Soundtrack Lidia López Gómez

Chapter 10 ...... 211 Shaping the Collective Imaginary? Writing About Cinema and Music in the Journal Ritmo During the First Years of Francoism Alberto Caparrós Álvarez

Section 4 – Musical Syncretism: Global Identities, Local Identities

Chapter 11 ...... 232 Drag Performances in Recent Latin American Documentary: Uses of Voice and Musical Flows Agostina Invernizzi and Ezequiel Lozano

Chapter 12 ...... 242 Baroque, 1989: Construction and Recognition of the Latin American Cultural Identity in Experimental and Musical Cinema Fernandoaldonado David M Parrales

Identity Mediations in Latin Americanvii Cinema and Beyond

Chapter 13 ...... 258 La redención como tópico en films sobre rap y break dance y su apropiación en Argentina: sentidos de una práctica e identidades culturales Ana Sabrina Mora

Chapter 14 ...... 277 The Soundtrack and Construction of a Brazilian Patchwork Identity in the Film Macunaíma Edson Zampronha

Section 5 – Identities under Consideration in Contemporary Cinema

Chapter 15 ...... 300 Cinema and Tango (1990-2010): Representations, Market and Politics Marisa Iris Alonso

Chapter 16 ...... 325 The Musicality and Theatrical Referential of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz in the Filmic Narrative of João Botelho – Portuguese Cultural Identity Filomena Antunes Sobral

Section 6 – Beyond Western Cinema

Chapter 17 ...... 346 Under-use of Japanese Music for Japanese Characterization in Western Cinema Juan Urdániz Escolano

Chapter 18 ...... 368 Space Configuration in Yasujiro Ozu’s Cinema: The Off-screen and the Non-seen in Late Spring, Early Summer and Tokyo Story Susana Palés

Chapter 19 ...... 383 Commemorative Cinema in the USSR: Shaping Soviet Identity Mikel Bueno Urritzelkilorri Arcocha and E Mendinueta ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thest International 1 ema Conference and Identities, onwas Cin CICI 2018, held in Oviedo (Spain) in theresearch spring of into 2018. It was the first music, cinema and cultural identities that delved to be undertaken in Spain into film dialoguesrent Ibero-Americanbetween diffe extending countries, their reachwood to non-Holly cinemas, such asse. Soviet The and Japane results of the conferencehted the great highlig se interest in the cinematographies in recent yearsfor this and marked the starting point volume. We thankants, all the researchers participators and for collabor their interest and support in this project.

We have been fortunate to havems the and collaboration of several tea institutions on both sides ofmade the possible Atlantic. This book has been thanks to the supportom the Grupo received deen Investigación fr Música Contemporánea de España y Latinoaméricaemporary (Research Group in Cont Music of Spain and Latin America, GIMCEL) —Diapente XXI, of the University ofork Oviedo. is part This ofMúsica thew en conflicto Project en España y Latinoamérica: entre la hegemonía y la transgresión (siglos XX y XXI) [MINECO-16-HAR201564285-C2-1-P], coordinated by Celsa Alonso González. We thank the Departmenticology of Art History and Mus of the Faculty of Philosophy and for Letters, their University of Oviedo, collaboration in this project.

Likewise, we would like to thankh as institutions the in Argentina, suc Instituto de Artes del Espectáculo and Letters, of the Faculty of Philosophy University of Buenos Aires,director its director of the Jorge Dubatti and the cinema area Clara Kriger, who encouragedI 2018. the realization of CIC Alejandro Kelly Hopfenblatt andICI Sonia Sasiain, members of the C Organizing Committee, have also their been very important support for comments and contributions to this publication.

The Fundación dee la Oviedo Universidad (FUO) hasmental d been instru in obtaining grants for the publicationregard, we are of this volume. In this grateful to the financial endowmentdo, host of city the City Council of Ovie of the CICI.

Identity Mediations in Latin Americanix Cinema and Beyond

To the members of the CICI Scientific Committee.

To Daniel Tunnard for translatingding thisseveral chapters and proofrea book.

To Zé Vicentever for image the coto the book.

To all the authors of this publication.

To our familiesor and their colleagues, enormousur work. f support in o

The editors

INTRODUCTION

REDESIGNINGCULTURAL CARTOGRAPHIES TOR EFLECTP ONROCESSES IDENTITARY OF CONFIGURATION

CECILIANURIA GIL M ARIÑO ANDL AURAM IRANDA

The appearance of sound film boostedund the entertainment circuits aro world. Such circuits had been functioningte smoothly since the la nineteenth century as transformationsation in transport and communic allowed people, news and resourcesn Lila to circulate more quickly. I Caimari’s work onthe the submarine impact of telegraphn South cable i America in the hesecond nineteenth half of century, st that “the she write appearance of the submarine cablesstantaneity [...] added the notion of in (of the telegraph), that of amporality.” world1 synchronized to one same te That interconnected temporalitys of aided the transference of model consumption and socioculturalitalist practices from more developed cap economies to less developed ones,anges contributing and to cultural exch configuring circulation between distant circuitsergence places. and The em development of the culturalthe industries twentieth in the first decades of century strengthened these routes,hies that outlining cultural cartograp forged images of spaces, nations role and in theregions. Film played a key utopia of being able to see it 1920s all with and one’s eyes. By the late early 30s, the emergence of soundds with and, therefore, music and wor these images, gavemplex film role a more in the con of configuratio national and regional culturalkets. identities The in incipient mass mar articulation of the domestic-globalons in duality took on new dimensi outlining identitary each historic images context. in

