Airing the Nation’s Dirty Laundry through a Real-Crime Account: Cazals, Ibargüengoitia and the Infamous Poquianchis Scandal
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[1] University of Arizona
University of Arizona
Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, ISSN 1096-2492, Nº. 24, 2020, págs. 27-46
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
The “Poquianchi affair” shook 1960s’ Mexico with its subject of sex trafficking, woman-on-woman violence, and mass murder. It generated a visceral public response and a gamut of narratives on crime, punishment, and the social values of the modern age. The Mexican press, in particular the tabloids, conflated socially stigmatized behaviors and gender tensions embedded in the patriarchal order, labeling the Poquianchi brothel madams a direct public threat. This essay examines how the Poquianchi scandal became a focal point for discussing the Mexican national project. Felipe Cazals’ 1979 film Las Poquianchis and Jorge Ibargüengoitia’s 1970 novel Las muertas departed from the media hype to shed light on deeply rooted hypocrisies governing society as a whole, such as the symbiotic relation between the brothel madams, the authorities, and the community at large. Refraining from moralistic dichotomies, they ponder upon the evolving discourse of criminality in modern Mexican society, where the positivist rhetoric of progress, social justice, and integration only camouflaged the inequality pervading the nation’s social fabric.
