The Representation of Mexican Identity through Music in the Films of Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández (1940-1950)
Date
2019-08-27
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Abstract
Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández (1904-1986) was a prominent film director of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema (1936-1956). Central to his work was the representation of the Mexican national identity, which was expressed through the narrative and visual elements of his films. Music was also central in Emilio Fernández’s work, but the soundtracks have only been passingly addressed by the critical literature devoted to Fernández's films. This thesis attempts to address this issue through a discussion of the role of music in three movies that span Fernández’s main nationalistic concerns: the Mexican revolution, the life of the Mexico's indigenous people, and social life in Mexico's urban centers. In chapter one this thesis examines the historical events that led Mexico to become a leading Spanish-language film producer during the period between 1936 and 1956 — known familiarly as the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. Chapter two is devoted to Emilio Fernández and his ideas of ‘national cinema,’ as well as the director’s relationship with the composers (Francisco Dominguez and Antonio Diaz Conde) that wrote the music for some of the most significant films of his career. Chapter three discusses the music in Flor Silvestre (1943), a film devoted to the cinematic representation of the Mexican revolution. Chapter four is dedicated to the music in María Candelaria (1944) — a film in which Emilio Fernández portrays a stylized image of the Mexican indigenous people. Finally, Chapter five explores the musical life of Mexico City in the 1940s as presented in the movie Salón México (1948). This thesis traces the origin of the musical genres included in the selected movies. This is to evaluate how these genres are representative of the Mexican musical traditions. In addition, this thesis explores the dramatic function of both diegetic (onscreen) and non-diegetic (background) music in relation to the narrative and visual elements of the films.
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Music in Mexican Films, Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández
Citation
Carril Naranjo, J. A. (2019). The Representation of Mexican Identity through Music in the Films of Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández (1940-1950) (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.