1 Lila Caimari, “Elnte. mundo Noticias al insta eny temporalidades la era del cable submarino (1860-1900),”Redes, v. 21, no.2015): in 40 (June 125-46, 128. 2 Introduction

Representations, music,of popular and thedancesf artists circulation and o knowledge were part of a fluid,norities dynamic in traffic of signs and so the context of a transmedia modelcircle that of consolidated a virtuous cultural consumption, in constant configured dialogue with the stereotypes by more established cinematographies, case of such as Hollywood. In the Ibero-American encecinema, of sound the emerg wasy in an the opportunit search for a national industry.nd Hollywoodthese was quick to understa circumstances andactor became in the a keyIbero-Americanstry. indu

The transits ofnd artists, records films,in thean space Ibero-Americ a gradually forged the region’s in own contrast images of its musical culture with Hollywood and Broadway clichés, while making the regional entertainment circuitc. Thus, more the dynami importanceining of def itself in national or regionall logic terms and was tied to both commercia discussions on cultural identities.e exceptional Popular music, as one of th spaces of “configuration2 played aof fundamental meanings,” role in the development of these strategies.

Over the course of the twentieth, this and early twenty-first century transmedia logic went unthreatened,arrival evenof intensifying with the new media and the development ofect, new this technologies. In this resp book seeks to strike a dialoguehe flows between and analyses that reflect t transits of music,tists films, mainly and incan arthe space, Ibero-Ameri although it alson Soviet features and essays Asianth a view cinema,o to wi exploring the processes of configuration through film of cultural identities in this long period.

Our main aim is to redesign culturaluestions cartographies that raise q and/or challengeof the stereotypesmain entertainmentuits. In the circ dialogue with and between the authorsen of this volume, it has be important to challenge the essentialisty processes discourses of identitar and the perspective of circulation that this and connections. We consider focus enriches the analysisly of from national their particularities, not on points of convergence and divergence,hese but also in challenging t national frontiers as the fieldts out of analysis.to Thus, this work se understand those borders as flexibleoration of spaces that permit an expl the appearance of transversalr networks relations of that are part of broade circulation and economic, sociale domestic and political models beyond th sphere. The perspective of theoints connections of contains different p

2 Benedict Anderson,Comunidades imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo, Mexico: Fondora Económica, de Cultu 1993. Redesigning Culturales to Reflect Cartographi ondentitary Processes3 of I Configuration tension that make it possible,o “[forge] following a Clara Kriger’s idea, t new ‘unstable, insecure, changingrket and and self-critical’ map” of ma audience3 practices.

This perspective has increasinglye been applied to studies of th entertainment industry in recentmerican years. In the field of Latin A cinema, research has appearedies in filmthat and cultural history stud analyze the convergence and film of from music a transnational perspective, such as the works compiledlicia by Ana Laura Lusnich, A Aisemberg and Andrea Cuarterolo (eds., 2017), Ana López (2012), Florencia Garramuño (2007), Guilhermes., Maia and Lauro Zavala (ed 2018), Pablo Piedras and Sophienda Dufays and (eds., 2018), Laura Mira Lucía Rodríguez Riva (eds., 2019)(2019), and Cecilia Nuria Gil Mariño among others.4 These works have indicated the necessary interaction between researchers in differentdustries disciplines to in the cultural in understand, enrich, and make more complex the cartographies of entertainment in those years.

In the field of music, followingg works the line proposed by pioneerin such as those of Claudia Gorbmand (1987), Caryl Flinn (1992), an Kathryn Kalinak5 the twenty-first (1992), century has witnessed a large

3 Clara Kriger, “Estudios sobre perspectiva cine clásico en Argentina: de la nacional a laAdversus comparada”, IX (June in 26, 2014), 133-50: 148. 4 Ana Laura Lusnich,berg, Alicia and Andrea Aisems.), PantallasCuarterolo (ed transnacionales. El cine argentino y mexicano del período clásico (Buenos Aires: Imago Mundi, 2017);Hollywood, Ana Nuestra López, América y los Latinos (Havana, Cuba: Ediciones 2012); Florencia Unión,Modernidades Garramuño, primitivas: tango, samba y nación (Buenos Aires:e Cultura Fondo Económica, d 2007), Guilherme Maia andO cinema Lauro musical naZavala América (orgs.), Latina: aproximações contemporâneas (Salvador de Bahia: Editora da Universidade Federal 2018); da Pablo Bahia, PiedrasDufays and (eds.), Sophie Conozco la canción. Melodías populares en los cines posclásicos de América Latina y Europa (Buenos Aires: Libraria, 2018); Laura Miranda and Lucía Rodríguez RivaDiálogos cinematográficos (eds.), entre España y Argentina vol. 1. Música, estrellas y escenarios compartidos (1930-1960) (Santander: Shangrilá Textos Aparte, 2019); CeciliaNegocios de cine. Nuria Circuitos del Gil Mariño, entretenimiento, diplomacia cultural y Nación en los inicios del sonoro en Argentina y Brasil (Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Unidad de Publicaciones paraón Social la Comunicaci de laTesis Ciencia. Posgrado, Serie 2019). 5 Claudia Gorbman,Unheard melodies. Narrative Film Music (Indiana: Indiana University Press,Strains 1987); of Utopia: Caryl Gender, Nostalgia Flinn, and Hollywood Film Music (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992); Kathryn 4 Introduction corpus on film music of differentrst these nationalities. Although at fi works were written by specialisttrend musicologists, there is now a towards interdisciplinary proposals.ple, of This is the case, for exam Spanish Hispanists and researcherscinema who have started to revisit under Franco, such as Jo Labanyi, (1997,and 2002), Eva Woods (2012) Laura Miranda (2018),g music considerin as a fundamentalt of the elemen Francoist machinery,culation and of the artists6 cir and exile.

