Few genres were as popular and as enduring in twentieth-century Mexico as Westerns. Christopher Conway’s lavishly illustrated Heroes of the Borderlands tells the surprising story of the Mexican Western for the first time, exploring how Mexican authors and artists reimagined US film and comic book Westerns to address Mexican politics and culture. Broad in scope, accessible in style, and multidisciplinary, this study examines a variety of Western films and comics, defines their political messaging, and shows how popular Mexican music reinforced their themes. Conway shows how the Mexican Western responds to historical and cultural topics like the trauma of the Conquest, mestizaje, misogyny, the Cult of Santa Muerte, and anti-Americanism. Full of memorable movie stills, posters, lobby cards, comic book covers, and period advertising, Heroes of the Borderlands redefines our understanding of Mexican popular culture by uncovering a vibrant genre that has been hiding in plain sight.
Subjects: FilmPop CultureLatin America
List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Western in the BorderlandsChapter One: The Roots of the Mexican WesternChapter Two: The Rise and Fall of the Matinee IdolChapter Three: The Myth of the Tragic Gunfighter in Film and MusicChapter Four: Spaghetti con ChiliChapter Five: Comic Book Indians, Race, and NationalismChapter Six: El Solitario and the Cult of Santa MuerteConclusion: Go West, CantinflasNotesBibliographyIndex
