The Domestication of the Ensign Nun: "La monja alférez" (1944) and Mexican Identity

Abstract

This essay explores how and why, during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, a studio nationalizes and reforms a potentially problematic Spanish colonial figure, transforming her into a symbol of national identity. La monja alf?rez (1944) stars Mar?a F?lix and is directed by Emilio G?mez Muriel, both of whom place the film at the heart of Mexican cinema's ?poca de oro. The film rewrites Vida i sucesos de la monja alf?rez (1625), the alleged autobiography of Catalina de Erauso, a Spanish woman who achieved military renown in America dressed as a man and eventually retired to New Spain. In a move that actively brings the colonial past to bear on the Mexican present, G?mez Muriel's film recasts the historical character not as Basque, but as Mexican. This paper examines the process through which La monja alf?rez revamps Erauso as a Mexican icon, and considers the intersecting commercial and governmental influences that gave rise to this adaptation.