Consequently, in these cinematographies’rican relationships with Ame models, approaches have been takenn of that dialogue with the notio “Americanization,” which distinguishesperialism” itself from “cultural im in giving an activereceiver role to societies the i- and the mult directionality of exchanges. Dominiquet this Barjot (2003) argues tha definition includes the transferencesumption of production methods, con models and sociocultural practicestition, based on the values of compe individualism, and the market. Barjot also stresses the idea of “Americanizations” in plural,and as thea term is at once a concept historical7 process.

The division of the world betweento “Americans” and “others” led politics that eclipsed ethnicrticular and cultural vision differences, in a pa of the world that went beyond nationalng borders. This homogenizi exoticism opened the debate aboutticity, the nature of national authen realism and culture “for export.”idered Thus, images of what was cons national gradually became frontierffic of spaces with an important tra signs and elements which, dependingd together on the case, fused or gelle or confronted each other, somethingay. that still occurs to this d

Kalinak,Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992). 6 Jo Labanyi, “Race, Gender and theof theDisavowal Early in Spanish Cinema Franco Period: the Missionaryin FilmScreen , no.and 38the Folkloric Musical,” (3) (1997): 215-31;Constructing Jo Labanyi Identity in Twentieth-Century (ed.), Spain: Theoretical Debates and Cultural Practice (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,White 2002); Gypsies: Race Eva and Stardom Woods, in Spanish Musical Films (Minneapolis: University of Minnesotanda, Press, 2012); Laura Mira Canciones en el cine español. Período de autarquía (1939-1950) (Santander: Shagrilá Textos Aparte, 2018). 7 Dominique Barjot, “Americanización:en la esfera transferencias culturales económica en el sigloia Inés XX,” Barbero in Maralsky and Andrés (eds.), Reg Americanización: Estados Unidos y América Latina en el siglo XX. Transferencias económicas, tecnológicas y culturales (Buenos Aires: EDUNTREF, 2003), 15-38. Redesigning Culturales to Reflect Cartographi ondentitary Processes5 of I Configuration

Processes of Americanization nationalhave been highly important to both and regional images to the presentook brings day. In this respect, this b together twenty-two researchersStates from Latin America, the United and Spain, analyzing the transitsts, and of local, artists and cultural objec national and global musical andexplore sound flows from the cinema to these identitary commercial processes and from. cultural a logic

The first section looks at musicalrtists exchanges, and the journeys of a films, and stereotypical representationspain in the of Latin America and S classic film period. These worksl and offer a perspective of cultura technical problems in the appearanceilm, and of music and language in f how (self-) imagesses on and national discour forged.authenticity were This section focuses on thoseeation first years of of sound, from the cr cultural identities in diverse such Ibero-American as the cinematographies, case of Carlos Roberto de Souzar and study Suzana Reck Miranda in thei of exchanges between Brazil ands workPortugal, Carlos Belmonte in hi on Mexico, and Vicente Benet in s his an work on Imperio Argentina a actress of folklorist cinematin in AmericaSpain, the representation of La in US film in Hollywood by Juan hangesCarlos Poveda, and cultural exc between Mexico and Argentina asall analyzed these by Silvana Flores, in cases with music as the common denominator of such in the configuration cultural identities.

The second part sets out to rethinks cinematographic nationalism articulated inve the nationalism-cosmopolitism collaboratiradiction. cont The works of Eduardo de la Vega Alfaroz focus and Rosario Vidal Bonifa on the Mexican case through the an figure of the fundamental Mexic folklore artist Chucho Monge andrast, the music of Veracruz. In cont Kathryn Kalinak’s work offers an and analysis of a broad geographic temporal space eto role contemplate of the musicale thin these film genr identitary processes.

The third section seeks to connectnd politics the cinematographic sphere a through the analysis of propagandain, a new and censorship in 1940s’ Spa era in Spanish film with the arrivalhe country of political autarchy in t under Franco. Alberto Caparrós visit Álvarez and Lidia López Gómez re rarely-exploreds the materials, film sectionnal suchRitmo and of a the jour fiction films during the Spanishrole Civilof film War, to contemplate the music in shaping identity a new Spanish after the Civil War.

The fourth sectione contemporary focuses on morg cases, sound analyzin and musical atmospheres to reflectde of the on cultural identities outsi 6 Introduction nation, articulating the locale circulation and the global to contemplate th of signs in the configurationrms of of non-hegemonic genre identities in te and class. Edson Zampronha analyzes formation Brazilian cultural identity processesMacumaíma through (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1969) and how its musical language revealsties. a patchwork of cultural identi Fernando David MaldonadoBaroque Parrales’ (Barroco, Paul study of Leduc, 1989) considers the arrivalthe of European colonization in Americas and the subsequent searchn for a shared Hispano-America identity articulated. In a far in more the film recentf action, sphere o Agostina Invernizzi and Ezequielof the Lozano explore the film world drag queen movement through thees use in the of the voice in documentari genre, while Ana Sabrina Mora analyzes the rap and breakdancing phenomenon in various documentariesltural and through processes of cu identification in Argentina.

