Prof. Brian Price - Fall 2021, MWF 1:00-1:50 PM, JFSB B104
This course explores the world of Mexican commercial cinema, including rock musicals, wrestling flicks, horror films, chili westerns, and a whole host of other genres that most film historians and college courses disdain or ignore. These films have been “lost” to historiography and the purpose of this courses is to “rediscover” them. We will see that, despite being considered a blemish on the smooth history of Mexican film history, these churros from the 1950s-1990s played (and continue to play) an important roll in bankrolling the industry and getting people into the theaters. Rather than treating these movies as consumer garbage, we’re going to carefully consider the role these films play in shaping public discourse about race, gender, politics, and nation. And we will have a lot of fun doing it because, let’s be honest, how could we not enjoy watching El Santo battle mummies and international spy rings, or witnessing young rock and rollers engage in a battle of the band and a battle of the sexes, or screaming with spooky delight at ghosts and haunted mansions?
N.B. This course is open to undergraduates and graduate students in the Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese as well as International Cinema students. All films movies will be in Spanish and it is unlikely that there will be subtitles, so students should have a good grasp of Spanish.