Early Puerto Rican Cinema and Nation Building: National Sentiments, Transnational Realities, 1897-1940

Description

Early Puerto Rican Cinema and Nation Building focuses on the processes of Puerto Rican national identity formation as seen through the historical development of cinema on the island between 1897 and 1940. Anchoring her work in archival sources in film technology, economy, and education, Naida García-Crespo argues that Puerto Rico's position as a stateless nation allows for a fresh understanding of national cinema based on perceptions of productive cultural contributions rather than on citizenship or state structures. This book aims to contribute to recently expanding discussions of cultural networks by analyzing how Puerto Rican cinema navigates the problems arising from the connection and/or disjunction between nation and state. The author argues that Puerto Rico's position as a stateless nation puts pressure on traditional conceptions of national cinema, which tend to rely on assumptions of state support or a bounded nation-state. She also contends that the cultural and business practices associated with early cinema reveal that transnationalism is an integral part of national identities and their development. García-Crespo shows throughout this book that the development and circulation of cinema in Puerto Rico illustrate how the “national” is built from transnational connections. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press. Cover Series Page Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction Established Frames and Images of Puerto Rican Cinema Conceptions of the Puerto Rican Nation An Alternative Approach to the Study of Puerto Rican National Cinema This Study’s Framework 1. Contexts for a National Cinema: Cultural, Political, and Economic Movements in Puerto Rico (1860–1952) Late Spanish Colonialism through 1898 Circumstances and Consequences of the U.S. Invasion Initial U.S. Congressional Rule and the Formation of Puerto Rican Identity Puerto Rican Conceptions of the Nation from 1930 Onward 2. Cinema Comes to Puerto Rico: Historical Uncertainties and Ambiguous Identities (1897–1909) Film Exhibition in Turn-of-the-Century Puerto Rico Rumors of War Footage Representing U.S. Colonial Puerto Rico 3. Stateless Nationhood, Transnationalism, and the Difficulties of Assigning Nationality: Rafael Colorado in Puerto Rican Historiography (1912–1916) Rafael Colorado, Film Exhibition, and the Transnational Circulation of Cultural Subjects Rafael Colorado as Cinematic Producer: Negotiating the Local and the Global Citizenship in a Stateless Nation: Constructing the Puerto Rican Subject 4. In the Company of the Elites: The Discourses and Practices of the Tropical Film Company (1916–1917) Inconsistencies in the Received Histories of the Tropical Film Company The Educational/Cultural Project of the Tropical Film Company The Tropical Film Company’s Commercial Aims The End of the Beginning: The Tropical Film Company’s Demise and Legacy 5. Perilous Paradise: American Assignment and Appropriation of “Puerto Ricanness” (1917–1925) From Big Stick to Good Neighbor: Puerto Rico as Test Site for American Foreign Policy Fictional Puerto Rico and Colonial Angst Puerto Rico’s Commercial Production Model U.S. Cinema Falls in Love with the Tropics The MacManus/Pathé Productions Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Comes to the Island Beyond Fiction: Other Aspects of the Puerto Rican Film Industry in the 1920s 6. Making the Nation Profitable: Industry-Centered Transnational Approaches to Filmmaking (1923–1940) The Film Enthusiast: The Career of Juan E. Viguié Cajas Romance tropical: Remaking the Dream The Film Impresario: The Career of Rafael Ramos Cobián Mis dos amores: The Union of Hollywood and Latin America Los hijos mandan: The Separation of Hollywood and Latin America The End of an Era: The Local Government as Producer Conclusion: Early Puerto Rican Cinema and Stateless Nation Building Finding the National in the Transnational Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index About the Author