Reconfiguring gender and the representation of the Soldadera in the Mexican revolution film

Abstract

Abstract In keeping with the meticulous enterprise of rewriting women’s history in Mexico, rescuing their stories and re-inscribing their identities, undertaken in the last two decades by cultural historians, feminist writers and film scholars, this article proposes a detailed analysis of the soldadera as a protagonist in La negra Angustias (The Black Angustias, Matilde Landeta, Mexico 1949) and La soldadera (The Camp Follower, José Bolaños, Mexico 1966). Whether portrayed as a combative mulatta colonel who takes charge of her destiny or a suffering fair-skinned bride-to-be doomed to drift aimlessly, she is restored to history. Although the directors draw on existing depictions of the archetypal female of Mexican war culture and revolution, their films reveal how the identity and social reality of their characters have been shaped by discrimination and misogyny.