A Difficult Assimilation: American Silent Movies and Mexican Literary Culture

This essay discusses how different generations of Mexican writers reacted to the increased distribution of American-produced films throughout Mexico during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Some authors viewed American pictures as a threat to national identity. Others embraced their influence and discovered ways to incorporate themes or narrative devices featured in them into their poems, short stories, or novels. This study situates these authors' diverse perspectives within the double context of the widespread exhibition of American films and the redefinition of cultural identity, which was an important issue for postrevolutionary Mexican society.