HOW SOUND CINEMA ARRIVED in ECUADOR: Case Study of Quito in the Late 1920S and Early 1930S
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HOW SOUND CINEMA ARRIVED IN ECUADOR: Case Study of Quito in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s Bolivia Erazo TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA – ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS SARJA - SER. B OSA - TOM. 468 | HUMANIORA | TURKU 2018 HOW SOUND CINEMA ARRIVED IN ECUADOR: Case Study of Quito in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s Bolivia Erazo TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA – ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS SARJA - SER. B OSA - TOM. 468 | HUMANIORA | TURKU 2018 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 1 20.12.2018 12.37 ,University of Turku Faculty of Humanities School of History, Culture and Arts Studies Cultural History Janus Hall January 12, 2019 12:00 Supervised by Hannu Salmi, Ph.D. Marjo Kaartinen, Ph.D. Academy Professor Professor of Cultural History Professor of Cultural History Head of the School of History, University of Turku, Finland Culture and Arts Studies University of Turku, Finland Reviewed by Kimmo Laine, Ph.D. Jukka Kortti, Ph.D. Docent Docent Cinema Studies Department of Political and University of Oulu, Finland Economic Studies University of Helsinki, Finland Opponent Kimmo Laine, Ph.D. Docent Cinema Studies University of Oulu, Finland The originality of this publication has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin Originali- tyCheck service. ISBN 978-951-29-7536-5 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-7537-2 (PDF) ISSN 0082-6987 (Print) ISSN 2343-3191 (Online) Grano Oy - Turku, Finland 2018 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 2 20.12.2018 12.37 To Seppo, Eliel and Rodrigo (+) 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 3 20.12.2018 12.37 4 Acknowledgements There are many people I would like to thank but there is not enough space to do it in just one page, that is why I would like to send a warm general thanks to everyone who has contributed time to my research. Special thanks, of course, goes to my supervisor Hannu Salmi, who, throughout several years, has always been ready to read and comment on each of my writings. Hannu’s extensive expertise and willingness to help me have been very useful and pivotal for this monograph. Special thanks, as well, go to Marjo Kaartinen whose wide knowledge and experience were crucial for completing this manuscript. In addition to them, I would also like to thank several people from the Department of Cultural History and from outside of it among them Henry Bacon, Bruce Johnson, Martin Cloonan, Kari Kallioniemi, Marja Jalava, Rami Mähkä, and Pekka Kolehmainen, whose comments and suggestions were highly valuable. Additionally, I would like to thank my friend Don Demavivas for rightfully commenting and editing this manuscript. His work is highly appreciated. I am also in debt to the Kulttuurihistorian tutkijaseminaari where I presented part of my work in 2016. The comments were very encouraging and gave me strength to continue until the end. All the mistakes however in the monograph are only of my entire responsibility. I would also like to thank my funding institution the SENESCYT, called today Instituto de Fomento al Talento Humano (IFTH), which is a governmental Ecuadorian grant institution. They gave me a scholarship in 2012. The money from this institution comes from Ecuadorians’ taxes. After six years of continuous work, I am happy not to have failed Ecuadorians and to finally present to the public the first study on the history of the coming of sound cinema in Quito, Ecuador. I would also like to publicly thank Seppo, my beloved husband. Without his love, encouragement, and economic support, this monograph and part of Ecuadorian history would not have been revealed. I would like to thank my mother, Bertha, and my sisters Tania and María Augusta, whose strength have been pivotal for this research. In addition to all of them, I would like to thank Jorge Coloma who has been very patient in handing me the originals of the newspapers. Finally, I thank all the personnel of the different archives in Quito and to the Kansallinen Audiovisuaalinen Instituutti based in Helsinki. They all have been very helpful and kind 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 4 20.12.2018 12.37 5 throughout all this time. This book is devoted to my husband, my adorable one-year old child, Eliel, and to the memory of my father, Rodrigo, all of them have served as an inspiration to carry out this research. November 2018 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 5 20.12.2018 12.37 6 Abstract UNIVERSITY OF TURKU ERAZO, BOLIVIA: How Sound Cinema Faculty of Humanities Arrived in Ecuador: Case Study