The fifth section also looks elation at contemporary to film, but in its r national cultural traditions. rs Marisa Iris Alonso’s work conside representationsmporary of tango Argentine in contee cinema in th neoliberal context. Her work pora analyzes in the tradition of the dias relation to the global culturalth commercial economy that articulates art wi and financial circuits. Filomenalations Sobral’s essay explores the re between Eça de Queiroz’sThe Maias (Os Maias novel) and João Botelho’s recent film adaptationultural (2014) to explore Portuguese c identity.

Lastly, the sixth section is dedicatedIbero- to works outside of the American space, thereflecting west has on constructed others how of “the the east.” Japan has a strongJuan presence Urdániz in this section through Escolano’s study into the under-usen cinema, of Japanese music in wester especially Hollywood films. Susanave on the Palés offers a new perspecti work of Yasujirofiguration Ozu and her of conogy spaceLate in her tril Spring,Early Summer andTokyo Story. And Mikel Bueno Urritzelki and Elorri Arcocha Mendinueta analyze that various audiovisual materials contributed to configuring Sovietf the identity in the second half o twentieth century.

This volume is the result of theonal first edition of the Internati Conference on Film and Identities place (CICI in in Spanish), which took May and June 2018 at the Universidad de Oviedo, Spain. CICI was organized by the University ofs Oviedo del and the Instituto de Arte Espectáculo at Universityos Aires. It of ishe Buen also project part of t “Música en conflicto en Españanía y Latinoamérica: y la entre la hegemo Redesigning Culturales to Reflect Cartographi ondentitary Processes7 of I Configuration transgresión (siglos XX y XXI)” [MINECO-16-HAR2015-64285-C2-1-P], coordinated by Celsa Alonso Gonzálezspite (University of Oviedo). De sharing the same language, filmanish and music, dialogues between Sp and Hispano-American researcherswould have not been as fluid as one expect. This conference set field,out to write and in a new chapter in this this respect CICI promotes dialogueearchers, and closer ties between res who have discovered new bridges their favorable to the development of research. In addition, we believeices intervene it is important that these vo in diverse spaces of discussion where perhaps one of the main impediments untilanguage. now has It been isthat because l most of of this the chaptersranslated have been into t English.

It is our wish that this volumessibilities will raise ofnew questions and po relationships, and work to strengthen researchers ties between scholars and on both sides ofat the these pond, works and thbecomet continue maps tha to be unfolded.

—The editors

SECTION 1 –

MUSICAL FLOWS IN LATIN AMERICAN CLASSICAL CINEMA: TOWARDS THE CONFIGURATION OF A MODEL

CHAPTER1

THEC REATIONIMPERIO OF ARGENTINA ASF ILMSTAR

VICENTEJ. BENET

Summary

Imperio Argentina was the most talking famous star films. of the first Spanish Born in Buenos Aires to Spanishhows, parents Imperio who worked in musical s had a distinguishedsinger career in theaters asfrom a a and young variety age, accompanying her parents on theird Spain. tours As around a South America an result, she initially became to a combine singing a star folkloric through her ability Spanish repertoire with Latinoplas. American This rhythms paper and dramatized c describes certain aspects of in Imperio the world Argentina’s of consolidation show business, abovelated all to questions those identity. re of national A brief summary is then presented of ther’s processes image was with which the singe constructed duringinally, those the years. papermperio Ffocuses Argentina’s on I transition to the cinema, whichination was considered of her the logical culm evolution from the stage. The n crowning is particularly moment of this transitio visible inMorena the Clara film (Florián Rey, 1936), which established the foundations for her considerablem is particularly international success. The fil interesting as a means of understandingto construct the a processes required cinematographic star at the dawnvitable of talking conflicts films, with the ine between indigenousconographic musical It also and forms.s i into take account transnationalthe trends Hollywood based filmonodels model created and on by m the record and radio industries.

A stroll through 1936

Let us imagine a person strollingn the down the Gran Vía in Madrid i spring of 1936. It is highly likelycross that a they would have come a poster advertising the filmMorena Clara, sensation the of the season: acclaimed comedy with songs andstarring music directed by Florián Rey, Imperio Argentina. If this personic, the was interested in popular mus The Creation of Imperio Argentina11 as Film Star theater, and shows, or if theyby simply reading liked to keep up to date illustrated magazines and newspapers,liar with they would have been fami the name of the film. They woulda firstlyplay have been reminded of which had been highly successfulan not long before. The film was adaptation of that play but withy. It extra would songs composed especiall also have been familiar becaused become of the name of the star, who ha famous thanks to other Sistersuccessful San Suplicio (La films such as Hermana San Suplicio) (Florián Rey,Nobleza 1934) Baturra (Florián and Rey, 1935). In fact, Imperio Argentina stardom had begun her journey to in the mid-1920s, when her stage singer performances made her a famous of Latin American and Spanish music.ed this Talking films had multipli success, taking popular musicMorena to a much wider audience and, in Clara in particular, to taking the height the copla of its popularity among Spanish and Latin American audiences.he genre In fact, it revitalized t referredespañolada, to as a the type of folkloric musical imitated by several subsequent1 above all films, due to a drift towards comedy and a move away from the melodramatic norms that had prevailed since romanticism.

