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Abstract

In her article "Fernández and Cinematic Propaganda in the U.S. and Mexico" Renae L. Mitchell discusses the competing ideologies on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. As one of the foremost filmmakers of the Mexican Golden Age of cinema, Emilio Fernández established what would is recognized as "Mexicanness" by means of Indigenous characters in his films, most apparent in the film María Candelaria. RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures, as the principal purveyor of US-American propagandist cinema, led Hollywood into the cinematic market of Mexico revealing its intentions by means of the RKO film The Falcon in Mexico. Fernández sought to establish a particular Mexican nationalism and Hollywood used this nationalism to establish an apparent Mexicanness in its own cinematic portrayals of Mexican culture. Mitchell's comparison of these two films sheds light on how Mexicanidad was interpreted in the U.S. and in Mexico during a period of power struggle and how the idea of Mexico was an invented concept exploited on both sides of the border for different purposes.

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