of Quito in School of History, the Late 1920s and Early 1930s Culture and Arts Studies Doctoral Dissertation, 329 pages Cultural History Doctoral Programme Juno January 2019 This monograph analyses the transition from silent to sound cinema in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Quito, Ecuador. In addition to being the first study of this kind on the film history of Ecuador, Quito’s location makes an interesting case study that it differs from other cities, even in Ecuador, since it is a landlocked capital city located in the highlands. With no digital newspapers available in Ecuador, this thesis is based on printed newspapers and manually photographed news. Thousands of pieces of research material were found in the local dailies of different archives in Quito searched under the premise of cinema. All press clippings were read and analyzed in detail. The material was interpreted by using the historical method and also by drawing on Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis. Among the most important conclusions, it becomes clear that sound cinema dominated the cinematographic scene in Quito much before the first screenings of the first sound films, which took place in September 1930. This occurred because sound cinema was widely discussed in the local dailies and magazines since 1928, much before the screening of this novel technology to Quito. Therefore, by the time the first sound films were shown in the city people had already been well aware of the pros and cons of this technology and indeed locals demanded the arrival of sound cinema in the city. Keywords Sound cinema - silent cinema - sound - newspapers - Ecuador - Quito - discourse - reception - audiences - spatiality 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 6 20.12.2018 12.37 7 Tiivistelmä TURUN YLIOPISTO ERAZO, BOLIVIA: Miten äänielokuva saapui Humanistinen tiedekunta Ecuadoriin. Tapaustutkimus 1920-luvun lopun Historian, kulttuurin ja ja 1930-luvun alun Quitosta taiteiden tutkimuksen laitos Väitöskirja, 329 sivua Kulttuurihistoria Tohtoriohjelma Juno Tammikuu 2019 Tämä väitöskirja tutkii siirtymää mykkäelokuvasta äänielokuvaan 1920-luvun lopun ja 1930-luvun alun Quitossa, Ecuadorissa. Sen lisäksi, että tämä on ensimmäinen tutkimus laatuaan Ecuadorin elokuvahistoriasta, Quiton sijainti tekee aiheesta mielenkiintoisen, koska Quito on vuoristossa sijaitseva sisämaan pääkaupunki. Ecuadorissa sanomalehdet eivät ole saatavissa digitaalisessa muodossa, joten tutkimus perustuu painettuihin sanomalehtiin, joista uutiset ja muu aineisto on tallennettu digikameralla tutkimuskäyttöön. Paikallisista sanomalehdistä löytyi Quiton eri arkistoista tuhansia elokuviin liittyviä tekstejä tutkimusmateriaaliksi. Kaikki elokuvaa sivuavat lehdistömateriaalit luettiin ja analysoitiin tarkasti. Materiaali tutkittiin historiallista menetelmää käyttäen sekä ammentamalla vaikutteita Michel Foucault’n diskurssianalyysistä. Yhtenä tärkeimpänä johtopäätöksenä on selvää, että äänielokuva hallitsi elokuva-alaa jo paljon ennen ensimmäisten äänielokuvien esitystä, joka tapahtui syyskuussa 1930. Tämä tapahtui, koska äänielokuvasta keskusteltiin laajasti paikallisissa sanoma- ja aikakauslehdissä vuodesta 1928 alkaen, paljon ennen tämän uuden teknologian ensimmäistä käyttöä Quitossa. Näin ollen, kun ensimmäiset äänielokuvat esitettiin, ihmiset olivat jo hyvin tietoisia tämän teknologian hyvistä ja huonoista puolista, ja paikalliset vaativatkin äänielokuvan tuomista kaupunkiin. Avainsanat Äänielokuva - mykkäelokuva - ääni - sanomalehdet - Ecuador - Quito - diskurssi - vastaanotto - yleisö - tilallisuus 30971293_Thesis_book_Bolivia_Erazo_Humanistinen_tdk_sisus_20_12_2018_2.indd 7 20.12.2018 12.37 8 Contents Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................4 Contents.......................................................................................................................8 Introduction...............................................................................................................10 Part I The Conceived Space of Sound Cinema........................................................20 Chapter 1 Towards the Combination of Moving Images and Sound Accompaniment.....21 Chapter 2 Popularity of Cinema in the Late 1920s.......................................................38 Chapter 3 The Discursive Arrival of Sound Cinema....................................................48 1. The Origin of the Unparalleled Discursive Presence of Cinema........................63 2. Discourses of Cinema in Discussion of Late 1929...............................................75 2.1 Money...........................................................................................................75 2.2 Hygiene and Health......................................................................................76