Thus, for someone like our passer-by,mpact of the the cultural and social i film and its songs did not dependg in cinemas exclusively on their screenin since the involvement of otherstrated media was essential. Radio, illu magazines, record company advertisements,vital and reviews played a role when it came to directinghese the new public’s attention towards t offerings of the entertainmentfluence industry. was And their sphere of in not limited tor the song time lasted. a filmh It manyo spread more throug layers of society, eventuallylife. taking The over large areas of daily melodies, the humorous or dramaticrs who expressions used and the sta played the leadingpart roles of everyday becamend conversation they a naturally becamecial an element interaction ofstivals, so in popular fe dance halls, entertainment venues,gs. Some or simply in family gatherin popular songs even became institutionalizeds of the as symbolic element State. This isoccurred precisely with what certainzarzuelas tunes or from

1 The termespañolada refers to literary, artistic, and above all cinematographic productions whichypes, present narrative archetcal motifs styles and mainly musi from the nineteenth and twentiethc, exotic centuries, and based on a romanti orientalist construction. These archetypes of Spainong other include, things, am references to flamenco,ting, gypsies, bullfighgic bandits, love stories and tra associated with passionate womencreated such as by Carmen, the character Prosper Mérimée. For an informative, see Tom introduction Burns to the subject Marañón,Hispanomanía (Barcelona:a Gutenberg, Galaxi 2014). 12 Chapter 1 coplas that went on to become party bands of the repertoire of militar when they performed in public. experience In short, of it was all part of the a modern reality that was much moreli than varied and laden with stimu previous generations had known,acauer as figures and such as Siegfried Kr Walter Benjamin highlighted in new their urban chronicles. And this experience affected both individualsvergence and social groups. The con of the different elements thatry made was up the entertainment indust essential, forprocess instance, of constructing in nal the identity a natio during those years. 2 As has Cecilia studied Gil in Mariño exemplary fashion in the case, the of cohesive Argentinanvergence force of this of co the media during the 1930s wouldrging be decisive when it came to fo collective identities.

Let us continue our stroll,Another but this passer- time in a different city. by who that same year was walkingnd along the streets of Mexico a glanced at the cinema postersother could film not have helped noticing an that had just beenas proving released extremely andOut onw the popular. Great Ranch (Allá en el Rancho Grande) (Fernando de Fuentes, 1936), was the acclaimede narrative,work that set diconographic, musical th an standards that would become thethe epitome of all things Mexican: ranchera, thecharro and other thematic motifs of ranchers, farmers and generations of feuding familiesis genre. that were In so recognizable in th the cultural projection of thenstructing film and the its effectiveness in co image of modern Mexico, a vital rolehe was played once again by t convergence of mass media withincipient the entertainment media and the cultural industries that wouldsses shape in the tastes of the urban ma Mexico.

If we were to continue our journeyin, and a change location once aga passer-by in search of entertainmento or Rio de in the streets of São Paul Janeiro would have had a similar and other experience. popular Samba Brazilian music phenomena had nmade 1936 their way onto the screens i in several films,Alô Alô Carnaval including (Adhemar Gonzaga, 1936). Once again iconographic, narrativeed to and musical formulas were us establish a fundamentalcarnavalesco genre musical. in3 The Brazil: the mixture of music hall scenes withrnival the music and exoticism of ca

2 Cecilia GilEl mercado Mariño, del deseo. Tango, cine y cultura de masas en la Argentina de los ’30 (Buenos Aires: Teseo, 2015). 3 Rafael de Luna Freire, “Descascandochanchada: o abacaxi a carnavalesco da invençao de ummatográfico gênero cineContracampo nacional,”, no. 23 (2011): 68-85, 68. The Creation of Imperio Argentina13 as Film Star gave rise to icons of popular cultureho shortly such as Carmen Miranda, w afterwards became a Hollywood star.

Perhaps unsurprisingly,e audiences Argentin in 1936ain felt a cert nostalgia for the figure of Carlosane crash Gardel, who had died in a pl barely a year before in Colombia, top filmleaving the tango without its star. In the three years before successful his death, Gardel had also made films in Paris and New York, recreatinguburbs of the atmosphere of the s Buenos Aires and the passionss traditionally type of associated with thi Argentine musicocal with performances. his famousoffered v The cinema stars such as Libertad Lamarqueformula a way to continue this type of internationally.

The examples brieflybove raise described issuesticularly a which are par interesting from the point heof images.view of the In a cultural history of t very limited period of time betweenent of 1935 and 1936, the developm the cultural industriesmedia of each and country theseries led of to a films that weree able imagery, to shape narrative th musical motifs and models which remained as references. They points for future generation became the archetypesmodern of culture popularrmining and were a dete factor, to use the phrase coinedalization by George of Mosse, in the nation the masses.4 They also helpede a toseries consolidat of characteristics by means of which these cultures ed could and be internationally recogniz identified. They thus made their circuit grand of entrance into the global archetypes. Flamenco shows oron entertainment of cafés, the figurati revolutionary uprisings in Mexico,s or the the samba of the shanty town suburbs of Buenos Aires, all went, Spain, on to represent, respectively Mexico, Brazil, or Argentina on a transnational scale.

