Thamyris/lntersecting No. 8 (2001) 173-83

Hispanicity and Resistance in Global culture

The Storles of Zorro' Nadia Lie

ABSTRACT

HIspanicity and Reslstance In Global Culture: the Stories of Zorro As a North-American icon dealing with Spanish and Spanish-American history, Zorro is an interesting example of cultural convergences. This contribution exam• ines these convergences in the original texts by Johnston McCulley at the begin• ning of the twentieth century and then traces their transformation in the Spielberg interpretation of Zorro in the late nineties. The sense of this transformation is inscribed in a wider socio-political background, more particularly contemporary Mexican politics.

Hispanicite et la reslstance dans la culture globale: les hlstolres de Zorro Comme icone nord-americain, representant I'histoire espagnole et hispano-ameri• caine, Zorro illustre de maniere interessante les convergences entre les deux cul• tures. Dans cet article, nous examinons les convergences entre le "Zorro" origi• nal, qui date du debut du siecle, et qui est de la main de Johnston McCulley, et le film de Spielberg. Nous analysons les transformations qui s'inscrivent dans un contexte socio-politique, plus particulierement dans la politique mexicaine con• temporaine.

If there is such a thing as agiobai culture, Zorro is definitely part of it. Introduced by Johnston McCulley in 1919, the image of Zorro has travelled the world in books, comics, films and television programmes, and his attributes - a hat, a dagger and a mask - are known to each and every one of uso However, not everybody realizes that Zorro is also a symbol of hispanicity. Indeed, his very name is the Spanish word for "fox," and the original stories, though written in English, are set in Spanish-speaking California. Most people know Zorro through the Walt Disney

Hispanicity and Resistance in Global culture I 173 series produced at the end of the fifties, where Zorro invariably appears mocking poor old Sergeant Garcfa - fat, clumsy but kind-hearted - and where he is helped by the mute Bernardo, his servant. The Hispanic element is there in the accent, the names, and the outward appearance of the actors. However, one can assume that many children watching the series are not able yet to decode these elements and see them belonging to another culture and, indeed, no historical clues are given to adults watching the series with them. However, the latest cinematographic interpretation of Zorro, The Mask of Zorro (released in 1998), very consciously reintroduces the element of ethnicity and his• toricity in the Zorro-myth. It shares this characteristic with the original stories writ• ten by McCuliey in 1919, which we are encouraged to rediscover in arecent reprint by the Zorro-company under the title: The Mark of Zorro. The deliberate similarity of the two titles is but one strategy to make us see that the latest Zorro is in fact an updated version of the original and authentic one. In this way, the latest Zorro acquires some sort of legitimization that, together with a set of adaptations, should enable it to become a socially significant role model for the increasingly Hispanic audience. In the words of Antonio Banderas, starring as young Zorro in Spielberg's version: "There is an important message here in Zorro for the entire Hispanic community. He fought for justice. He fought against poverty. This is an especially important model for kids, especially today and especially here in Mexico" (quoted in Curtis 202). In this paper I will study the way in which this model is created by focusing upon two concepts that seem to me to be crucial for any sort of Zorro-analysis: his• panicity and resistance. Foliowing the Zorro-company's suggestion to "read how the legend began," I will concentrate on McCulley's The Mark of Zorro of 1919 and Spielberg's The Mask of Zorro of 1998 to analyse how these concepts are defined and put into play in both works. 2 In this sense, I am interested in rewriting-strate• gi es within global culture itself. For indeed, though the beginning ofthis century did not yet witness the amazing acceleration of the so-called globalization process in the way we do now, the origins of Zorro are firmly set within its associated mass• entertainment. This mass-entertainment originally took the form of pulp fiction wh ich appeared in the USA at the beginning of this century and was to soon go through a spectac• ular development in the days of the Depression (Hutchison). However, if it had not been for Douglas Fairbanks, the first Hollywood star of the budding film industry, we might never have heard of Zorro. Fairbanks, who lived in California, read the story, was thrilled by it, and turned it into a very successful film starring his wife Mary Pickford. So successful was it that McCulley feit obliged to revive his hero and have him go through new adventures until his own death in 1959. Before he died, McCulley was fortunate enough to see how Walt Disney turned his hero into

174 I Nadia Lie