Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity

By (author) Jeffrey M. Pilcher

Publication date:

01 December 2000

Length of book:

238 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780842027694

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.

Chapter 1 List of illustrations
Chapter 2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 Chronology
Chapter 4 Introduction
Chapter 5 From Vale Coyote to the Carpa Valentina
Chapter 6 Ambiguous Profiles
Chapter 7 The Details of Fame
Chapter 8 Syndicalism and Stardom
Chapter 9 The Magician
Chapter 10 Around the World or Just the Studio
Chapter 11 A Modern Quixote
Chapter 12 Conclusion
Chapter 13 Notes
Chapter 14 Bibliographical Essay
Chapter 15 Index

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.