Rios Miranda, Sofia (2020) Mexican screen melodrama : unravelling Mexico's sociocultural expectations and ambiguities. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Mexican screen melodrama, often located in the margins of Film and Television Studies, is frequently dismissed as lacking cultural value. This genre, however, should not be overlooked as it offers a unique opportunity to understand the social representations and dynamics of the country. This thesis by publication historicises and contextualises the evolution, production and development of key Mexican screen melodramas over seventy years to understand and mediate Mexico’s ambivalence around socioeconomic background, race and religion, gender and worth, family and duty. Crucial titles outlined in this research include María Candelaria (dir. Emilio Fernández, 1943), Quinceañera (dir. Alfredo B. Crevenna, 1960), Quinceañera (prod. Carla Estrada, 1987-1988), Nada personal (Nothing Personal, prods. Carlos Payan, Epigmenio Ibarra, and Hernan Vera. 1996-1997), Mi pequeña traviesa (My Little Mischief-Maker, prod. Pedro Damián, 1997-1998), Primer amor… a mil por hora (First Love… at 1000 Miles Per Hour, prod. Pedro Damián, 2000-2001), Rebelde (Rebel, prod. Pedro Damián, 2004-2006), El estudiante (The Student, dir. Roberto Girault, 2009), and Miss XV (Miss 15, prod. Pedro Damián, 2012).

The six publications that constitute this thesis demonstrate the importance of localised scholarly inquiry into Mexican audiovisual media that considers not only narrative discourses, content and textual analyses, but also industrial records and practices, marketing campaigns and press releases, archival research and interviews, multimedia synergy, and comparative analysis. For some time, research on Mexican melodrama has had a strong social focus, with several writings about audience engagement, but it is imperative to have more close readings of the texts themselves to understand their cultural context and industrial histories. The relevance of this research has been highlighted across three different journals – the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, Critical Arts and Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies – and will be published as a book chapter in the forthcoming Children, Youth, and International Television and within a special dossier for the Journal of Popular Television.

This research exposes societal changes within Mexico by utilising one of its most omnipresent forms of popular culture and provides a deeper understanding of Mexico’s primary media productions through the use of genre and remake theory. This research is an invaluable contribution to international scholarship on melodrama, Mexican screen media, telenovela remakes, genre studies, gender studies, quality television and streaming services.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures P Language and Literature > PQ Romance literatures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Melodrama, Spanish American, Melodrama in motion pictures, Melodrama on television, Television -- Mexico, Motion pictures -- Mexico
Official Date:	2020
Dates:	Date Event 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Williams, Deane ; McDonald, Sarah ; Moseley, Rachel
Sponsors:	Australia
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	145 leaves
Language:	eng

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