Description
Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity is a revealing probe into the life and times of Mario Moreno, Latin America's most famous film star from the 1940s to the 1970s. This book helps to illuminate the social and cultural history of twentieth-century Mexico. Cantinflas (Moreno's film persona) was the most popular movie star in Mexican history. A fast-talking, nonsensical character, he helped Mexicans embrace their rich mestizo identity and cope with the difficulties of modernization. For thirty years he served as a 'weapon of the weak,' satirizing corrupt officials and pompous elites who victimized Mexico's urban poor. This is a valuable text for courses on Mexican history and Latin American film.
About the Author
Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Reviews
Excellent. The ideal biography of Cantinflas would set the comic's life within Mexico's social and political history, within Mexican popular culture, and within the context of the nation's emerging cinema. Solidly researched and splendidly written, Jeffrey Pilcher's book does all this and more. It finds a way to convey to the non-Spanish-speaking reader Cantinflas's imaginative and wonderfully convoluted wordplay. -- Charles Ramirez Berg, University of Texas at Austin
An insightful, authoritative, and important look at one of Latin America's most influential and beloved comedians, Mario Moreno, 'Cantinflas.' This is the very best biographical study in any language of an icon of Mexican cinema and culture. Cantinflas's significance grew not only from his image as one of the country's greatest comedians and stars but also from his powerful force in the labor movement of the industry, in politics and in opening up the doors of Hollywood to Mexico. The book masterfully combines the study of this unique star with a solid analysis of the culture and society that predominated in the decades of his life and times. Cultural and biographical history at its best. -- David R. Maciel, California State University
Tracing the phenomenon of the Mexican film comic Cantinflas's rise to fame and subsequent decline within the context of Mexican post-Revolutionary modernity, the author offers a sustained account of changing perceptions of Mexican national identity. A compelling examination of the modern Mexican state from the 1930s through the end of the 1950s. -- Joanne Hershfield, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Pilcher's study is an engaging view of twentieth-century Mexico through the lens focused on Mexico's most famous comic. A crisp, straightforward, and compelling look at mid-twentieth-century Mexico through the life of one of its most beloved citizens. * The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History *
Book Information
ISBN 9780842027694
Author Jeffrey M. Pilcher
Format Hardback
Page Count 238
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Series Latin American Silhouettes
Weight(grams) 572g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 165mm * 23mm
About the Author
Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Reviews
Excellent. The ideal biography of Cantinflas would set the comic's life within Mexico's social and political history, within Mexican popular culture, and within the context of the nation's emerging cinema. Solidly researched and splendidly written, Jeffrey Pilcher's book does all this and more. It finds a way to convey to the non-Spanish-speaking reader Cantinflas's imaginative and wonderfully convoluted wordplay. -- Charles Ramirez Berg, University of Texas at Austin
An insightful, authoritative, and important look at one of Latin America's most influential and beloved comedians, Mario Moreno, 'Cantinflas.' This is the very best biographical study in any language of an icon of Mexican cinema and culture. Cantinflas's significance grew not only from his image as one of the country's greatest comedians and stars but also from his powerful force in the labor movement of the industry, in politics and in opening up the doors of Hollywood to Mexico. The book masterfully combines the study of this unique star with a solid analysis of the culture and society that predominated in the decades of his life and times. Cultural and biographical history at its best. -- David R. Maciel, California State University
Tracing the phenomenon of the Mexican film comic Cantinflas's rise to fame and subsequent decline within the context of Mexican post-Revolutionary modernity, the author offers a sustained account of changing perceptions of Mexican national identity. A compelling examination of the modern Mexican state from the 1930s through the end of the 1950s. -- Joanne Hershfield, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Pilcher's study is an engaging view of twentieth-century Mexico through the lens focused on Mexico's most famous comic. A crisp, straightforward, and compelling look at mid-twentieth-century Mexico through the life of one of its most beloved citizens. * The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History *
Book Information
ISBN 9780842027694
Author Jeffrey M. Pilcher
Format Hardback
Page Count 238
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Series Latin American Silhouettes
Weight(grams) 572g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 165mm * 23mm