These countries had recently experiencede the attempts to nationaliz masses by political leadersfied and intellectual access to elites, who identi modernity with theof a establishment State formed of national on the basis customs and liturgies. it was a top-down In short,resented process, by rep the likes of Generalera’s Primo dictatorship de Rivowever, in Spain. H what happened with this convergenceion of of media was a nationalizat the masses from the bottom up,ere in definedwhich the signs of identity w in accordance with audiences’me tastes the and their ability to consu products of the culture industry.d As the culmination of what ha

4 George Mosse,La nacionalización de las masas: simbolismo político y movimientos de masas en Alemania desde las Guerras Napoleónicas al Tercer Reich (Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2005). 14 Chapter 1 previously been achieved by theng musicfilms and radio industry, talki represented a decisive stepgure in these identities. products’ ability to confi

Cinema, (trans)national identity, and vernacular modernism

The historical edimension films must of be thes understoodcontext in a beyond the scope of the film industry To a or cinematographic style. certain extent,s theythat arerecount documentd theaspirations tensions an of societies undertaking a journeyto perform towards modernity. In order their function of forging identities,t there was theya needed to ensure tha balance between two elements.ymbolic On the one hand, there were the s references identifiedational with context, theked n very to often lin folklore or to indigenous formshand, of entertainment.there On the other was the transnational flow of modelssion. and modern forms of expres One example of this would be the images way of telling stories through that had beenin Hollywood in placehe mid-1910s since tch spread and whi from nation to nation until a similarcreated audio-visualin language was all countries. It was an effecthat time, that led, to an in the term used at t “Americanization” of the worlds. through In this the circulation of image way, the urban masses assimilateded in them as their own and delight these new culturaltructed symbols, with theconsthe assistance media, of which sought a balance betweenous the on two opposing forces (indigen the one hand, transnational on the other).

The 1920s and 30s were thereforecultural characterized by processes of convergence thaterience defined of the daily expry life and senso perception in mass society. Miriamprofound Hansen has associated these transformations with the idea5 In very of “vernacular broad modernism.” terms, it concerns a new configurationgnitive of the perception and co understanding of the world by individualsAs a from modern society. result, the construction of identitiesyond took place in an area be sociological or political conditionsich and affected the way in wh individuals related with theirred surroundings, to be which always appea filtered by the media. As mentionedluded the previously, this filter inc tension between what was closeer by hand and indigenous and on the oth what was transnational and cosmopolitan.ma, as Consequently, the cine the main means of entertaining became the masses in the 1920s and 30s,

5 Miriam Bratu Hansen, “The Massical Production Cinema as of the Senses: Class Vernacular Modernism/ModernityModernism,”, no. 6, 2 (1999): 59-77. The Creation of Imperio Argentina15 as Film Star the fundamental agent in the constructionh the new of identities in whic referencesl of image the nationa were defined.

The vernacular syncretism betweenational indigenous sources and transn tendencies can be seen in almosts any country with a more or les established cinema industry in in the Spain mid-1930s. This was the case and in some Latin American countries,ticularly where such flows were par similar since they shared the sameal language and numerous cultur traditions. Undoubtedly, combiningusic in talking films with popular m the musicals of the 1930s is oneby means of the of most interesting cases which to research these profound relationships.

At this point a number of conclusions cinema can can be drawn. First, that be considered an exceptional toolre and with which to study the cultu social configuration of a certainrticularly historical the period. This is pa case in the 1920s and 30s, when in cinema its reached a crucial point ability to construct imagery thatround brought together the masses a political and national identities.h a critical The cinema had never had suc position, and would never havethat it itagain. was It was in this period used most intensively by propagandistsby ideologists of totalitarian states, of revolutionary and counterrevolutionaryy social utopias, as well as b regenerationists. After all,entioned let us not forget that the films m previously coincided with thepublic turbulent and period of the Second Re the Civil War in Spain, the charismaticnments of and personalistic gover Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico and Getulio no less Vargas in Brazil, and the turbulent Infamous Decade in Argentina.

The Star and the Negotiation of Identities

As was the case with most of theies, stars Imperio of the first talking mov Argentina had had a long careerrica touring and the stages of Latin Ame Spain before moving on to cinema.who Ashad the daughter of Spaniards emigrated to Argentina, from a youngd to age she had sung and dance music popular on both sides of consider the Atlantic. that It is important to during the 1910s and 20s, a veryenon important had international phenom occurred wherebyormances small-scale of popular perfmade music had the leap from entertainmentés, dance halls cafto and large music halls theater venues. The influence es of had this type of shows on the mass grown unprecedentedly, reinforcedf the by the parallel development o record industry. This convergencere or less also gradually defined the mo standardized format of the songs,they had since to for recording purposes 16 Chapter 1 keep to a maximum length of threed the or first four minutes. The press an illustrated magazineso take an also interest usicalbegan in t shows. these m

In a short period singers of time, went the ontus to ofreach “divas,” the sta something which had previouslydies been of reservedthe for the leading la theater or reveredhey almost opera stars. alwayse popular T came from th classes and virtuallym became allmodels of the forwoman. the modern When they appeared in illustratede magazines, they often lost th iconographic folkloric elements on stage. that had helped them to succeed Thus, their projection in the the public latest sphere was associated with fashions of the ermsmoment, of their both inimages, t outfits, (hairstyle advertising presence) and above private all in life. ways of projecting their In this regard, in reports andr interviewsthem to it was not unusual fo express ideas similar to thoser types associated of with flappers or othe modern, liberated women, even thoughmixed they often appeared to be with very traditional 6patriotic or religious values.

