Movie Premiere as Patriotic Ritual: Identity, Community, Place, and Narrative in Mid-Century Mexico City

Anne Rubenstein's presentation discusses popular reactions in Mexico to the 1944 premiere of the single most popular Mexican movie ever, Nosotros los Pobres and its sequels.   She looks at both audience members' moviegoing behavior and the reactions of committed fans.  Broader audience members' reception of the films and public behaviors reflected their position in communities as family members, as members of the neighborhood, as citizens and/or as Catholics.  Fans, however, were able to imagine that the stars of the movies were also members of their families/communities (a reaction the movies themselves encouraged), and their membership in a fan community informed their behavior.