ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the cultural function of melodrama in Mexican cinema during the early phase of mega-urban development in the nation’s capital. A common feature of the melodramas discussed by Cebey is that they all present urbanisation is a destructive force that comes over subjects that move to the city from rural areas. The films focus in particular on the social function of urban housing complexes — a material expression of hegemonic aspirations for a progressive lifestyle, which ends up imposing a regime of subjectivities on the residents that leads to social fragmentation and alienation. The cinema industry in Mexico is often seen as an important vehicle of the ideology of high modern statehood, but Cebey’s contribution shows that urban melodrama is characterised by complex layers of contradictory interpellations of urban subjectivities.