There is no doubt that the processic moved whereby stars of popular mus over to the cinema involved certaintwo main tensions stemming from the forces of “vernacular modernism”stries that of defined the cultural indu the period. On the one hand, therece had was to the fact that the audien recognize a link between thesech stars they and certain traditions whi considered their own, in otherct words led the national motifs. This aspe star to be identified with cultural physical and iconographic values and characteristics considered “indigenous,”ready something which had al begun in silent films with thef populararrival, in the case of Spain, o music figures such as Raquel Meller, Concha Piquer, and Imperio Argentina7 The herself. other aspect, complementing the first, was that these indigenous features had easily to be modernized. They had to be understood and adapted in order audience. to be shared by a transnational Below, I shall discuss the valueopla of in the musical format of the c achieving this. On certain occasions,n totally folkloric stars could eve abandon national characteristics film- and model themselves on purely based references which allowed For them to succeed internationally. instance, the appearance of Piquerthe great in thestar of the copla Concha

6 To observe these processes in thearta case García of Raquel Meller, see M Carrión, “Peliculera Raquel Mellery española. comonal enicono los naciofelices años veinte,”Ayer, no. 106 (2) (2017): 159-81. 7 Marta García Carrión:s y estereotipos “Españoladaicos: cinematográf algunas consideracionesón sobreen la España su recepcinte,” de losIberic@l in años, vei no. 10 (2016): 123-35. The Creation of Imperio Argentina17 as Film Star first sceneEl negroof theque tenía film el alma blanca (Benito Perojo, 1927), clearly imitated the constructionreet urchin, of the Chaplinesque st the total oppositeitional of character the tradted on the stage. artist adop

As mentioned previously, the transformationto film of singing stars in stars was a determining factorhree that led to the integration of t entertainment industries, namelyTogether recording, radio, and cinema. they experienced exponential growth.quickly The most important singers adapted to talking films and foundase their that they were able to incre impact. In any case, since thel beginningelements of theater shows visua had been used that could later Salaün be used in the cinema. As Serge points out:

The immense power of the cuplé andecisely of songs in general comes pr from their capacity to commandention auditory, over verbal, and visual att a limited period of time and to spectacle. provide the illusion of a total Songs were the format that to themined greatest for extent were predeter the massificationr industrial of audiences, mechanization…nd…. fo for a business.8

These singing stars thereforeapidly had various be elements that could r incorporated into the cinema.aginary On the one hand, there was the im dimension with an iconography developede through the star’s stag presence as the center of the anningshow. This the involved rigorously pl costumes and makeup, body-language,d for staging, and acting require each song. On thee otherwas the hand, narrativenked ther to aspect how li the show was organized, the concepte songs, determining the order of th the dramatic crescendos, the the stories way the included in the lyrics and performance was staged. The differentcuplé, the music styles such as the copla or the tango became genres a series in their of own right and defined aspects which audiences expectedage of to the see both in terms of the im artist and the wayongs in were which dramatized. thel s these Given al conventions, it was a fairlybecome logical film step for singing stars to stars.

Imperio Argentina was a perfecttation example that of this process of adap led to her establishment as a om talking her film star following on fr success in folkloric varietyransformation shows. To a certain extent, this t was based on the negotiation distinguishof identities. In order to clearly the different phases of this utline journey, four I would like to briefly o

8 Serge Salaün,El cuplé (1900-1936) (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1990), 152. This and all other quotationsthe textanslations are in free riginal tr of the Spanish o text. 18 Chapter 1 stages of the process that tookows her in Spain from a singer in variety sh in the mid-1920s to her apotheosisar in asthe the top Spanish cinema st late 1930s.

The first stage correspondsconfiguration of her to image the in accordance with withmodels the associated performancear music of popul on stage. This wasestablished based on well- iconographichematic and t references that were perfectly romantic recognizable and which came from folkloric traditions.uration phase This config beganuccess with on her s stage as a singer of coplas ands Argentine during and Spanish folk song the 1920s. Reviews in magazineslly and promotional leaflets genera included references to characteristics. Thus, one of of her country of origin the first publications about ed talking that cinema stars in Spain stat Imperio was:

The sweetheart of Spain, a beautifulutstanding young girl with the most o features of theous race. black, With Moorish enormned skin, eyes and tan she is small and and cute, passionate. vibrant ires Born to in Buenos A Spanish parents in 1908, she was Spanish presented to the audience as a artist—after all,soul, her and blood, her feelingsnish. her9 are Spa

Although this image of Imperioify Argentina her as could be used to ident the epitome of all things Spanish,eat deal her more profile was in fact a gr complex and transnational.usical repertoire Her included m on stage also songs typical of Argentine folklorees that and rhythms from Buenos Air were exported to great10 Between success the in turn Europe. of the century and the beginning of nitysound among film, there was a great affi Spanish and Argentine artists, musicians, and11 film In the companies. first publications about Imperio Argentina, when she began to become

