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The Emulation Of Spanish Culture In Alla En El Rancho Grande

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Around 1920—after a 10-year span of revolutionary efforts, what we know as Mexico today was transformed and recreated. The Mexican revolution has been hailed as a struggle to radically shift an authoritarian government by giving more power to the people and making the voices heard of the oppressed Mexican class. However, the narrative that has been told about the revolution has been romanticized overtime, and what happened in the nation after the revolution shows even more how there wasn’t a real sense of justice for everyone in Mexico. Mexico’s struggle to make sense of their identity through this time period can be seen through the films created shortly after the revolution. The time period in which these films were created is known …show more content…

Anyone who is indigenous or anything related to indigenous culture seems to have been left in the past. The irony doesn’t escape the fact that people think the Mexican revolution signified the end of colonial oppression and the overthrowing of the tyrannical rule of Spain, yet it somehow still existed. The Mexico that is portrayed in Alla en el Rancho Grande, almost seems like a copy of Spain with an added quirk that makes it slightly different. This emulation of Spanish culture is easily seen by the mere way in which the characters in the film dress and act. Alla en el Rancho Grande, represents the similarity to Spanish culture in their slight twist on matador-styled clothing that hails from Spanish bullfighting. There’s also this sense of Spanish romanticism that is portrayed through boleros and mariachi. However, more than anything the sense of machismo and honor is represented even stronger than in Spain as something that will forever define Mexican culture, this is showed in the climax of the movie where both men duel off over their shared love for the same woman. More than anything, Alla en el Rancho Grande has a clear agenda: to ironically show an international audience that Mexico is essentially a quirkier Spain. In fact, Alla en el Rancho Grande makes a strong stance that Mexico is no longer indigenous, it has transformed into something more refined and European. Through the absence of indigenous

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