The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity

The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity Review

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The World of Lucha Libre is an insider’s account of lucha libre, the popular Mexican form of professional wrestling. Heather Levi spent more than a year immersed in the world of wrestling in Mexico City. Not only did she observe live events and interview wrestlers, referees, officials, promoters, and reporters; she also apprenticed with a retired luchador (wrestler). Drawing on her insider’s perspective, she explores lucha libre as a cultural performance, an occupational subculture, and a set of symbols that circulate through Mexican culture and politics. Levi argues that the broad appeal of lucha libre lies in its capacity to stage contradictions at the heart of Mexican national identity: between the rural and the urban, tradition and modernity, ritual and parody, machismo and feminism, politics and spectacle.

Levi considers lucha libre in light of scholarship about sport, modernization, and the formation of the Mexican nation-state, and in connection to professional wrestling in the United States. She examines the role of secrecy in wrestling, the relationship between wrestlers and the characters they embody, and the meanings of the masks worn by luchadors. She discusses male wrestlers who perform masculine roles, those who cross-dress and perform feminine roles, and female wrestlers who wrestle each other. Investigating the relationship between lucha libre and the mass media, she highlights the history of the sport’s engagement with television: it was televised briefly in the early 1950s, but not again until 1991. Finally, Levi traces the circulation of lucha libre symbols in avant-garde artistic movements and its appropriation in left-wing political discourse. The World of Lucha Libre shows how a sport imported from the United States in the 1930s came to be an iconic symbol of Mexican cultural authenticity.

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Icons of Latino America [2 volumes]: Latino Contributions to American Culture (Greenwood Icons)

Icons of Latino America [2 volumes]: Latino Contributions to American Culture (Greenwood Icons) Review

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Icons of Latino America [2 volumes]: Latino Contributions to American Culture (Greenwood Icons) Feature

Latinos have contributed a tremendous amount to American cultural heritage, injecting energy, a unique style, and piquant flavor. This set profiles the big names from this century and the last who represent the highest achievement in their field and who have inspired, led, educated, informed, and entertained us. A diverse representation from the world of sports, entertainment, education, music, journalism, literature, and labor is offered. Biographical essays engagingly tell the story behind the icon, with background including family and education, career trajectory and highlights, and contributions and circumstances that have led to icon status. Along with these famous figures, several essays on other types of Latino pop culture icons—iconic characters from cartoons and comics and film and even iconic Latino foods—are included. Entertaining side bars and classic photos complement the essays. Perfect for student reports and browsing, with more in-depth coverage than an encyclopedia entry but less than a full biography, there is something fascinating and informative here for everyone.

Readers will find that that a number of the icons profiled were influenced by other icons profiled or have an important connection to one another. For example, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz performed together for many years. Actress Jennifer Lopez portrayed the singer Selena in a biopic. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta made the United Farm Workers union a reality. Furthermore, in telling the story of these icons, each essay relates so much of the historical and social issues of the times. Thus, together, these essays offer a good sense of recent Latino and Latin American history and progress. Icons include Desi Arnaz; Ruben Blades; Fabiola Cabeza de Baca; Cesar Chavez; Chiles, Tortillas, and the Mexican Food Explosion; Sandra Cisneros; Roberto Clemente; Celia Cruz; Placido Domingo; Jaime Escalante; Gordo, Speedy Gonzales, Dora the Explorer, Bondo, and La Cucaracha; Dolores Huerta; Jennifer Lopez; Rita Moreno; Edward James Olmos; Tito Puente; Ruben Salazar; Carlos Santana; Cristina Saralegui; Selena; Lee Trevino; Luis Valdez; Ritchie Valens; and Zorro.

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Two Latins from Manhattan Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches

Two Latins from Manhattan Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Review

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Two Latins from Manhattan Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Feature

Two Latins from Manhattan Poster (11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm) (1941) Style A reproduction poster print

CAST: Joan Davis, Jinx Falkenburg, Joan Woodbury, Fortunio Bonanova, Don Beddoe; DIRECTED BY: Charles Barton; PRODUCER: Wallace MacDonald;

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Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches

Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Review

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Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Feature

Quartier Latin Poster (11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm) (1939) French Style A reproduction poster print

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Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches

Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Review

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Quartier Latin Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Feature

Quartier Latin Poster (11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm) (1939) French Style A reproduction poster print

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Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches

Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Review

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Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Feature

Latin Lovers Poster (11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm) (1953) Style A reproduction poster print

CAST: Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, John Lund, Louis Calhern; DIRECTED BY: Mervyn LeRoy; PRODUCER: Joe Pasternak;

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Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches

Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Review

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Latin Lovers Movie Poster (11 x 17 Inches Feature

Latin Lovers Poster (11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm) (1953) Belgian Style A reproduction poster print

CAST: Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, John Lund, Louis Calhern; DIRECTED BY: Mervyn LeRoy; PRODUCER: Joe Pasternak;

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Grandes Peliculas: Infantiles

Grandes Peliculas: Infantiles Review

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Grandes Peliculas: Infantiles Feature

Give your children hours of entertainment with this 3 movies with great production.

The best Latin animated movies of all time. Impressive animations and great scenes will make you and your family have a good time, this characters will let you into an incredible world full of fantasy.

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Cartoon Tune

Cartoon Tune Review

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Cartoon Tune Feature

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Sancho Of The Night Feat. Cartoon-boy [Explicit]

Sancho Of The Night Feat. Cartoon-boy [Explicit] Review

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Sancho Of The Night Feat. Cartoon-boy [Explicit] Feature

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