9 AnonymousLas leaflet, estrellas de cine (Barcelona, lmoteca 1930). Española, Fi special material. 10 In her 1926 repertoire we can éjame” find, for (“Leave instance, the songs “D me,” Argentinedigas waltz), que “Nola quiero” le her that (“Don’t I love tell her,” tango), “¡Fea!” (“Ugly Lady!,”from tango), San Juan,” “Sanjuanina” (“The Lady Argentine zambra), “El caballo Argentine bayo” (“The dun-colored horse,” malambo), “Coplas y toros” (“Coplas de raza” and (“The bulls,” copla) and “Ley Gypsy Law,” gypsy song). SeeCelebridades Alfonso de Varietés. Castaño Prado, Magdalena Nile del Río, Imperio Argentina, el alma de la “raza.” Biografía, anécdotas, cuplés, tangos (Barcelona:Biblioteca Ediciones Films, 1926). 11 See EmeterioEl Diez sueño de Puertas, un cine hispano. España y sus relaciones cinematográficas con la Argentina (1931-1939) (Madrid: Síntesis, 2017). For the success of Argentine music in Spain Xavier during Febrés, the 1920s and 1930s: Gardel a Barcelona i la febre del tango (Barcelona: Pòrtic, 2001). The Creation of Imperio Argentina19 as Film Star successful as a variety artist,mained her iconographic development re hybrid in nature but was clearlyerences. characterized She by folkloric ref appeared, for example, dressedbut in also Andalusian or gypsy dresses, wore typical gaucho outfits12 Her for stage certain image Argentine songs. was also carefullyhis wascrafted characterized andnging t by her si dramatic songs (suchntitled as “La a song loca,” oman”) e “The crazy w but her image had not yet receivedssociated the iconographic treatment a with the modern, sophisticatedterized photogenic the qualities that charac film stars of the time. Duringt silent this stage films: she acted in her firs the firstSister version San Suplicio (ofLa hermana San Sulpicio) (Florián Rey, 1927)Restless and Hearts (Corazones sin rumbo) (Benito Perojo and Gustav Ucicky, 1928), the latterwere partly not filmed in Berlin. They particularly successful and whats the remains of them mainly reflect endurance ofc aspects the folklori of her image.

The second stage wasnegotiation characterized of these archetypal by the models with other transnational,tly erased cosmopolitan versions that par the previous iconography and rencesadapted for it to more up-to-date refe modern audiences. In this respect,r’s image the configuration of the sta moved away from the norms of theters theater of and towards the parame the record and film industries.as associated The negotiation of identities w with two factors in the late 1920srio that proved decisive in Impe Argentina’s career. The firstord was industry her breakthrough into the rec (recording for Parlophone,13 and HMV, the Columbia second and Odeon) was her work at Paramount’s Joinvillein her first Studios, where she acted talking films. This period leftpromotional a catalogue of photographs and material that shows how the starrom was her increasingly moving away f previous folkloric iconography n, and towards the image of a moder fashionable woman with glamorousere clothes, make-up and poses. Th were still certain folkloricCinópolis (José elements María such as the film Castellví and Francisco Elías,one 1931). song There are photographs of from this film, for example, ingypsy which girl she sang in the role of a accompanied by herayed father, the guitar whod pl andas a was dresse gaucho.14 In general, however, the roles she played in her films from

12 For instance,Celebridades in the de Varietés book mentioned above she appeared in one photo wearingcover the clothes of the bookof a gaucho, but the shows her wearingypical Andalusian a t hat. 13 Imperio Argentina (withMalena Pedro Clara (Madrid: Manuel Villora), Temas de Hoy, 2001), 59. 14 Anonymous,Imperio Argentina: su arte, su vida, sus canciones (N.p., Madrigal: ca. 1932). Filmoteca Española, special material. 20 Chapter 1

Joinville StudiosMy Wife’s Teacher such (El amor as solfeando, Armand Guerra and RobertSu Florey,noche de bodas (Louis 1930) or Mercanton, 1931), in additionth Carlos to her Gardel,films her wi to transported a transnational, contemporary,s regard,cosmopolitan urban setting. In thi the high point was her appearanceSuburban Melody alongside Gardel in (Melodía de arrabal, Louis J.Gasnier, 1933), which was filmed in Paris and in which the songs sung by Imperioical Argentina acted as a mus counterweight (not so marked byosely indigenous features and more cl linked to operettas) to the tangosdel. of Buenos Aires, sung by Gar

The third stageconsolidation was of the the star’s iconography within the parameters of the culture industries,oles but also above all with her film r in terms of the imageingly shepresented increas magazines in illustrated and publicity campaigns. Once shapedthe star’s image had been clearly based on a balance between indigenouseristics, and transnational charact the change fromother one image was more to theonsolidation natural. This c phase is associated with Imperio a film Argentina’s star return to Spain as recognized for the films she hehad played made in in Joinville. The roles s the secondLa version hermana San Sulpicio of (1934) and above all in Nobleza baturra (1935)Morena and Clara (1936) reveal the essential aspect of this consolidation,ty namely to mold her malleability and abili her image to differentand iconographic narrativethis contexts. way, the In manner in which her image was managedithin varied widely, at times w the same film. This canLa hermana be seen San Sulpicio above, all in with the marked contrasther characterization betweenited young as a spir nun at the beginning of the filmn into and her a eventual transformatio modern young woman arousing the it passions is of men. But above all, evidentMorena in Clara , the most famous of all her films.

Here again, itw is Imperio clear to Argentina’s see sho managed, image wa with her first appearingsy girl wearing as aenco gyp a typical dress. flam Later however, in the climacticing final modern scenes, she appeared wear clothes, above all during the ngs culminating the scene in which she si copla “El día que nací yo” (“The only day copla I was born”). This was the in Quintero and Guillén’s original like in theater the production and, just film, representedmoment a fundamental in the characterizationof Trini, the role played by Imperio Argentina.s opened However, when the curtain in the play, the main character next was to “dressed as a gypsy sitting some railings.”15 The film version therefore appears to take the image of

15 Antonio Quintero andMorena Pascual Clara. Comedia Guillén,en tres actos y un juicio oral (Barcelona: ed. Cisne n.d.), 49.